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Gender marketing
The influence of culture on consumer behavior
The influence of culture on consumer behavior
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Recommended: Gender marketing
Seeing Nature Through Our Own Eyes
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Cultural signs and messages can be seen everywhere. Advertisements are one example of these signs and messages. All of these advertisements are made depending on what our society wants and how we view things. For example, many ads try to attract a busy, stressed out, urbanized man to a more peaceful and calm scenario by making a connection of their product to a peaceful part of nature. Since we believe that nature is peaceful and calm, we believe these products will bring us these qualities through nature. If nature were labeled as disturbing and unbearable, then these ads, which try to connect nature with their product, would not attract us. Oscar Wilde also agrees with this when he points out ìThings are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced usî(Oates 465). A careful analysis of a few ads can help exemplify this belief. Everything we see, including these advertisements of nature, is interpreted differently depending on our background and experiences that has influenced us.
All advertisements fall into one or more of three categories defined by Merchant. These categories are hierarchy, dialectics, or pastoral. The hierarchy category includes masculine aspects such as activeness, dominance, and adventure. On the other hand, the pastoral category is the opposite of the hierarchy category and includes more feminine ideas such as passiveness, peacefulness, and motherhood. The remaining dialectic category is one that is hard to define because it is neither active nor passive. This category falls in between hierarchy and pastoral because it contains ads that contain ideas that are neither feminine nor masculine. The following descriptions of the three ads fall into one or more of these categories.
The first advertisement of a Nissan Xterra SUV gives you a ëreference domainí of strength, comfort, and power. The ad tries to convince us to buy this SUV, which can be used to conquer nature comfortably. The ads has in big bold letters ìCouch for Sale,î as it tells us that this SUV can be taken to ìthe mountains, the rivers, the oceans, whereverî and we can still be comfortable with this new type of ìcouch.î The ad tries to make our couch at home seem boring and this SUV not only comfortable but also more fun by telling us ìrid [ourselves] of the soft, fluffy cushions and venture to where the fun is.
The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, first published in 1789, is the first example of a slave narrative. Unlike most of the class, I took it upon myself to read the entire story of Equiano’s Travels, abridged and edited by Paul Edwards. In that version, as in the version represented in The Norton Anthology American Literature Shorter Fifth Edition, the journey of Olaudah Equiano is expressed in his own words, from his own point of view. That makes this writing a truly unique piece of literature. It is not only the first slave narrative but also one of the only ones written pre-civil war by a former slave, and someone seized from Africa. These facts give the writing a unique feel, for it is the words of a man that was born a free man, raised to be a ruler of his tribe, kidnapped and made into a slave as a young child, and then journeying through life to become once again free as a mature adult. Equiano experienced almost all parts of a slave’s existence. He was a slave throughout Africa, England, and the New World.
Equiano’s journey begins as a child where he is kidnapped from his village along with his sister, Equiano’s childhood naivety is emphasized from the beginning of this narrative and is hinted at throughout, reflecting on the childish wonder of the young Equiano and making for an even more shocking narrative as a result of the European culture shock he faced along with the European treatment of slaves. Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? New Light on Eighteenth-Century Question of Identity Vincent Carretta argues the birthplace of Olaudah Equiano, arguing that the author may not have been born in Africa but moreover born into slavery in South Carolina. Equiano himself states in The Interesting Narrative, a scholarly firestorm erupted over the
In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano describes his early life in Africa and the shattering effects of the slave trade. From growing up and learning to be a man under the watchful and loving eye of his mother, to being torn from his family and home and being forced to travel throughout Africa before ultimately finding himself aboard a slave ship headed for America, He gives readers a unique view of life as an African during the 1700s. Many themes are explored in Equiano’s tale, but one cannot ignore the most prominent theme of the evil of slavery and the destruction that ensues.
Equiano, Olaudah. The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African: an authoritative text. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.
Have you ever seen an advertisement for a product and could immediately relate to the subject or the product in that advertisement? Companies that sell products are always trying to find new and interesting ways to get buyers and get people’s attention. It has become a part of our society today to always have products being shown to them. As claimed in Elizabeth Thoman’s essay Rise of the Image Culture: Re-Imagining the American Dream, “…advertising offered instructions on how to dress, how to behave, how to appear to others in order to gain approval and avoid rejection”. This statement is true because most of the time buyers are persuaded by ads for certain products.
Equiano has a firsthand account on the effects of slavery and the necessity of freedom. While describing a childhood that was ended quickly by being snatched and placed into slavery, his story is a reflection of one within many stories that are no doubt similar in fashion. The most memorable, and possibly disturbing narration involves his experiences within the slave ship.
While the validity of his narrative is to this day widely debated, The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano provides “insight into the dynamics of slavery, the slave trade, and the abolition movement” Traveling back into the 17th century the reader gets a firsthand experience of a life of a young slave who has opened the worlds eye’ and provides reasonable supportive arguments into the abolition of slavery in the aspects of human acceptance and morality, commerce economy, and the freedom of religion which all he has shared with his white owner counterparts.
emotions. Sut Jhally describes ads as "the dream life of our culture" and explains the persuasive
Advertisers all have one goal in common, that is an ad that is catching to a consumer’s attention. In today’s fast paced society there are so many selling products and charities. As I exam the advertisement for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals (ASPCA), I will show how they use the pathos, ethos, and logos – also known as Aristotle’s Theory of Persuasion.
The cultural symbols are displayed in this commercial to allow the audience to understand the message being conveyed in a short period of time. In this example the message was a demonizing allegory that represented a competitor with reputedly negative qualities .
The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.
Counter-hegemony, cultural appropriation and generalisation can be seen in advertising, by wording and visual representations. The following example harnesses the power of sexual or pornographic elements to sell milk. There, however, is a subtle underlining of religious iconography and reference that has been manipulated as a sexual innuendos, as a means to sell their goods.
Rollyson, Carl E. “Eugene O’Neill: The Drama of Self-transcendence” in Critical Essays on Eugene O’Neill. James Martine, ed. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co, 1984.
The sunset was not spectacular that day. The vivid ruby and tangerine streaks that so often caressed the blue brow of the sky were sleeping, hidden behind the heavy mists. There are some days when the sunlight seems to dance, to weave and frolic with tongues of fire between the blades of grass. Not on that day. That evening, the yellow light was sickly. It diffused softly through the gray curtains with a shrouded light that just failed to illuminate. High up in the treetops, the leaves swayed, but on the ground, the grass was silent, limp and unmoving. The sun set and the earth waited.