Operation Barack: Branding the future

Before the elections started, I had no idea about which candidate I would vote for. I had heard very little about both McCain and Obama, and to be truthful, I have never really been into politics (as important as they are). I always found myself straying away from learning anything about them, mostly because growing up my Dad would try to force politics down my throat every chance he could. But it wasn't until this semester that politics were really put into focus for me. I learned a vast amount about it this semester and it helped to finally get my hand in the cookie jar. That being said, After looking at the Barack Obama brand through texts such as Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, and videos like The Obama Deception and By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, I have come to the conclusion that Obama's use of media affected the American voters decision to elect him as the 44th president of the United States.


Since the beginning of the semester I wondered how all of our texts would fit together and the reason behind reading all of them. It wasn’t until we looked into Barack Obama as a brand that realized just how relevant all of our texts were. Neil Postman would be shocked if he knew about the things Obama did to get elected. Obama, the smart man he is broke the seal on reaching college aged students and appealing to them through media outlets such as, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. He went where no candidate has gone before. The fact is Obama proves that Postman is still right till this day, politics have become a form of entertainment and focus more on using media to reach the people. Based on this alone, I think Postman's ideas and teachings will surely always follow us into the future.

Postman - “It is my intention in this book to show that a great media-metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense.”






















To go off of Postman's idea would be looking at the text, Media/Society (Side note - This link leads to the entire version of the book. Wish I had found it earlier...). Chapter 7 talks about how Politics are affected by the media. What is interesting is that all major campaigns have “media handlers,” which are essentially coaches who help candidates improve their image in the media. The overall message is that appearance matters. It makes me wonder who was helping him during his use of social media, and how with the growth of it, he was for the most part the only one taking advantage of it. There has been a shift in how politics are used within the media in recent years. In the past political parties reached their voters through the contact and education of candidates to encourage them to vote. Now, they use mass media to produce commercials to sum themselves up in 30 seconds on TV and YouTube, Tweet, and essentially take full advantage of what the internet has to offer.


Films such as, The Obama Deception tell us exactly how media can change our decisions. I guarantee that most of our class, including myself thought about Obama differently after watching this. There is a good and bad side to everyone, and it took this video for people to realize Obama's other side and how he wooed us only to turn on us. An example would be the healthcare debate. He said that he would protect Medicare against cuts; but then he now pressed for the passage of bills that include savage cuts in Medicare, the result being the new healthcare reform bill that was just passed.

While The Obama Deception portrays the wicked side of Obama, another film begs to differ. By the People: The Election of Barack Obama portrays the hard working and committed Barack Obama. It shows him going door to door, making phone calls, and meeting people in person to try and get their vote. This film shows “Obama is a real person, carrying people’s voices with him.” Like all other forms of media, this film did a good job at persuading because it used a lot of testimonials, humor, group dynamics, plain folks, bandwagon, and strength. I think with all of these combined, the film touched many and made them fall back into the trap that is known as the Barack brand.

Looking back into the world of the Feed, it is important to realize how we become distracted by media and how Obama used it to get into our head and vote for him. Just like the book, Obama spread a variety of messages throughout the public and in many different forms, which after a while got distracting and took over our thinking process. I think that Feed fits in nicely with this idea of media because at some point it will backfire on us. When I say backfire I mean like the video I talked about earlier, The Obama Deception. We can only take in so much information and before you know it we are on overload and “malfunctioning.” Obama's campaign resembled a lot of the Feed world. We became distracted by Obama the man, when really he was playing the part of Obama the brand.

Barack Obama is a brand well known well by Paul Street, author of Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics. To quote his book, "The 20-somethings in the New Media department are responsible for everything from designing merchandise sold on the web site to blogging to uploading videos and managing chat rooms." From this you can see the work and effort Obama put in to reaching his younger audience with different media outlets. It's crazy to think about all the work necessary for it all to take place. These alone were enough to persuade people to vote for him in the elections of 2008. Obama put a lot of time and effort into making people fall for the Barack brand.

Overall, I would say that Obama is a great magician. He had us looking into one hand, while really we should have been looking in the other. Through his use of media he was able to persuade a nation into believing he was ready to be the next president. It is like Nicholas Carr said in his article, Is Google making us stupid.“When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.” That is exactly what Obama did. He used those different mediums to distract us from the truth and issues that our country still faces. I can only hope that he will become a man of his word in the future and that “change we can believe in” will actually hold meaning.

Media Meditation #8: I’m a Man! Spicing up Old Spice

Recently there have been many new and intriguing Old Spice commercials on TV. They are very humorous and entertaining, and surprisingly I both love and use Old Spice because of it (their marketing sold me). I thought it would be great to look a little further and see exactly why these commercials work as well as they do. “I’m on a horse!”


TRIUNE BRAIN:
Neocortex – Not much to think about, other than what the hell is going on?

Limbic – The music and tone of the commercials are very relaxing.

Reptilian – One of the commercials gets you pumped up and it is kind of shocking not knowing what is going to happen next.



8 TRENDS:
Technological Shift – Old Spice uses a variety of methods to bring attention to their brand, such as YouTube and a website.

Personal Shift – You get the message that if you want to be a “real man,” then you should use Old Spice.



7 PRINCIPLES:
Production Techniques – Each commercial is very different and abstract from the next. They make sure that all your attention is kept on the ads and not strayed away by keeping it exciting.

Value Messages – If you’re not using Old Spice, then you’re not a real man. You also do not smell your best without it.


Individual Meaning – Everyone has their own feeling of what the commercial is trying to do; some may see it as fun and appealing, while others may see it as offensive.
Emotional Transfer – The basic message from the commercials is only real men use old spice, and that makes you feel as if you need to part apart of that social circle.



PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES:
Symbols – They use good looking men to sell the product, portraying what you could be like if you use Old Spice.

Humor – The commercials are very different and abstract, which adds a lot of humor to them.

Repetition – The idea of being a “man” is repeated through most of the commercials.

Denial – If you’re not using Old Spice, then you’re not a real man.

Beautiful People – They use good looking men to sell the product.

Strength – Each actor in the commercial shows a high level of power and confidence.

Media Meditation #7: Go the extra smile :)

My friend recently brought my attention to a short video he found on YouTube. It is the story of a man who brings smiles to everyone he meets, complimenting them all until he finds one person who he is unable to get to smile. I recommend you watch the video below; it is very inspiring and a creative masterpiece.



TRIUNE BRAIN:
Neocortex – You're left wondering what is going to happen next and thinking about how the scenario will play out.

Limbic – From the uplifting music, to the black and white video, emotions and feelings run strong in this video.

Reptilian – Not much fits into this part of the brain.

8 TRENDS
Epistemological Shift – The main character finds ways to make people smile and take their picture for his satisfaction.

Personal Shift – The short video makes you want to go out and make someone smile, plus with it being on YouTube anyone can comment on the content of the video.

Cultural Shift – By making people feel good about them means that they too will spread on good cheer and change those around them.

7 PRINCIPLES
Production Techniques – the video is in black and white which makes it seem more appealing to the eye. plus, the warm fuzzy music and how they follow the main character on his mission to make everyone me meets smile is a style of video that no one seems to do anymore.

Value Messages – I think the idea here is that making someone feel wanted and loved is something we don’t do enough in our daily lives, and after watching this video I feel compelled to make someone smile.

Individual Meaning – I think that everyone who watches this video would see the same kind of meaning from it. The short video is simple, yet complex.

Emotional Transfer – This video brings about a lot of emotions, mostly warm fuzzy ones. However, at times you feel sad for the main character when he is unable to make a women he loves smile.

Pacing – The video is paced at the same kind of speed throughout, and doesn’t spike around, which leaves you glued to it and doesn’t cause any distractions from the story.




PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES:
Flattery – The main character flatters everyone he runs into in order to make them feel good about themselves and so they will smile.

Bandwagon – Once everyone around town hears about a parking attendant who flatters people, they all find time to hear what he has to say.

Simple Solutions – He tries to get the woman at the DMV to feel better by telling her that she should smile.

Humor – You can find some humor here and there in the film, like at the end of the film when he is astonished that she paid for parking.

Warm Fuzzies – The whole story brings on feelings of warm fuzzies throughout the film, mainly through the idea of a love interest and trying to make people smile.

Strength – The main character shows immense amounts of strength trying his best to make a woman who will not smile, smile.

Media Meditation #6: Ninjas really do exist…you just can’t see them.

I think this was just about the most gruesome and intense ninja movie I have ever seen in my life, Ninja Assassin. It is about a ninja who turns on the “orphanage” (a clan of trained ninjas sold to governments to kill anyone and everything in their way) that turned him into a killing machine. If you're into action movies and don’t mind a little blood (correction: lots of blood), then I recommend you watch it.





TRIUNE BRAIN:

Neocortex – Not much to see here, this movie is pure entertainment.

Limbic – The music makes it feel like older ninja themed movies, plus the violence makes you feel afraid that a ninja is going to pop into the room while you’re watching the movie.

Reptilian – A lot of fight or flight, but mostly fight. The main characters instinct is to always fight and get the job done.

WARNING: The video below is very gruesome



8 TRENDS:

Political/Economic Shift: Governments are paying top dollar to hire these assassins to do their dirty work.

Technological Shift – Video spoofs and clips can be found on YouTube, and some people have created flash games in dedication to the movie.



7 PRINCIPLES:

Production Techniques: Instead of it being just a really gory movie, they made the blood a little cartoonish with CGI, which added to its appeal.

Value Messages – Don’t mess with ninjas. You can’t kill what you can’t see, and forget about carrying a gun, it won’t do you much good.

Pacing - It is a very fast paced movie, keeping you at the edge of your seat wondering what painful thing is going to happen next, and who has to deal with the ninjas.



PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES:

Repetition – A lot of the attacks and fighting in the movie is the same kind of style throughout, such as swords and ninja throwing stars.

Either/or – There are good ninjas and bad ones, but it can be very hard to tell since they dress alike.

Strength – The main character makes it his mission to get back at his ninja counterparts throughout the movie, even if that means he has to risk his own life.

Timing – the ninjas come from the shadows and wreak havoc at the most opportune time. The minute someone thought ninjas would be coming, sure enough they were already there.

Media Meditation #5: LOST Forever...

The most mind twisting/bending show I have ever seen. LOST will go down in my history books. It is sad to see that the show is finally ending, but a great relief at the same time. I was in high school when the show premiered over 6 years ago, and have been sucked in ever since.



TRIUNE BRAIN:

Neocortex - This show has your brain thinking in ways you couldn’t image, enough so that it can be hard to keep up.

Limbic - Emotions are elevated big time, with twists and turns all over the island, and determining who is good and who is evil.

Reptilian - It allows you to put yourself into the shoes of the characters and think about how you would survive if it was you who was stranded in that nightmare.

8 TRENDS:

Technological Shift - If you haven’t been able to catch up on LOST, luckily you can watch all previous seasons online at Netflix or abc.com.

Personal Shift - Many people have created both forums and blogs to discuss observations and plot scenarios to answers each other’s questions about the show.



7 PRINCIPLES:

Production Techniques: You will find many when you watch LOST, from learning the backgrounds of just about every character and how they fit into the whole plot of the show. The idea of flash-backs and flash-forward’s is also another fantastic idea to keep you at the edge of your seat.



Individual Meaning - It’s hard to determine whose side to take at any given point in time. Are they good? Are they bad? It’s left up to the viewer to decide who they think is doing the right thing to help everyone survive and get off the island.

Emotional Transfer - One word, Suspense! Emotions and feelings can change in a heartbeat when watching LOST. An example is the video below recapping seasons 1-3.


Pacing – Everything about LOST is done beautifully, however it can be easy to get lost in the show (no pun intended).

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES:

Rhetorical Questions – Usually found between characters when they are angry at each other, like the mini feud between Jack and Locke that develops in the later seasons. An example is the video below.



Plain Folks – Before crashing on the island, everyone aboard the plane either didn’t know each other, or lived a normal life (with a few exceptions to some characters).

Group Dynamics – Survivors on the island have to work together to survive, and find/make food and shelter.

Strength – There is a lot of leadership throughout the show, many of the characters decide to take on the leadership role and guide everyone to the hopes of getting off the island.

Timing – Amazingly done, once you watch all of LOST (minus what is left of season 6) you slowly start to realize how everything fits and how it is flawlessly done.

Censored 2010: Bailed-Out Banks and America's Wealthiest Cheat IRS Out of Billions

1. Eighty-three of the top publicly held US companies have operations in tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the Virgin Islands.

2. Swiss banking giant UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) has enabled wealthy Americans to use tax schemes – some of which are illegal – to cheat the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of over $20 billion in recent years.

3. For corporations, the process of geographic tax avoidance is fairly simple. A US corporation will sell at reduced rates, even at a loss to their own offshore subsidiaries, and then resell products at higher prices, paying little or no taxes in the foreign country.

4. On February 19, 2009, UBS for the first time agreed to release to the US Department of Justice an as yet undetermined number of the names of bank account holders.

5. Anywhere from just 250 to 19,000 of US taxpayers with Swiss bank accounts face the prospect of IRS examination of their bank
documents with an eye to prosecution an/or civil litigation of the account holders.

6. There is a lot of money escaping taxation through entirely legal means through the provisions in the US tax code, and there is an accurate accounting of the revenues that are lost.



Lexis Nexis search results:
The topic of bailed-out banks is mildly censored. The public is starting to learn about It through news sources, and the wealthy are trying to hide it from the US. In an article I found, one of the biggest banks, the Union Bank of Switzerland is helping to keep the IRS from receiving taxes from large companies, however in a settlement they will be handing over the names of accounts of "certain United States clients." of course this is just a start and nothing can really be done to prevent US companies from getting away with tax fraud.
The US is trying their best now to fight the war on tax fraud by these big companies accepting bail-outs and hiding it in offshore banks.

Further Research:
What is interesting is that this same thing is happening right here in America before our own eyes. For instance, online gambling. Even though it is illegal here in the US, millions still get away with it and both the company (usually offshore) and the players don't pay any taxes at all.

Midterm Reflection

1. After studying media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Please be specific.

Since the beginning of this class I have learned just how expansive media is, and how it affects us. There are so many mediums that it has become almost overwhelming trying to to pay attention to one at a time. I have realized all the different types of media around me and how each affects me in a different way, like how Twitter and TV are two completely different entities, but you can find the same kind of information from each.

2. What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a 1. A critical reader; 2. a writer, and 3. a critical thinker in this class so far?

1. I need to spend extra time in order to fully learn and understand the messages the texts are trying to reveal.
2. I am able to to explain my own personal ideals of media and the world around me.
3. I try and look past the initial message to find a deeper one hiding beneath it.

3. What's one thing YOU would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

I would probably have been more involved with online media (i.e. Twitter) and learned just how valuable they are as tools.

4. What's one thing you would like ME to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

Maybe a little less blog posts of readings or class work. they are helpful for remember what you were talking about, but can be a bit overwhelming to keep track of.

5. Please comment on the usefulness of the course blog, your personal blog, our films, and our books as learning tools.

I think they are all great ways to communicate exactly what we are learning in class, and allow us to go back and remember everything we have learned so we can go back and reflect on it.