In-class writing 10/27/2008

1. Think about three purchases you’ve made recently. These should range from larger ticket items like electronics, to trivial daily purchases like gum, coffee etc.

Three recent purchases:
Video Tripod
ESV Study Bible (Black Trutone)
The House of Leaves

2. Go online and look for advertisements for the items, or the product website.
3. For each item write a response to the following questions:
– Why did you choose to buy this specific product?
– Does the advertisement resonate with your own personal aesthetic? How?
– Does the way the product is marketed appeal to your beliefs?

Video Tripod: I bought it because I’ve gotten tired of coming all the way to the art building to borrow cameras. I did a quick google search for it, and found a decently cheap one. I don’t know if advertisements really affected my decision, but I did choose it over another similarly priced tripod because the one I bought came with a free carrying case and could hold slightly heavier weight.

ESV Study Bible: It’s awesome. End of story. Haha, I bought it because it just came out. It is the first study bible that was made directly for the ESV translation. Besides the fact that I was already looking for a study bible for a couple months, I found a bookstore online that had really good pricing for the books. Although I don’t think the way it was marketed affected me too greatly, it did make me feel better about my purchase. They listed even the most minute details about the bible such as paper thickness, type of paper, binding implementation, along with the specific resources found in the bible such as full color maps, articles from well known authors, in-depth commentaries, etc. I would have bought it anyways without the information, but it was nice.

House of Leaves: The book was actually a result of a parody from a webcomic (http://xkcd.com/472/). It piqued my interest and after reading a short summary of what the book was about, I decided to buy it. I guess the summary was a way of advertisement, but it was more the book itself that made me buy it.

4. Discuss how advertising’s effect on personal choices.
– What strategies do advertisers use to entice purchase of their product?
– Is advertising manipulative in adverse way?
– What ethical standards do you think advertising should adhere to?

Advertisers will use any means necessary to present their product in a positive light. As such, it is definitely maniuplative. Advertising by definition is to convince consumers (you) to want what they are selling. And that’s not necessarily wrong. If a product does have certain features, they have all the right to tell us about it. It’s when they deceptively lie about their products that is wrong.