SWA #5: Advertisement Analysis

The advertisement I chose to analyze for this assignment is a commercial for Nationwide Insurance. It features a little boy at a bank, because it is “Bring you kid to work day”, and he sees the teller place the tube in the vacuum to send to the customer. As the next car pulls up, the boy decides to send a coffee mug filled with pencils and pens through the vacuum and they go through the car and some go through the window and others get caught in the headrest. He then decides to send rolls of quarters through the vacuum tube, which pierce the side of the car. Before the commercial is over, he has sent many objects through the vacuum tube, and all of them hit the car on the other end of the tube.

This commercial provides the consumer with a scenario that, though very unlikely, could happen to someone. By doing this, the advertiser creates a need for the consumer so they come to believe that they need this particular insurance because it will insure them if this ever happens. It also shows the consumer that anything can happen, whether it is very likely or unlikely. This leads to the consumer wanting to insure their car with Nationwide because they believe they will cover everything. After all, Nationwide’s motto is “Life comes at you fast,” showing that anything can happen and whatever does happen, you want to be covered with Nationwide Insurance.

There are also signs in this commercial that are very relevant to the product or service being sold. In this commercial, the guy in the car that is being attacked with flying objects immediately calls his Nationwide representative, who assures him that he is covered in this particular instance. This exemplifies Nationwide’s policy that a claims representative is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The narrator of the commercial also repeatedly states that a person that switches can save up to $523. This sign appeals to the consumer wanting to save money on auto insurance while still getting excellent coverage. This Nationwide commercial does an excellent job of creating a need and want for the consumer by showing the consumer that just about anything is possible, and they should always be covered by the best, and the best is Nationwide.

SWA #3/4 Facebook Analysis

Facebook is a social networking site that has become very popular in the last few years. People use the site to post information and all kinds of pictures about themselves. They can also look at other people’s profiles and stay current with what other people are doing. What people put on their own profiles can say many things about them. For the person whose profile I chose, there are three signs that stand out in explaining that person. These signs are the number of applications in the profile, the total number of friends, and the “looking for” section in the profile.

Within the last year or two, Facebook changed and allowed people to create applications and other people can add them to their profile to personalize it and make it their own. I have noticed in other profiles that people usually add some, maybe around twenty at the most. The profile I am studying for this assignment has four hundred twenty applications. This is the first thing anyone visiting this page will notice, including the very long load time the page takes. These really do personalize his profile, and they function as a way for him to express himself in many ways. I believe this sign is there so that others will think that he is cool. I also believe that this person wants other people to think that he is cool because he has added all of these “cool” applications. However, this particular feature of the profile, or sign, gives the impression that he may be trying too hard to seem cool and that others may think that he is strange for having so many applications.

The next major sign in his profile is his number of friends on Facebook. In his high school network, he has 597 friends. In all networks, his total number of friends, as of this assignment, is 1393 friends. This person wants this sign to function so that he seems like he is friends with many people and is liked by everyone. This is also what others are supposed to think. I do believe he knows most of the people he is friends with, but may not be actual friends with most of them. This sign actually functions in making people ask why he has so many friends and why anyone would want that. The logical explanation is that he wants to seem very popular by being “friends” with so many people. This sign can say a lot about a person and how they see themselves.

The last major sign I noticed on this profile is the “looking for” section at the top of the page. This person checked off the “whatever I can get” option. The “looking for” section can say a lot about people. In this particular profile, it gives off the impression that he wants whatever he can get, no matter what it is. It could be a relationship, networking, friends, random play, or just about anything. The creator of the profile put this there so that people will possibly become friends with him and get to know him. I believe this particular sign functions so that other people think that he may be crazy by checking that selection or that he is really easy to get along with. In contrast, it could also give the impression to others that he may be really hard to get along with and the only way he can meet people is online, hence the “whatever I can get.”

Signs play an important part in everyday life. Since social networking sites have become exponentially popular in the last five years, signs play a huge role in how these sites are used. People have the ability to post anything about themselves whether it is fact or fiction. The signs in the profile say a great deal about the creator of each one.

Response to “Toys”

In Roland Barthes's Mythologies, one of his myths is about toys. Before reading this piece, I had never thought of the fact that most all of the toys made for children are miniatures of adult life. There is a common belief that adults never really grow up and are children at heart. Barthes gives examples of the toys that mimic adult careers and jobs, and other tasks adults perform. He also does not like the fact that many toys are no longer made out of wood, which makes the toys seem unfriendly and break sooner. I think that plastic toys are better in some ways. They allow the toys to become available to more people, because they are cheaper and more can be produced. Also, just because adults make toys for children that may mimic their own lives, it doesn’t mean the children don’t like those toys. Little girls love playing house. With just plain dolls, little girls manage to come up with ways to play house. This, in part, shows that sometimes children want to imitate their parents, because they feel they want to be like them. This belief can come about without the influence of commercial toys. Barthes says that these toys don’t help the children become creative, just users of products, and I agree with him on that point. However, children have great imaginations, and, maybe without using these toys, they can be very creative in making something into something else, such as a box or dryer. Children will always be able to play with something, whether it is a commercial toy or not.

Summary of excerpt from “Course in General Linguistics”

In this excerpt from “Course in General Linguistics,” Saussure is explaining the object of linguistics, and how it can be studied to become a science. He started off the chapter by explaining that language can actually be studied, it is homogenous, and it is very concrete. Saussure said that language is “a storehouse of sound-images, and writing is the tangible form of those images.” There, according to Saussure, is a science that studies the signs of life, or language, it just doesn’t actually exist as a science yet. This science is called semiology. The only way that there could actually be a science to study signs and language is if it was separated from everything else and not studied with anything else.

Saussure then goes into the actuality of the sign and how it relates to language. While some people may believe every word has a sign, it may not always work that way. This is because it may be vocal or psychological. However, the sign may unite, “not a thing and a name, but a concept and sound-image.” He points out that we are using the psychological form of language and sound-images when we talk to ourselves, because we don’t move our lips or tongue. This is significant because it exemplifies how language can be used without actually speaking; it is more of a concept. Saussure shows a drawing that explains how the concept and sound-image are related, and the order can go back and forth.

Then he explains the arbitrary nature of the nature of the sign and how, when one uses signs and expressions solely for using them and not because they are required to do so, can realize the ideals of semiology. This makes language very complex. Saussure brings up the case of the symbol and why it can be such an important term. It has a specific connection to the sign and can not be changed. He then brings up onomatopoeia and interjections, as they may be objections to what he had talked about before. They, however, do exist because they are accepted, and are subject to the evolution of linguistics. In closing, Saussure points out the linear nature of the symbol, or signifier. It takes on a linear nature because when writing, because there is only one dimension in which to write.

Summary of "What is Popular Culture?"

John Storey wrote An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. In this book is the chapter “What is Popular Culture?” In this chapter Storey attempts to suggest some possible definitions of what popular culture is exactly. After giving a few definitions of culture, he explains that culture and ideology are very close, and that in order to understand one the other should also be understood. However, ideology often includes politics, which culture doesn’t.

Storey gives five different definitions of ideology. The first one is that ideology “can refer to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a particular group of people”, such as a professional of political group. The second definition is that it can suggest a certain distortion of things. This is also explained as “false consciousness”. The third definition is used to draw attention to how texts may “present a particular image of the world”. This is basically saying that all texts sway a person’s opinion of something, even if it is not intended to do so. Another definition is that ideology is not just a bunch of ideas, but a material practice. Storey uses the seaside holiday and Christmas as examples of this. The final definition of ideology Storey gives is that ideology is the underlying meanings of things.

With all of these definitions of ideology, Storey then gives six possible definitions of what exactly popular culture is. Some of the definitions include that popular culture that is not high culture; mass culture; culture that originates from ‘the people’; and how it is postmodernist culture that does not recognize high and popular culture. Storey explains all of these definitions in detail, giving reasons as to why each possible definition may or may not work. For example, popular culture can’t originate from the people because it can’t originate from raw material; it has to be commercialized. Storey concludes the chapter by discussing what the rest of the book will discuss on the subject of popular culture.

Summary of "Culture"

In the passage “Culture,” author Raymond Williams traces the ancestry of the word culture and how exactly it became the word it is today. He started off by stating that culture is one of the most complex words in the English language. The original meaning of culture in the English language was “the tending of something”. This meaning led into the meaning that developed in the 16^th century, when culture was also used as a metaphor towards the processes of human development. However, these two forms are not the most commonly used today. The independent form of culture, which we are familiar with today, didn’t become popular until the 19^th century.

In other countries, such as Germany and France, their versions of the word culture were taking on different meanings. In France, they used culture as it originally was used in English; as cultivating something. In the 18^th century, civilization emerged, and has been intertwined with culture ever since. In the 19^th century in Germany, the word for culture, kultur, was used just like civilization was used.

Williams explains the three different meanings of culture used today. They include the oldest one of cultivating something, the independent noun that usually describes a particular way of life, and the noun that describes the works of intellectual artistic ability. The third form is the latest form of culture, dating back to about the late 19^th century, and is probably the most common use. Since the independent noun of culture has come about, other forms of the word have arisen, such as cultural and sub-culture. In order for these forms to exist, the meaning of the original word must be accepted. Despite this, there is some hostility towards the word culture because some believe it is associated with class distinction. There is also hostility towards it because of the different barriers it can place between different groups of people, both good and bad. Culture is a word that has several complex meanings, and it may bring hostility with it when used.