Ludlow Massacre

In my literature class the other day, we were discussing labor history in the United States. We were reading "South of the Slot" by Jack London, and a group was presenting on The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It quickly became very apparent that not many people had heard of the Ludlow Massacre that took place in Ludlow, Colorado in the early 1900's. I think it is interesting that no public schools in Colorado discuss what occured during the largest labor conflict in US history. Fortunately enough, my grandfather took me to the memorial site when I was fairly young, and explained to me how tent colonies were set up by the Rockefellers in order to increase coal production, and decrease mining costs. He also explained to me how scrip was used to create a dependence amoung the workers. My family has always been very involved in labor unions, and I thought that was fairly normal amoung working class families in Colorado. However, I am becoming more and more aware of the negative "implications" unions have amoung citizens in this state. Here is the site in case you are at all intersted in why unions exist, what they have done for workers' rights, and Colorado history in general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_massacre

Photoshop Ad

For my Photoshop project, I decided to critique the popularity of the Hummers. These are quite possibly the most outlandish vehicles currently on the market, and their recognition as “tough, dependable, and stylish” will hopefully begin to change. Not only do they have unprecedented low gas mileage, every “beneficial” aspect about the car’s design can be found in a more environmentally friendly vehicle.

Media Consumption Log

7:00am: woke up (regular alarm clock)

7:15am: made coffee (Starbucks coffee beans) and ate a granola bar (Nutri-grain)

8:00am: drove to school/listened to music (The Black Keys)

8:30am: researched the environmental impact of tobacco companies and cigarettes

9:00am: Started collecting cigarette butts from around campus for a project in Ecological Citizenship (Most common cigarette butts were Marlboro and Parliaments)

11:00am: Read Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville for my American Lit class

12:30pm: Ate lunch at Serious Texas BBQ

1:30pm: Went bouldering at Sailing Hawks (not much media influence, except for the brands of our climbing gear)

4:30pm: Wrote a response for my Ecological Citizenship class about the benefits of Equine Therapy

5:30pm: Made dinner at my house (Cheese enchiladas)

6:30pm: Watched an awful movie (Brick)

9:00pm: Read Young Goodman Brown by Hawthorne for American Lit.

Currently, the majority of the media I come into contact with is school related. My main interactions include researching for class projects, reading for my English courses, and interacting with different forms for Media Literacy. I don't have a tv at my house, and so I dont' watch tv. On the few occasions when I return home, I watch tv at my parents house, and it seems the longer I am away from it, the stranger it becomes.

About twice a week, my boyfriend and I rent a movie to watch at home. Our tastes are quite different; he likes politcal/action films, and I prefer lighthearded comedy. Last month, I finally watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Most of the music I listen to is while I am driving. I am not very good at listening to it while I am working on my homework. Even though I have quite a bit of mysic on my ipod, I find myself listening to the same three artists for months on end. I have noticed, my music preference changes with the seasons. Now that it is warming up a bit, I am branching out to new artists for the spring.

Nearly all ot the reaing I am currently doing is homework. I am reading parts and pieces of different works from my American Lit anthology, and different articles for both my Media Literacy Course as well as my Ecological Citizenship course.

At this point in my life, it is difficult to choose what media I come in contact with. It seems that my classwork dictates a majority of what I do. I have endless amount of reading, and videos to watch. It is exposing me to new things, that I probably wouldn't otherwise experience, but it also limits the amount of media that I deal with that fits my style.

"No Means No... Until It Means Yes"

The nag factor, which we were talking about in class, reminds me a lot of the "Merchants of Cool," all except for these marketers are aiming much lower... at children.

It is an easy market, but I think it is very twisted. These companies are targeting children, an age group that hardly understands the effects of the advertising companies. They aren't telling kids to buy their products, they are telling kids that they won't fit in unless they buy the products. It becomes much more manipulative in that sense.

Now their are sources available to parents to help them understand and deal with this sort of advertising. For example, "Commercial Alert" has come out with a webpage designed to help parents fight the nag factor. Here is the link:

http://www.commercialalert.org/news/archive/2008/03/kid-targeted-ad-deal-counts-on-nag-factor">

Merchants of Cool

“Merchants of Cool” was interesting… but not all that surprising. It discussed the concerns of the market industry targeting a specific age group: teens. Basically, the video expressed the extents to which corporations are willing to go to in order to understand teens and how they can market to them.

They start out in a focus group, where kids are paid to sit and discuss their likes and dislikes. Teens want money, and have information about what they think is cool and uncool, so companies trade their money in exchange for input from the youth. However, it’s hard to identify how effectual this method really is. The clips that they show exhibit teenagers who don’t even seem the least bit interested in the questions being asked… it appears that the marketers have already lost them.

The next segment discusses “cool hunting.” I think this is a slightly more effective tactic. This is where researchers go out and look for cultural leaders. They seek out people who are the trendsetters among their subculture. Once they identify what the forward thinkers are doing, they can sell it back to all of the individuals who seek the styles of the forward thinkers.

However, this brings up the issue of the “paradox of cool hunting.” As soon as a new, marketable trend is identified, and it starts to catch on, the individuals who were once setting a trend have to move on to something else. As soon as people pick up on something, the concept becomes uncool. This means the faster cool hunters find a trend, the faster they will force people to move on.

Some other interesting parts of the film included the section on MTV. It is amazing how much contact their industry has with America. The idea that five conglomerates control pretty much all of the media that teens come into contact with is disturbing. That means that the shows, the music, the news, the products, and the people are all connected. Everything is being sold… from the same owners.

One important aspect of the show is that these marketers are doing “market research,” not “human research.” They are not trying to understand teens in order to relate to them on a personal level. They simply want to understand what drives teens to buy specific products. They want to know what they need to do in order to influence people to buy their specific product.

It is strange that as a result, companies have to “hide” their advertising in order to actually reach the public. If the marketing comes through, the product doesn’t sell as well. This concept can be applied to the Dove videos. If people watch these videos, and they don’t feel as if a product is being pushed on them, the advertising has a higher modality. However, this makes it difficult, because now it is becoming more and more difficult to understand the motives behind many of the media sources we come into contact with everyday.

Memes

While looking through the "Know Your Meme" website, I found many different memes that are spreading through not only web videos, but also images with text. "Fail" was one of the memes, and "Your Doing It Wrong" was another.

Here are some of the images from one, and a video from the other...

Know Your Meme: FAIL from Rocketboom on Vimeo.

The Corporation

Though The Corporation expresses a biased position, the documentary, made some very essential, indisputable points that we need to consider. The most important point that the film makes is the negative effects that have stemmed from the abuse of the fourteenth amendment. Once corporations were able to take on the identity of an individual, our government lost any ability to control and direct the missions of the businesses. The assumed the rights of “a legal person,” and thus were able to buy, sell, trade and act in the same way you and I are able to.

I think another important part of the film addressed the confidence crisis America is facing with large businesses. Because corporations seem to have no limits and no controls, they are growing to into the most powerful facet of our nation. If their power remains unchecked, we will certainly have to face the end of our resources, as the current models are hardly sustainable.

A majority of the CEO’s featured in the film seemed to be very aware of the problems that this unchecked power can lead to. However, some of the business owners (Firestone) alluded to the idea that they have become so powerful that one individual cannot control the means of the business, even if he or she felt obliged to.

The CEO’s tend to convince the audience that their personal values are similar to the values of the average American. Many of them seem to stress the notion that the “morals” of the business are not consistent with their own “morals.” They put the blame on capitalism… it is the mode of free enterprise that drives these corporations to their current status. I would agree with this concept, but I would also argue that these business owners are not concerned with the detrimental results. Instead, they appreciate the fact that they have some other entity to place the blame with, rather than dealing with it themselves.

In this way, large corporations are able to justify the “externalities.” They are simply the third party, the collateral damage. Capitalism is the guilty one, and they maintain a free conscience. This allows them to relieve the burdens of a suffering economy, a dying environment, and a loss of natural resources. “It’s all in the name of business.”

Many of the issues discussed in the film remind me of the notions that Henry Thoreau brought up in “Resistance to Civil Government.” He states, “It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.” According to this statement, it seems that the causes of these monstrous corporations are directly related to the immoral business owners.

I think the film had a powerful message, but people must remain in constant check in order to observe the “privileged positions” the film represents. We must always be critical of the purposes and motives of any medium, and documentaries especially. However, that said, I think The Corporation offered a very important position that Americans must consider.