Fact or Fiction? Friend or Foe?

“You see a McDonald’s label and kids start salivating”. The article from CNN Food in McDonald’s wrapper tastes better to kids is a great example of building brand name loyalty. This article is about how kids like food better if it’s wrapped in a McDonalds wrapper. A study showed that out of 63 children between the ages of 3 and 5 only two of the children had never eaten at McDonald’s before. These children have it put into their mind that McDonald’s wrapped food is better because of all of the advertising it has, that makes the restaurant very appealing to children. This is an example of brand name loyalty because once these children have seen the McDonalds label they expect it to be delicious and they out it in their head that it is going to be good.

Advertisement these days seem to be targeting mostly children even if their product is meant for adults. There are four methods that companies use to reach children. First is the marriage of psychology and marketing which is where psychologist analyse children to see what they are interested in and what they think about to make their products appealing. Second is building brand name loyalty which is where advertisement is exposed to children as young as 6 months old so much that they can recognize brand logos and mascots. They do this by putting advertising during hours where most children watch television. Third is buzz/street/stealth marketing which is where advertisers find the “popular” kids in a community and give them their product to have them wear it or use it so it becomes the “cool” thing to have. Last there is marketing adult entertainment to kids. This is were companies make things like R-rated movies and M-rated games look very appealing to kids under 17, by using content they are interested in. I think all these methods are very mischievous and I don’t really see the need to be sneeky about advertising. They can just advertise normally with billboards and such.

In Beijing, China there is a new security measure being brought up. There will be animated cartoon police popping up on almost every ones  browser to remind them not to be going on any sites “that the ruling Communist Party finds politically or morally threatening.” What they mean by this is not only the usual nudity and illegal stuff but also any sites coming from different countries (ex: Myspace, Google etc.) will not be allowed.

I think that the use of the animated police would be a good idea if they were only banning illegal things such as pirated music, books and movies and profanity. But to take away (what we call) popular sites is out of the question. As long as it’s appropriate there should be no banned sites. I think it would even be a good idea for the U.S. if they were to use it only for inappropriate conduct.

Kim ll Sung the leader of North Korea uses censorship and propaganda to control his people. He uses propaganda by influencing the people to obey his laws and praise him. For example, it is against the law to look foreigners in the eyes and only certain people can speak to them. Also, he has a great amount of statues of himself all over the place so the North Koreans have to praise and give flowers to these statues.

Personally, this whole situation is very ridiculous. How can one man think it’s right to make people like him? It’s almost like he has all of them brainwashed. The whole situation is very depressing to see and hear about. Even if the people completly disagree with the leader, they still have to do all these things unless they want to pay the consequense.

While reading the article ‘Hand over your broadcast equipment’:Pakistan Stifles Media, Cuts Phone Lines from ABC News I was thinking how absurd the whole situation is. Basically what is happening is that the president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has decided to shut down all media services, for examples, phones lines have been cut and some broadcasts messed with. Musharraf shuts down any media outlets so that no one can “defame or bring into ridicule” him, his administration or the military. Personally I really don’t understand the reasoning behind Musharraf’s decision. I probably don’t understand because here in the United States we have Right of Speech so there wouldn’t be any reason for our president to shut down any media services that give their opinion. Also the effect of this action on the Pakistani people is that it’s causing a lot of problems for editors. Any editor that disobeys the new law can face up to a year in jail or a 5 million rupee fine(83,000).

1. How did your book turn out? Did it come out like you envisioned?

I think my children’s book turn out rather well but it could have been better. It sort of came out like I envisioned but in some ways we could have improved. For example, I think our group should have looked for better music so that we could have had different songs for different parts of the story.

2. Explain how you worked in elements from the Word Wall:
Plot Diagram (suspense)
Mood (How did you create mood/tone)
Figurative Language-hyperbole-personification-metaphor-simile
**Is it worthwhile turning these into digital books?
**Did this assignment help you better understand the concepts from our Word Wall?

For our story we worked in elements from the Word Wall by using a plot diagram and creating a mood of happiness. I think it was really worthwhile turning these into digital books because theres so much more you can do with them. For example, editing your voice and each slide. So yes it’s really worthwhile. This assignment did help me better understand the concepts from the Word Wall because we put the words in a context so it made them easier to understand.

3. What would you do next time to make your book even better?

Next time to make my book even better I think I will organize my time better to get everything done and perfect.