Blog evaluation

I had used a blog before RTF 305. I used it while I was a Texas Youth Ambassador to Taiwan. Part of the Youth Ambassador program was detailing our experiences each day in a blog in order to share our impression of the culture.

The positive aspects of using the blogs in this course were that they were short enough to not be a super stressful burden, but long enough to learn from. I really liked that we didn’t have any burdensome long writing assignments. Also, it was kind of fun to be able to do a writing assignment in a creative way. I felt that the blogs were a way to make sure I looked over my notes and actually registered the class material.

I didn’t really encounter any difficulties with my blog.

The blog prompts that were most useful were the ones asked us to go find a real life example of a term used in the course. For instance, the prompt involving globalization and the one on media theories were useful. I felt the ones that asked us to find examples from movies were less useful because I spent a great deal of time scanning through a movie rather than applying the term.

I would definitely recommend using blogs in other courses and again in RTF 305. However, that is only if the blogs were the primary written assignments. If the blogs were implemented in addition to other assignments, I feel they would just be a nuisance.

I would suggest giving out the blog assignments sooner. Perhaps even give out all of the blog prompts at the beginning of the semester with reminders right before the blogs ware due.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report.

Disney Worldwide

Globalization has become a major factor in the way the world is shaped. Globalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness among nations, cultures, and people. In other words it is the widespread exchange of ideas between different areas that cause changes in culture. It is greatly facilitated and increased with technological developments, especially ones that accelerate communication.

Globalization is highly connected to cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is where one nation’s culture becomes strongly present in another nation’s everyday activities, but not the other way around. This means that there is a very unequal flow of culture. Often, cultural imperialism is referred to in terms of one culture forcing itself upon another or manipulating a market to cause culture to be adopted.

One wonderful example of cultural imperialism is the Disney Corporation. Disney has performed cultural imperialism to the full extent of its definition. I would like to discuss two examples of this; first, Disneyland Hong Kong. I have embedded a guide to Hong Kong Disneyland. If you watch it and compare it to Disneyland or Disney World in the US, you may notice that is practically identical to the US versions, only with Asian people riding the rides. The guide talks about “stepping back in time to a turn of the century street.” This is not a turn of the century street in China. It is definitely an American Street. However, Disney has transferred American culture to Hong Kong to such an extent that the Disneyland visitors don’t seem to feel out of place while immersed in a very American Fantasy World. This shows cultural imperialism because a large amount of American culture has become present in Hong Kong, but, in comparison, America has adopted almost no Asian culture. Another example of Disney’s cultural Imperialism is in the movie market in Taiwan. When I was in Taiwan last summer, my youth ambassador delegation went to the movies with our hosts. We were expecting a Taiwanese film, but found ourselves watching Toy story 3 in English. Disney has so successfully embedded American culture in Taiwan that my Taiwanese friends there don’t even think twice about watching an American Movie in English. Disney has done this all over the world, which makes the Disney Corporation a perfect example of globalization via cultural imperialism.

Should your man smell like an old spice man? You tell me.

The Old Spice commercials are some of the most powerful and persuasive advertisements I have ever seen. They are all very powerful, but I have chosen the “swan dive” one for this exercise. It is a video that has an extremely good looking, ripped man with a sexy voice who asks the women of the audience to compare their men to “an Old Spice man.” The man in the commercial is the embodiment of a dream guy who does amazing things. At the end of the commercial, he asks the women in the audience if their man “should smell like an old spice man.” It is so powerful because it implies to the women of the audience that if their men used Old Spice body wash, then they would be as amazing as the Old Spice Man. It also instills jealousy and insecurity in the men of the audience because their women are comparing them to a man who is, by far, a better catch than they are. This makes the men want to improve their status, and conveniently, the ad presents using old spice body wash as a way to do this.

Almost all of the advertising appeals discussed in class apply to this add. One of the strongest of these is the achievement. Prominence, and attention appeal. The general characteristics of this type of appeal are that the appeal makes the target audience feel that the product will make them more successful, prominent, and noticeable. Ads that use this appeal try to show the accomplishments that their product will make easier. They also show people who have achievement, prominence and popularity so that the audience will associate the product with those characteristics.

The Old Spice commercial exemplifies this appeal because it asks the audience to compare men who don’t use old spice body wash to the old spice man, who is the embodiment of achievement prominence and attention. For example, the ability to build a kitchen by hand that is referenced is an appeal to achievement. The popularity of the old spice man is an appeal to prominence. And the fact that women pay attention to the commercial is an appeal for men’s desire for attention. Overall, the ad is very effective and entertaining.