Generation Like Response- 3

Today, we live in the age of social media, everything around us revolves around social media. Youtube allows us to access information, latest news and even catch up on the lives of various Youtube stars. In today’s world, everyone is interconnected, just one’s actions on social media can be traced, and each action enables those Youtube stars to appeal to a specific audience. In the documentary Generation Like, the message explained by the teenagers is that social media empowers one, the likes acquired by one can simply be understood as the same as financial currency, likes are the financial currency of the social media world. This empowers youngsters and enables them to feel confident about themselves. When it comes to the Youtube world, stars create videos either comedic or not to appeal to a specific audience, videos range between anywhere from video games to social experiments, some stars acquire more than a million subscribers with stars like KSI having over 10 million subscribers, this means that he has touched 10 million people in the world with his videos. This really is astonishing, as this allows a Youtube star to create particular pieces/ videos to appeal to his/her target audience. Gaining subscribers, views and likes empowers one as they can reach a number of people and touch their lives in a positive way. Youtube is frequented generally by teenagers, and often times it is noticeable that Youtube stars provide motivation as well as encouragement for their viewers. It is understood that many teenagers look at these Youtube stars as role models for various reasons and thus the content produced by them enables the audience to connect with the star. Moreover, Youtube stars have the freedom of choice as to what types of content to create and thus enables them to get their desired message across. Youtube allows stars to create unique content which would appeal to an audience and the returns from creating such content is massive, not only in terms of likes and subscribers, but also in terms of financial gain. Furthermore, Youtube stars are empowered as they receive fame and financial recognition for their content which is very inspiring, thus making them create more and maybe progress into various other themes of content.

Stereotypes in mass media

Throughout our lives we encounter various advertisements promoting general beliefs, these beliefs are the beliefs of a general society. Advertisers often utilise models as a representation of a “perfect” human being, thus engraving into society that is the way to go. Moreover, by doing this advertisers undermine and weaken certain individuals as well as groups. The Mountain Dew advert watched in class is an example of stereotyping in advertisements, the advertisement contained various stereotypes which were harmful to society. Furthermore, the advertisement was racist not only because all of the jail inmates were African American, but each of them were likened to a goat, thus giving many people the impression that the advertisers likened animal features with African American men. It is common to find the media leaving a stain in one’s ideologies, by portraying something as right or more beautiful it causes an imprint in society’s minds. Since mass media is encountered on a daily basis, what we see is what we believe and that is morally incorrect.

Print ad analysis

The advertisement targets American citizens who are looking to develop a career, generally young people and further states the lifestyle benefits one is able to reap after gaining this experience. The advertisement is aimed at all middle class young American citizens, it further aims at inviting people who are looking to develop a career in business. The advertisement utilises persuasive techniques to draw the audience into the advert. A positive response from the American public is being tried to achieve. The advertisers utilise the army as a method to draw young citizens attention, the historical significance of the army is somewhat ignored and the values it promotes is disregarded to an extent. Generally, the public associate the army with patriotism and a method to give back to your country, however in this case, it is a complete turnaround, the army is giving back to the citizens, this is understood as in the advertisement it is clearly stated “the best place to start a business career, isn't always in business. Furthermore, among various families it is made a tradition to serve in the army, this advertisement may also suit them as they are able to gain business experience while fulfilling a family tradition. The values communicated throughout the advertisement is that of prosperity and being successful, the advertiser utilises language as a tool to grasp the reader’s attention, allowing the reader to feel important as their lives will improve drastically with the aid of the army. Moreover, the advertiser feels the need to certify their judgements by constantly stating that by joining the army, one is able to reap the benefits of a successful career in the future. The advertiser also might be trying to promote patriotism and nationalism in the hearts and minds of young American citizens.

Nike advertisement "Risk Everything"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv09DRd4lsM

This advert is driven by a common theme and sport, football is the main focus of the advert and the aim is to persuade people to risk everything. The intended audience is specific to an extent, for example it can range from anyone who is an avid football fan to just a mere fan of the Nike company. Throughout this advert, ethos, pathos and logos are present as huge footballing stars have been used to make the advert not only more interesting, but also to show that the products on offer at Nike are credible and proven quality. In this advert, very little speaking is done, however, Nike use various footballing stars such as; Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic etc. to promote their name and add a sense of credibility to their products. When the audience finds that these quality stars are promoting something, they are generally enticed and encouraged to spend on that company’s products. Nike uses ethos effectively here, as seeing these big names are a very effective persuasion method which is likely to increase sales. Furthermore, the use of various camera angles as well as different stunts being done by the footballers enables the audience to understand that time and effort was spent in preparing this advert, this portrays to the audience commitment to their jobs and might increase the chance of the audience being persuaded to spend on their products. Moreover, it is already understood globally that Nike is a huge company and if they can attract huge footballing names and offer them contracts, then it might be fairly easy for them to attract their target audience. The Nike advert is a group of boys playing football, and as they would say a footballer’s name, they would turn into that particular footballer, the advert incorporates humor as well as mystery, Nike uses various techniques to incorporate mystery and to get their message “Risk everything” across, in once instance particularly,  a penalty is awarded and a boy steps up to take the penalty ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, the crowd goes silent and thus portrays the message “Risk everything”. Moreover, logos is used throughout the advert to persuade the intended audience, Nike once again utilizes various stars to demonstrate that if they have something so should you, this is an effective persuasion method especially to those who look up to these stars. Nike uses ethos, pathos and logos to persuade the audience as well as convey their message of “Risk everything”.

Advertisement Pitch

What main appeals did you use in your pitch? Why did you decide they would be the most effective?

What were some specific persuasive techniques you used (include examples) why did you believe these would be effective?

How did an awareness of audience and context influence your overall approach to this activity?

Explain the use of some of the images you included. Why did you feel they would be effective?

Comment on the effectiveness of your presentation. How will this activity inform how you prepare for your FOA?

Our advertisement was carefully considered and we utilised various persuasive techniques  which helped us further enhance the message of our advertisement. The techniques we used were association, celebrities and intensity. The sole purpose for using these techniques were because as a group we found them to be the most persuasive. Association was used to convey to the audience that by drinking this specific drink, they are able to belong to an exclusive group, while using a celebrity to advertise the product had a similar intended purpose, people look up upon celebrities and especially a celebrity like KSI who is really well renowned especially by our target audience, and the intensity of a football match was used to show that the energy drink helps in various tough situations. At first, we were expecting an advertising pitch without a context, that obviously would have made it easier for us as we could have chosen a context. However, knowing that the UAE was our context, we aimed at specifically targeting teenagers and thus used KSI as the celebrity to promote our product, teenagers all over the UAE have taken a liking to the British YouTube sensation which made it easier for us to convey our message as well as draw in our clients. Images were not widely used throughout the presentation, nevertheless an image of KSI was used purely because we felt that perhaps our clients were not aware of who he was, the image of KSI used was striking as well as showed that KSI will definitely help promote sales, it is evident that words KSI uses in his videos are used by many teenagers. The main purpose of our advertisement was to effectively sell our pitch to the client, however, I feel in certain areas we lacked as stuttering was common which may have meant that we were not necessarily comfortable with the advertisement method. However, we used the techniques and appeals wisely and took our context and target audience into account, which may have helped gain a more positive response from our clients. This activity was useful on various fronts, and further enabled me to understand the FOA further as well as realize what is expected in an effective FOA presentation. Moreover, by viewing and understanding the approach of others to this particular task was very helpful and will also be vital in enabling me to prepare an effective and informative FOA.

Yorkshire name top twang

In the article “Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom”, the author explains regional as well as social stereotypes based on accents. An experiment was carried out whereby “researchers asked 48 volunteers to look at photos of female models while listening to recordings of women with different accents describing their lives.” The aim of this experiment was to pinpoint the various stereotypes made by people. A common stereotype was “people with the distinctive nasal Birmingham accent were seen as stupid while those with a Yorkshire twang were considered clever.”Furthermore, to improve results models of equal attractiveness were chosen. 

The results gained by the experiment were unbelievable due to many reasons. I found it difficult to understand that when nothing was said at all was perceived as being more intelligent than someone saying something in a Birmingham accent. Having read through the entire article, I understood how this was possible. A prominent stereotype is “people associate Birmingham with criminal activity, and they associate criminal activity with low intelligence.” I feel this stereotype to be rather absurd as everyone of a certain community is painted with the same brush. This interlinks with content covered in class, especially in the last two reading of “Mother Tongue” and “Good and Bad English”. Good and bad english touches on an individual perspective of the quality of the English spoken, perhaps carrying out the experiment on people who aren’t British citizens or residents may have altered the results. Mother tongue, similarly has similar effects as the article as it deals with people understanding others based on their accents.

Mother tongue

Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” addresses social issues of the English language present today. In her essay, Amy tells the audience language “evokes an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea or a simple truth”. By saying this, she explains that language has a huge impact on her life in general, how when surrounded by different people she speaks different “Englishes”.  since her mother is of Chinese origin, her English was not the best, Amy states that she has described her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured”. Like all non-native speakers, Amy’s mother had trouble with the language, however the problems her mother faced has helped Amy understand language from a much deeper and more personal perspective. To many, a language is simply spoken and written, nonetheless in Amy’s situation language creates emotion. Growing up, Amy was always wary of her mother’s English, at times she perceived her mother’s limited vocabulary as it “reflected the quality of what she had to say”. Growing up, in the same household as her mother has enabled Amy to understand her way of speaking, for you and I it might be unclear or incomprehensible but to her it is as clear as it can be. This essay really opened my eyes to the reality of the world around us, and how language can be comprehensible by one and incomprehensible by another. Tan, further goes on to touch on a very important point she tells “Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgement call, a matter of opinion and personal experience”. This appeals to me, as my perspective of a text or an advertisement might be different to yours. We, as individuals understand things from various point of views and that makes us all unique.

Chris Brown Memoir

I started off as a young artist, recognised initially by my mother for my singing around the house I was convinced to meet with some local producers. The first few years of my career were hugely successful, I met up with several recording companies trying to build my fame. I aimed at being an inspiration to my audience, with my creative and genuine schtick. Looking back on my adventurous life, I feel my racial background had an impact on my life a great deal. As a young chid I grew up in a loving household with a shared love and passion for music. My music is aimed at teenagers, as it speaks to them and has an impact on their lives in certain ways. My upward spiral to success was only a dream. However, a domestic dispute in early 2009 led to a turning point not only in my career but in my life as well. After pleading guilty to domestic violence, I was sentenced to 131 days in jail. Life in jail was the worst experience in my life, I felt as if I had let my fans down. I always aspired to be a role model to my fans, especially since what I do in my life affects the public and comes into question of public scrutiny, so my behaviour which I am not proud of left a bad taste in many people’s mouths. My aim was to inspire my audience to be creative and promote originality, as well as to provide them with self confidence, perhaps since I grew up of a different racial background to many of those around me,  that might have had an impact on my self esteem and older life, which may have also instigated the domestic violence case. Jail life was a huge life lesson, I learned to be more appreciative of things that I’m blessed with, I’ve taken time to reflect the importance of learning from my mistakes. Ever since being in jail, I had stopped my music writing, it is a depressing place, a true eye opener in fact. Waking up every morning by a guard, not having any family by your side is depressing, being in the cell most of the day gave me plenty of time to reflect on my actions and understand my true self. In the wake of this scandal, I thank my fans, music is a passion of mine, I try to write my music to evoke as much emotion and feeling as I can, to unify the audience and the lyrics. 

In conclusion, I feel the worst experience of my life instigated a new me, a more appreciative me in terms of what I am blessed with. In this day and age, especially with regards to my fan base who are constantly surrounded by social media and the internet, news travels very fast, so I feel I have let my fans down and myself down with childish behaviour. Just to reiterate, my experience in jail drove a change in me, a change to create meaningful music whereby my fans enjoy. My family has always been very supportive of me, and I feel that I let them down a great way, however I feel my past experiences has promoted a new outlook on life and has promoted me to write more meaningful music to an audience who is easy to influence, I want my music to speak volumes.

A good name

Some say your name has an immense effect on your personality as an individual. My name, well is quite simple- Muhammad or Mohammed which ever you wish to spell it. However, such a simple name has an incredible religious and cultural appreciation. As many may know, the name Muhammad was given to the last Islamic prophet, he was an example to all muslims from far and wide. It has been said, an individual benefits from certain qualities within his name. Roughly, when translated, Muhammad means the praiseworthy. Some of the attributes associated with the name include; honesty, patience and respect, though not all of these attributes relate to my personality (unfortunately). The name Muhammad was first used around the year 570 and currently is the most common name in the world. Personally, living with a name of such high religious and cultural prestige is a great honour and privilege. It is my goal in life to embrace my name and live up to the high standards associated with it. In my opinion, my name has shaped my personality in some ways, however my surroundings has also had a similar effect. I am proud to be called Muhammad, and Muhammad is my good name.

Introduction- Me

My name is Muhammad, and I’m currently an IB diploma student. The purpose of this blog is to document my development through the language and literature course, as well as to offer my personal opinions on various language related topics.

 I personally am interested in sports, especially football which really intrigues me. Generally, I care for many things and enjoy doing various activities, just like most people. Among these things are sports and school, I try to take pride in everything i do whether it is a report for school or on the sports field. Personally, I enjoy playing sports as it gets me away from the real world, when on the pitch all I focus on is playing. Football is my passion, it sparks a different side of me, a rather passionate one. Whenever, I’m free I pickup a ball and start kicking it around. from a very young age, I was introduced to sports by either my friends and even family, it takes me to another dimension, another world. A world with no boundaries, no limits, no stress, only freedom.

When it came to considering my goals for the future, three personal milestones were questioned, one being when I graduate school, the other when I graduate university and the third being when I reach my 30th birthday. When considering these goals, I wanted to be as realistic as I could. Furthermore, like most people my goals vary from sports to academics, one of my lifelong ambitions is making a trip to North London to watch the Arsenal play live, this is a football club in which my passion lies, cut my veins open and I bleed Arsenal red, on the other hand, I have academic goals for school and university as well, as I said by the end of grade 12 I want to graduate with the IB diploma and by the end of university graduate with a degree, I further stated that by the time I am 30 years old, it would be a goal of mine to have a steady job. Moreover, when thinking back these three goals of mine interlink as graduating school in the first place will allow me to get into university and thus (hopefully) be a pathway to many, many opportunities.  

In my opinion, language will and does play an important part in my life, since I live in a country whereby I get to meet people from all walks of life, and at times language is a barrier, therefore it is important for me. Meeting people who are from very different walks of life really is amazing. Before, I moved to the UAE, my interpretation of the world was very one dimensional, I had a very unappreciative outlook on the world. However, almost instantly my outlook changed. Living among different people has given me a much more positive outlook on the world and life in general and thus, through language, I am able to express deep emotions that perhaps could not be explained otherwise, thus language helps me on an emotional, social as well as an academic level.