Sunday, January 25, 2009

Spin, Spin, Spin

Every election season, I get really fed up with all the political ads on tv and radio. These ads are so misinterpreted by the public because we don’t know who to believe. After all, there are always three sides to every story: Candidate A’s side, Candidate B’s side, and then the truth. I wish people could see through the false or exaggerated advertisements and through all the bias that exists in the media. Still, people are going to believe what they are conditioned to believe—and it is really difficult to teach an old dog new tricks (or change his/her political views in this case).


At least chapter four in unSpun does a good job of showing us why we are so easily influenced by the media: we are wired to be that way! I had no idea that brain scans could show evidence of people's political bias after they are shown ads. I liked that this chapter showed the ways people get "trapped" or spun one way or the other. I especially find the "I know I'm Right" trap pertinent to elections. It definitely seems like the more people are wrong, they actually think they are right. Don't you hate it when you talk to someone, and you know they are completely wrong and can prove it, yet they insist that they are right? It almost seems that the less people are informed about an election issue, the more they attempt to take a side and stand by it in order to appear educated.



Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Reaction to unSpun Chapters 1-3

Prior to reading the first three chapters of unSpun, my perception of propaganda was very different than it is now. I had previously assumed that propaganda was a tactic used mostly by governments trying to project their versions of wartime images. However, now I have come to see just how pervasive propaganda is in everyday life and how much it actually applies to all media outlets. I never realized that all the dishonesty in contemporary advertising falls within the deceptive realm of propaganda. For example, misnomers, eye candy, and implied falsehoods are all deceptive tactics advertisers use to sell a product. As a consumer, this is alarming. We need to be conscious of all the scams on the market and make sure we look into products before purchasing them.


Certain parts of Chapter Three really caught my attention. I was especially struck by the section on "weasel words." During the hectic holiday season, people are often so frazzled and rushed that they shop without any real sense of direction. Advertisers and retailers know this and take advantage of this. Imagine you head to the hypothetical store Bargain Buys where everything in stock is "up to 50 percent off." In the store's catalog, you see a fantastic new purse that is priced at $100. Even though that seems really pricey, you head to the store thinking the purse will actually ring up at $50. However, what you find out at the register is that this purse is $95. Instead of being 50 percent off, this purse was just five percent off. The only items in the store with the 50 percent off discount were some chocolate bars at the front counter. This is a horrible trick that retailers use to lure people into their stores, because hey, once you are there you are bound to buy something, right? This tactic is one of the greatest annoyances to me during the holiday season which is becoming increasingly commercialized.


In addition, chapter two served to point out the fears of people that advertisers play into. For example, Listerine used the "bridesmaid's bad breath" ploy to sell its product. Naturally, no woman wants to be the old maid because of bad breath, so Listerine played into this fear and it worked. It is upsetting that the public can be so easily deceived in today's society. We feed into the deceptive tactics, propaganda, used by advertisers. If we would only stop and realize that not all products really work “as seen on TV,” then maybe we could combat the propaganda machine.