COMM 2360 1nd Edition Lecture 6Outline of Last Lecture I. Fiske’s response to the Frankfurt School II. use and interpretation as resistance III. Polysemy a. idea that one sign can have many interpretations IV. distributed authorship (exists everywhere culture is received) V. technological developments (people are producers more than consumers is now conventional wisdom) VI. Barbie Nation a. salaciousOutline of Current Lecture II. Research Assignment III. Advertising a. Dominant Message Systemb. Dominant Messages Current LectureAssignment- Research project for semester - Make yourself an expert paper o take interest and go into world- see what scholars have said about it o make yourself an expert in that field - 5-6 page paper - see what scholars have to say about topic o review 5 scholarly sources (probably articles)- o react to them o post to eLC- rolling due date depending on name - want 3-4 students posting research based on question relevant to week- fold into/related to discussion available for each week- - don’t begin with a specific topic- begin with list of terms relevant to your interesto this will make sure you find articles on your topic o go to bibliography to find more articleso SCHOLARS SHOULD CITE EACH OTHER (scholarly conversation) o look in lit review section These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- where to find articles? o communication & mass media complete (EBSCO Host)  how to search - pop culture and crime o search “crime and television” o make sure to check limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Articles - final paragraph o your opinion  what sparked your attention what’s wrong with article - synthesis- review of literatureo bibliography needs to look good and be complete- o use whatever style you want but BE CONSISTENT o cite article once at the beginning- but don’t repeat citations over and over again - turning in paper o 1. hard copy on day that it’s due (give to Dan) o 2. post on eLC- cut and paste paper into new thread on a discussion board- find the week that is closest to your paper topic and paste your paper in (don’t attach it) so students can glance at it and comment - advantages of being early on list o fewer chances that someone will take topic- what is advertising relations to values/politics? - for this class- pay attention the central question o marketing journal article- will ask question how do we best market  but we’re interested in Ad & Society Lecture: Branding the Brain - brando recent phenomena when it comes to rhetoric  brand- symbolic center of our consumer economyReview: - Fiske’s response to the Frankfurt School - use and interpretation as resistance - Polysemy o idea that one sign can have many interpretations - distributed authorship (exists everywhere culture is received)- technological developments (people are producers more than consumers is now conventional wisdom) - Barbie Nation o salaciousBarbie Nation: - Fiske would sayo people are trying to get kids to play with Barbie in certain way o has giant power- people all just put it to different uses o if you mediate on it- Barbie is an extremely powerful fixture of childhood life Disney as well- unofficial parent  GI Joe- same place in culture among a certain age group Advertising - what it is about advertising that makes it so pervasive, powerful etc.o many people think of it as a trivial phenomena - engine of the economy o can you imagine what it would be like if advertising stopped?  no  implications are too far reigning  advertising drives a ton of behavior/production  can’t imagine a world without it - informational force? o advertising as an informational force- we wouldn’t know what to buy if advertising didn’t exist- we’d be clueless - persuasive force?o speaks to emotions/desireso designed to move us o most important 10 inches- last consumers reach before they pick a product up offthe shelf- EMOTIONAL decision- cultural force? o cultural critics- ad not just a list of rational arguments that appeal to emotions- it’s a storyteller- what should we strive for? what makes us successful? who to befriends with? who’s good/evil? - dominant message system? o numbers that say YES o most dominant story teller of our lives - wellspring of the culture industry?Dominant message system- 1400 ad impressions/day - 140/hr on average - If number is surprising- suggests we ingest ad all the time without knowing - 1 million/yr - what is impression in terms of brain space- time looked at ad?- numbers keep going up- can’t get away from advertising - equivalent of 90min/day of 30 sec ads - ad tax: $880 per man, woman and child/year- 1+ penny per person per 30 second spot - take all the money spent on ad- divide by pop- get equivalent of 90 min/day of 30 second spots- production costs 10X or more o 30 second ad is more expensive to produce than show o 10 times more resources go into producing advertising - tony scott – big designer for Coke- went back and forth between ad and film o most americans would be appalled at the amount of time/money/resources that go into making ad perfect (bead of water on coke can) - advertising expenditures are going up- started a miniscule now big o projected costs dominant messages- are there commonalities?o fetishism of commodities  number one job of advertising  fetish- any magic quality that we attach to an object- - people love their iPhoneso commodity is any object for sale- o what’s the common code of all