1F25 Response 3: Demonstrable Demographics

I spent quite a bit of time reading my classmates' blogs trying to figure out the commonalities and differences in the hailing/interpolating techniques that they each made mention of. I struggled a bit with this assignment because I found that every person had a different idea of what the media were doing to group people together and get their attention. While in some ways we all participate in different demographics (i.e. race, culture, etc.), we all have the following in common: young adults (students) with our eyes open to the media. 

Most of the bloggers whose entries I read used advertisements for either a) sports games, b) make-up, or c) clothing. I feel like these three main categories that I came across are a good demonstration of the age group that most of the students in this class are in. Between the sports ads and the make-up ads, the stereotypic gender norms are covered, too. 

It seems that people our age (going to take a guess that we're mostly between 17 - 19 and upwards of 25 years of age) are easily targeted through ads related to alcohol, fashion, and appearance. I would certainly beg to differ were anyone to insist that this is an accurate depiction of the interests of everyone in this demographic, however that is not to say that it doesn't depict the interests of some quite well.

In one student's blog, she wrote that she needs to be able to identify with an ad in order for it to play on her successfully. "First, I look at this and see models, not myself, in the product. When I see an ad I need to be able to identify with it, or see myself in the product, to be able to count it as effective." (http://lookingformargo.wordpress.com/) Despite the ad being targeted towards young females of all races, she felt like she couldn't identify with it because of the way the women in the ad were portrayed (a lingerie ad from Victoria's Secret that only displayed women that fit a certain criteria). Generally this ad does indeed focus on younger, more impressionable women, who will crave the sexiness that the ad pours on. 

Another student found an ad and was actually able to identify with it. He felt that the ad represented his demographic quite well and for that reason he believed the ad to be a successful one. "I find this ad to be successful for a number of reasons. First off it was relatable to both my gender and age- they utilized working class men in their ad who seemed very realistic to the audience. As well, they incorporated their slogan into the ad without making it a central focus." (http://cardilloblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/1f25-post-3-what-the-hail/). This shows that our demographic isn't always misrepresented, that perhaps it's not that black and white.

The last, and perhaps my favourite blog that I have chosen to make mention of here, was written by a student who chose a PSA (public service announcement) about drinking and driving as her example of advertising. Her ad depicted a young, white woman in a bed who was clearly ill and hurt. This ad looks to be marketed towards young caucasian women. "Although the person in the advertisement is a white female, I do not believe that it is focusing primarily on Caucasian girls." (http://torigligic.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/1f25-blog-post-3-what-the-hail/). The author of this blog and I share the opinion that we do not think the ad is targeted only at the aforementioned demographic but rather a wider, more susceptible one; young adults, regardless of race and gender, can be affected by such a powerful ad. 

I think that our demographic can be represented quite well, and has been in many cases, but that it is never that black and white. There will always be outliers. I used the aforementioned blogs to show the disparity between ads that "work" and ads that do not. I personally think that it just depends on the advertisement.