Advertisers on Stereotypes

Do advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

This would be a really difficult question for me to answer. If I were an advertiser, it would be heavily important to carefully select what is being expressed and presented to the media as people can be offended by it. Advertisements play a large role in our lives, therefore I think that advertisers should be more careful of what gets displayed on media as it could be negatively received by different perspectives and cultures. I think that they do have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping others, however they should carefully analyse how this could represent an individual in ads. Perhaps if advertizers looked at this from multiple perspectives, this may improve the advertising industry.

I feel as if, perhaps they do have a moral duty to avoid it, however the ads are being represented world wide, so the advertiser may have not realise that this may have affected another region of the world. The industry should express their intention of what they wanted to portray more instead of only the creative artistic qualities of that advert. This might make the advertisement industry consider how they represent different ideas more thoroughly.

Hour Choice- Never Follow

This ad Hour Choice is characterised by the main component of freedom. This ad is promoting a feminine watch and is associated with expressing the need to individualise yourself away from conformists. The only lines on the page “Never follow” also emphasize this main point in exhibiting to the viewer about the personality of the model and don’t follow the ways of the norm by buying the watch. This could be relatable to the basic appeals I’ve talked about in class as many figures such as the model herself being the main attraction could portray this as the need to escape for example or the need for autonomy for aesthetic components. I think that the slogan of the brand “Hour choice” is a clever way of representing their idea of freedom because it is supposed to be the representation of “Our Choice” which means our choice of freedom. 

The model in the poster is the main focal point. However in my opinion it would entice me and make me think twice about why she was represented in this way. The target audience would be young adult females like the model who feel strongly about being their own individual and finding their own identity, which could perhaps be why the company chose to emphasize the western idea of a wedding dress that is not suppose to match the converse she is wearing. Woman who get married at this age might preferably wear elegant high heels which could visually junta pose that the watch and shoes are how the company expresses the freedom of choice. This is of course related to Ethos, which I think is important to young adult females. 

Perhaps this could relate to how women are represented. The commercial might have represented the model in this way, to model the watch in such a way that it would seem as if they were trying to change the way of women in society, as women did not have as much freedom as the role of a male back then, so women in general would be emphasised in this way.

Pitch Reflection

My group used 3 main appeals, Fear, Rationale, and Bandwagon. We decided that these were the most effective appeals because firstly, fear is compromised mainly of not just attracting the viewer to buy the product, but to also think, "what might happen if I don't buy this product?" and most often it drives the viewer to be more aware or prominently self conscious of what the the advertisement is promoting. For, Rationale, our advertisement shows that the viewer will achieve many things by using the bike share program, because many people sometimes don't see how it might benefit them, whereas our advertisement consists of many factual reasons of why viewers will buy this product.

Some persuasive techniques that I used were Nostalgia, and the need to achieve. Nostalgia is mainly related to Pathos where it is emotionally driven, which is why it is persuasive. I think that emotion has a more powerful effect than reason. However, in this case, our audience were targeted for 40-60 year olds, so the nostalgia will work on these target audience as feel the need to ride the bikes, and especially the bike shares as it will make it easier for them. The need to achieve was something important also, because this is Logos, and is reasoning to why you might want to purchase the bike share programme. The reason is also something that reals in many viewers and they might want to feel the need to achieve being healthy again.

The target audience certainly made this project more easier approached for me, because I know what persuasive techniques to use towards this audience, however the context was a bit more challenging for me, as it was something I'm not familiar with, and it took a lot of thinking to put it in categories of basic appeals. My approach to this activity made me a little bit unconfident in myself, because the context was something that made me stuck for a while. However, after a while I understood it and I feel more better when given situations about this.

Some images that my group included were effective in our opinion because for example, the nostalgia effect, it helps a visual representation or aid of what was introduced in the beginning. Also, the pictures do not show any bad signs or representations, except for the first slides where fear was introduced.

This definitely prepared me to do my FOA. I am a really shy person, and it makes me nervous to do presentations. Especially when it is two classes combined. So, I feel that even though I know I didn't do as well as others, I feel that the FOA will be better prepared for, once I saw my other classmates prepare. It gave me a chance to talk persuasively towards the audience, which is something that I've never really done before as well.

The Festival of Lights.

This advertisement is a poster about the Festival of Lights, which is known as "Diwali." In Malaysia, Diwali is just around the corner and is celebrated widely.  This poster is  advertising "Digi" which is a popular cell phone brand in Malaysia, and the point of view is from the company. The viewer had grabbed the readers attention by using the colours of Diwali, to their advantage, because it shows a focal point which transitions to the children. 

This advetisement exhibits evidence of Ethos because the company has shown that the money that will be donated to The total Empowerment Camp, which is authentic and it is more believable as it is more referenced to where the money will go.  Also, there seems to be some credibility in the fine print at the bottom about Digi which shows that they are authentic and appeal to be convincing to the audience. There is a Digi logo on the bottom right hand corner, with they’re slogan of “Always the smarter choice” which might perceive to be credible, because it is a widely known cell phone company and the slogan might make the audience feel more attractive because of the wording that it IS the smarter choice head on. 

As mentioned in the first paragraph, the use of a colourful advertisment will attract the viewers, which will transition to the children. The children express happiness on their face because of the light being lit by the Digi mans hand (The digi man is a very popular character throughout Malaysia) which is symbolising to light up their life. This is important because this persuasively used for Pathos. The audience who use Digi will feel empathy for the children which is why the children with happy expressions are in the main focus, as it takes up the whole poster, instead of  Digi’s logo or slogan represented on the bottom half,  as they are trying to appeal and connect to the audience in an emotional way because it is ethical to help children in need. 

I feel that the last line is an excellent example of Logos. Throughout the paragraphs above, it has expressed emotional encouragement, and authencity. However, the last line shows that through these emotional connections and how credible and believable it is, the advertisment gives reason as to why you should help these children. This is a good way to wrap up the poster because some people might logically connect their reasoning to this. At the bottom, I feel that the words “Free” and “30% off” are in cap lock because it is contrasting to the emotional side of helping the children, and transitioning into what Digi could offer you as a deal. 

"Black or White"

It was a gloomy day outside when I sat in my car having endured a long car ride. I switch on the radio and I suddenly hear my song, “Black or White”. I remember that exact moment when I heard my song “Black or White” play on the radio in 1991. What a time to be alive! As I sat in my car, enduring a very long journey ahead, I looked back to that song, and remember of living in the moment of 1991.  Being a successful artist to me is trying to express an important issue the community. Music is nothing without an intention behind it, or a concept. Which is why many of my songs have been very successful in my opinion. I looked outside my tinted car window and watched as the buildings go by. Wow, “black or white” I remember that significance. Equality of the 1990’s and the many years to come after.  Let me tell you about it.

I was and am still part of this racial community.  My audience as I expected are of both ethnicities of White or Coloured.  This is where I feel that many common problems reside in because of their ethnicities in racism. It always has been in my lyrics to express my opinion on these matters. On the radio I sing “They printed my message in the Saturday sun, I had to tell I ain’t second to none” At this time, I was undergoing a traumatic change in my life. I stated that I am not nobody, that I have equalities just like everybody else. But then what is equality. I questioned. The public of even in 2015 in this day an age all individually define equality differently. “I told about Equality, and it’s true, either you’re wrong or you’re right”  So many people judge against one another in this racial tension.

This was where I felt that chorus is what defines the song, “If you wanna be my baby it don’t matter if you’re Black or White” I stand true to my word, even of now, I really don’t matter to me if you’re black of white. “If you wanna be my brother it don’t matter if you’re black of white” is the other line in the chorus, I both wrote “Baby, and brother” because both refer to somebody I love and respect as family, so I strongly feel that I’ll except anybody no matter what racial ethicity you are from.  Its 2015, we should not be judging people by the colour of our skin. Someone once told me that culture defines one’s behavoir. Its embedded into us so we can either learn to form equality or deny it. I think that in the 90’s and from then on, this video was very monumental to me. I tried to express that people should not be scared of discriminating people in this world which is why I made this upcoming part I was about to sing on the radio.

“I am tired of this devil, I am tired of this stuff, I am tired of this buisiness, So when the going gets rough, I ain’t scared of your brother, I ain’t scared of no sheets, I ain’t scared of nobody, Girl when the goin’ gets mean.” I refered to rasicm as the devil. I’m tired of rasicm. I think remembering back to this time, this was when everything started to go downhill for me. But I’m proud of what I said. I’m still not scared when things get bad. This lyric refers to how I will fight if anybody discriminates against another race and will not let it affect me. In my song I mention how gangs and clubs are actually protective of these beliefs. It’s a war of their “turf”.

I remember that this was the period that the public was against me. I actually have a skin disorder that destroy’s the pigments of my skin. I underwent surgery where I became shades lighter of my original skin. This is why the song was made to. I remember going on Opera’s show and talking about this. This pigmentation that destroys my skin is something that I cannot help, when people make up stories about how I don’t like who I am, it hurts me” Through this song I opened up many gates and I want people to know that rasicm is only but a choice people make, as everyone is equal to me.

Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom

When I read the first paragraph, I didn't understand what it meant. However after I read on it made a little sense to me. The title, "Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom" means that Yorkshire accents have been defined as being more intellectual than the Birmingham accents. The reason why it didn't make sense to me at first was because the term Brummie is an English term dialect I have never heard of. Before I write any further, I come from an english family, where my father has a very mild english accent from Lincoln. I Birmingham accent is noted in the article as being very nasal and an english slang that does not used standard english notation because everything has been shortened for their accent. In comparison to the Yorkshire accents, who have a very posh and sophisticated like accent to foreigners as represented in the article.

This blog is about how Yorkshire accents are seen as more intelligent than Birmingham's accents. Firstly, relating back to our example provide by Amy Tan in "Mother Tongue" it is evident how  if an individual uses english slang other than standard english, it is perceived as wrong. Tan's mother was perceived as being unintelligent and because of that was mistreated by others. In this case, they have assossiated Birmingham as high criminal rate, and criminals are known to have low intelligence. In my opinion, the amount of criminal activity does not correlate to the intelligence in one's country. As the article itself later states,  "30 years ago, 10% of the population went to university...Today, 44% of young people go to university. I think there's a shift in what we expect from somebody who is educated."

Good English and Bad

Given the anomalies in the English language, the author is suggesting that the standards of the english language is complicated in its simplicity.The simplicity of course by using the example that you have to play basketball by using the rules of football. There are many rules in the english language and many words like verbs that we have to be mindful of using in sentences which I never understood as a lot of it are infinitive. The standard usage of the english language is very complexed as the authour has mentioned that the language is so complex because “…that its rules and terminology are based on Latin- a language with which is has precious little in common.” I feel that it is quite overwhelming to hear that there is a 200 page book explaining the english present tense and how to use if correctly and I feel now that even though my grammar I’d say is becoming fairly stable deriving from a language where the grammar is in a different format, I feel very unconfident about my english as there is still so much to learn about it. In 1792, the author explained how the English language was a period of English absurdities as many of them were “climbing on top [or rather at] each other” which was where many expressions started to become dominant in the English language. Lastly, the author explains that the undoubted issues of the English language is that it is a democratic language which means that the English language changes over time which is natural for it to do so.

Stereotypes of non-native English speakers.

From reading the story “Mother Tongue”, my topic I chose was to talk about the “stereotypes of non-native English Speakers.  Firstly, I strongly feel the need to express the intellectual representation of non-english speakers. Coming from Malaysia, we have many different races, whom of which all of our races speak there own language; Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Some speak better English than others, however that does not make them any less intelligent. Even in India, there are 23 official languages and most of them do not speak English. There was a point in my life when I was learning English I was told that my pronounciation was very good and my English was improving. I was very overly confident at this time, living in Malaysia, where the locals don’t speak fluent English. Whenever they made mistakes I always thought to myself how blessed I am to be of a mixed culture to be given the opportunity to learn English.  It sounds really demeaning, but people do ask this question, “Her English is so bad, is she not educated?”   I realized this was wrong. Why? Worldwide, Just because someone speaks broken English DOES NOT mean that they are not educated. They’re communication skills aren’t strong as they are taught in another language. Do communication skills hinder their intelligence? No it doesn’t. Einstein did not mutter a word until he was aged 9. Today he is widely regarded as the most intelligent man to discover the two pillars in modern physica. Standard English is regarded as being the “correct English.” Where as in singapore, Singlish is an entirely sole language on its own and is regarded as a proper language that everybody understands, even some of it being spoken in chinese and Malay. Another big stereotype is that non-English speakers tend to be arrogant and ignorant. As in they can’t be bothered to learn English. This stereotype is false information as non-English speakers are typically always encouraged from young to learn the English language as it opens more doors for youngsters in university and living abroad. Another stereotype would be that non-english speakers are broad minded as they only speak one language and have probably never lived abroad. I strongly acknowledge that there are many bilingual individuals speak more than two languages but still speak broken English. All of these which they are associated that non-English speakers do not expand as they can be in a community that only speaks the same language where they cannot expand.

http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Bilingualism-in-Young-Children--Separating-Fact-fr.aspx

http://ask.metafilter.com/10731/What-are-the-stereotypes-of-the-native-English-speakers-accent-as-perceived-by-nonEnglishspeakers

http://everything2.com/title/language+stereotypes

A good name

My name is Yasmin Erina Newman. Where did this name come from? There are many reasons why I had this name. Firstly, I am going to talk about my first name; Yasmin. No its not Jasmine like everybody else pronounces it. Although both of them mean the same thing. It is said to derive from the arabic origin and means the Jasmine flower. However, although it is quite common, my mother did not name me soley just because of that reason. I was named Yasmin from my mothers name, Azlin. Azlin is a malay name and because the other half of my family is English, they found it strange to pronounce and kept forgetting to remember it because it is an uncommon name in Europe. From Yasmin, it turned to Yazlin, and Yazlin turned to Azlin. That’s why I was chosen to be named Yasmin. I don’t think I really like my name enough like I should be. I think that because my family has two cultures it sound different in both and I’m unsure of if I like it or not.

Next, my middle name; Erina. My cousin is only a year older than me, so we are not far apart and we get along really well. Her name is Emira. However, she was supposed to have a twin that never made it into this world. She was supposed to be named either Erina or Emilia. My mother chose the name Erina because of two reasons, first it was because of this lovely, kind hearted and beautiful girl she knew once in her life before I was born, and secondly because it means Strong. Whenever people hear this name, I normally get responses like “Erina? Wow, that should have been your first name.” However I don’t think it really suits me because my character of who I am of a person is not strong. I am very sensitive and shy. Perhaps if I had been named Erina, maybe I would have been stronger in my personality. This name is also a representation of me being the sister my cousin never had, because she does not have any sisters.

Lastly, my last name. My last name, Newman, is a traditional english family name that has been passed on for generations and generations. The crest of my family name has two lions supporting it. It comes from the anglo-saxons of britain for the word newcomer. Anybody who came into a new village in ancient times was referred to as a new man. Deriving from the word nige, or neu which means new, and mann which means man.

Communication

Hello!
My name is Yasmin Newman in Grade 11 and I am from Malaysia. Currently, I am living in the UAE
I study in Raha international school and this blog is to document my journey through learning about the languages and cultures in this programme. My long term goals are to hopefully study in England after graduating, majoring in fine arts or Design. I enjoy anything in the arts. Both Fine arts and the Liberal arts, and my hobbies include anything  artistic.

I think language is very important for my studies because of not just the jargon terminology, but also the understanding of language and the stream of branches located in Media tertiary career opportunities for me.

Language is important because it is a way of communicating. The role of English is an important skill for me to learn because it is understood internationally and will help me not just to define, but support me in achieving my goals and future.

To top it off, I am half English and half Malay.

Moving to Abu Dhabi has given me privileges of being an open-minded student. When I was younger I remember that I never wanted to speak English, because I wanted to be closer to my Malay identity. Which brings me to my next point.

Have I ever felt excluded from Language barriers? I most certainly have. I think one of the hardest things of being a cultural hybrid, is that my language skills are neither strong in both Malay and English.

In the English aspects, they dominate my education as I learn everything in English, however when being referred to my childhood or past events, they’re normally remembered in Malay, which really gives me a half and half mixture.

Also, the fact that many Malaysians don’t think I speak Malay irritates me.

When I speak in Malay, it changes me as a person in my confidence and even the way I act, whereas in English I act in a manner using more hand gestures and talk about different things. This alone provides me the curiosity of how powerful language really is, as it can change you as a person and the way you act. Something I look forward to in this course!

I believe that culture is very important and connected to our language. I no longer believe that country borders stop languages. Language is so flexible and we even make languages that are even without words, like body language. Even art is another form of language as you use it to express yourself.

This blog post may seem a little monotone or stiff, however this is my first blog post ever and I hope to be able to write more fluently as the course progresses!

-Yasmin.