subliminal advertising on TV

Subliminal advertising is defined promotional messages that the consumer is not consciously aware of. One way a company can use subliminal advertising is on a television program. The other day I came across an example of subliminal advertising on youtube. In the video, they play a clip from a program on the food network frame by frame. For one single frame, the screen turns red and you find a McDonald's logo with their famous slogan "I'm lovin' it". Because TV programing today has so many frames per second, the advertisement goes unnoticed by the general audience, but the advertisement can still unconsciously reach the viewer's brain. What I found particularly interesting was the correlation between McDonald's fast food restaurant, which is notorious for its fatty and unhealthy food, and the fact this advertisement was on the food network, whose audience is generally not the type that would frequent McDonalds.

Internet Censorship?

Who should control the internet? This has been a hot question surrounded by controversy ever since the birth of this medium, which seems to have a virtually limitless potential in terms of size and its impact on the world. Because it affects every single country in the world, the fact that the U.S. has dominated the control of the internet is an especially controversial and sensitive issue globally. Tomorrow, in Rio De Janeiro, the United Nations Internet Governance Forum begins. It is being held to discuss and debate internet related issues such as this that effect the entire world.
Today in several countries the government still censors the free flow/exchange of ideas, and the internet is the only source of uncensored news and opinions. Because the internet is such an ideal medium for freedom of speech, many countries want to keep a strict watch over what information and ideas are passed through the internet, and even control what content is allowed, and what content is to be censored.

Minnesota Public Radio

Public radio, or non-commercial radio, is broadcast outlets that generate income from sources other than the sale of advertising time. Minnesota Public Radio is a radio organization consisting of 37 stations operating throughout Minnesota, parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas, Michigan, and Idaho. Minnesota Public Radio is also the country's biggest station-based producer of national public radio programs. Minnesota Public Radio provides three types of radio stations: news, classical music, and "the current". Public radio is an extremely important part of our mass media, because it doesn't simply focus on what content will turn the largest profit. Because of this, many people believe that public radio needs to be sustained as an independent voice in the media.

In Rainbows

The digital revolution has had a profound impact on our world today, and has particularly had a strong impact on today's media. We now can digitally download music, movies, and other files protected under copyright law. Needless to say, there are lot of controversial legal implications within the issue of peer to peer file sharing and illegal downloading. Many professionals within the music industry and legal system have been rejecting these new advances in technology by bringing those who participate in this kind of file sharing to court, however others have come to accept the digital revolution as an inevitability. A prime example of this is the release of the alternative rock band "Radiohead's" new album titled "In Rainbows". The band launched its album last week, only available for download at the official site, and it allows the buyer to name his or her own price. The buyer can therefore pay one cent, a hundred dollars, or nothing at all for this album. This shows how different people within the music industry react differently to new changes in technology.

Magazines and Eating Disorders

There has been a lot of recent controversy surrounding magazines and the messages they send to the public. One of the main problems is if magazines can cause eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia among young women. Traditionally, this has been thought to be due only to adolescent girls reading fashion magazines, in which they picture only models having long and slender bodies. However, there has been some recent studies indicating that not only is this true in fashion magazines, but also in health and fitness magazines. According to an article "Fitness Magazines and Eating Disorders: Is There a Relationship?", the "hard body" images shown in fitness magazines can distort the body image of young women just like the tall skinny models shown in fashion magazines. The studies show that girls you read fitness magazines are much more likely to display eating disorder tendencies then girls who don't. Overall, I thought this article was interesting because it shows that this problem of magazines and eating disorders may be more widespread than we originally thought. I also found interesting that the images of healthy fit people can cause unhealthy eating habits, rather than only images of excessively skinny and therefore unhealthy women.