Thursday, October 24, 2013

Commercial Techniques

Introduction

     Do you sometimes wonder what commercials do to draw you in? To make you want to buy that product? Well, what they really use is something called commercial techniques. Commercial techniques are ways people make you want to buy their product. They use propaganda, which is media that uses carefully - crafted messages to manipulate people's actions and beliefs.  There are 2 commercial techniques I am going to talk about. They are called name-calling and bandwagon. Name-calling uses negative words and bad names to create fear and dislike for people, ideas, or institutions. For example, some companies like Nokia might say that Apple are bad and they don't have as much battery life as Nokia. That would create dislike for Apple and would want to make more people buy Nokia phones. Bandwagon creates an impression that there is widespread support for a thing or idea. A company like Charmin might say that everyone uses this brand of toilet paper, why don't you? That would make more people think that Charmin is better than other companies and more people would buy Charmin brand products.




Examples of Propaganda


    As you can see, this commercial uses name-calling. People were making fun of the other phones people had, like someone who owned an Apple phone was making fun of a person who owned a Samsung. Then, every started fighting because they thought their phone was the best. Meanwhile, when everyone was fighting, the 2 waiters were peacefully talking to each other since they had a Nokia phone, which was supposedly the "better" phone. This commercial makes fun of other phones like Apple, which makes other people think that Nokia is better.


   As you can see, in this T.V. commercial, it uses bandwagon by showing that everyone in this ad has Pepsi can/bottle. This shows that the ad is trying to show that if you don't have Pepsi, you are not cool or something like that. Remember, bandwagon creates an impression that there is widespread support for a thing or idea.





My Opinion

   In my opinion, there are some good things, and also some bad things about these commercials. For the first, I did not like it very much, so the thing I really disliked about this ad is the name-calling is really embarrassing to other companies like Samsung. Although it is a technique to convince people to get a Nokia phone, that was kind of taken too far in my opinion.I would suggest Nokia to use a different technique. However, on the other hand, I think the technique was convincing, even though I think it was a little embarrassing to other companies. Nokia points out the disadvantages of other phones, which makes people want to buy a Nokia phone. In the second ad, the thing I liked about it is that it uses the band wagon technique in an effective way. It shows people with Pepsi break dancing and doing other amazing things. This shows not only that everyone is having Pepsi, but it also shows everyone doing cool stuff when they drink Pepsi. 
    In my perspective, I think both of these commercials will make money( unless they already have). This is because both of these commercials appealed to me and both made me want to buy the product. However, these two commercials used very different techniques, which tells me that its not only one technique that makes a lot of money. This means that both companies worked really hard on the commercials, and anyone who is part of the target audience would want to buy the product. Speaking of target audience, I think the target audience for the first ad is adults. This is because usually, adults use phones(although some kids have phones too), and this ad would make them want to think about getting a new Nokia phone instead of staying with companies like Apple or Samsung. I think the target audience for the second ad is mostly pre-teens and teenagers. That's becaus an adult wouldn't care about kids doing cool stuff on T.V., and neither would little kids. Also, teenagers would think if you drink Pepsi, then regular teens could do all that cool stuff too. 



Top 5 Bandwagon Commercials


This commercial shows that everyone wants to drink Pepsi. This shows that Pepsi is really popular and everyone either wants or has it.

This commercial shows that everyone has Pepsi and they love it. This commercial is a bandwagon commercial because everyone loves Pepsi so much that they are making music with Pepsi bottles and cans.

The first ad in this commercial shows that everyone has a triple whopper. That shows that whoever is watching this commercial would want to buy a triple whopper because everyone has that type of burger in this commercial.

This ad shows everyone talking to relatives and connecting to them face to face on the IPhone. That would make anyone who watches this ad and is part of the target audience want to buy the IPhone because so many people are connecting face to face on the IPhone.




Top 5 Examples of Name-calling



This ad is name calling because it shows at and t with the fastest network and it shows a particular company(verizon) slower than at and t. This means that people would try to avoid to get something from verizon since verizon is slower than at and t.

This ad shows people taking more pictures with the IPhone than any other phone. But it also shows people taking better pictures with Nokia than any other company. Nokia also says the bad stuff about IPhon and critisizes it.


This ad shows people taking bad pictures with other phones and it shows one person taking






Question and Challenge of The Week

What is your favorite technique? Search up different commercial techniques besides the ones I told you about and describe them. I challenge you to find one commercial that has an emotional appeal and describe why it has emotional appeal. I think that these commercials that I picked are very convincing and could easily make people want to buy the product they are trying to sell. What about you? Do you think the commercials I picked describe the technique I am talking about. Please comment and subscribe into my blog. Thank you for looking at my blog. 

Monday, October 14, 2013

The Chinese Warriors

China's First Emperor

  At the age of 13,in 246 B.C., Qin Shihuangdi took the throne . As some people saw him, he was a very cruel man. However, Shihuangdi also did some things that changed China in a good way. For example, according to National Geographic  " During his rule, Qin standardized coins, weights, and measures; interlinked the states with canals and roads; and is credited for building the first version of the Great Wall. "  Qin Shihuangdi also did some very cruel deeds. For example, he made numerous and very expensive constructions such as large palatial houses or palaces. To ensure stability to these projects, Shihuangdi burnt many books, and even went to the extent of burning some scholars alive.         










The Terracotta Warriors

The new discovery adds 120 life-size soldiers to the army of more than 7,000.      In 1974, workers digging a well  outside of Xi'an struck gold. The workers had unearthed thousands of clay, human sized, ready for battle, Chinese soldiers, who were guarding the tomb of  Qin Shihuangdi. It is called the Terracotta army. The Terracotta army is made up of soldiers, horses, chariots, bowmen, and archers. One surprising fact about this discovery is that no clay figure has the same face. Every figure has certain details that make it different from one another. According to Time For Kids " Experts say that long ago, Emperor Shihuangdi ordered the creation of the clay army, along with a 20-square-mile tomb in which to house it. For 36 years, 700,000 laborers crafted this underground city. It contains models of palaces and towers, and was protected from intruders by automatically-triggered crossbows. The city lay buried for more than 2,000 years." 



My Opinion of the First Chinese Emperor

     In my opinion, I think the first emperor of the Chinese Empire was very cruel and disgraceful. I have many reasons for believing in this opinion. First of all, Qin Shihuangdi was very  hard on punishments. he gave very harsh punishments for relatively "light" crimes. For example, if someone stole a pencil, the emperor would probably( if present at the scene of the crime) scold the person for a hour and give him/her a beating. Second of all, he was very selfish. What I mean by that is the emperor spent lavish amounts of money on building large palaces and other expensive construction projects(like the construction project of his tomb). Finally, the emperor had wanted have the same amount of power in the after life as he did in the real life. So, he killed some of his servants and his wives, so they could still serve him in the after life. This was also the main reason Qin Shihuangdi ordered workers to make the Terracotta army, so the army could protect him in the after life.


A Question and Thought

One question that poses a challenge to me is  " Why did Qin Shihuangdi make a clay army?" If he killed his wives a servants, then why did he not kill his entire army to serve him in the after life. It does not make sense to me. Why would he chose to kill some people, but not others. My final thought is that I can bet that many people hated the emperor. In fact, there were 3 assasination attempts to kill Qin. Yet, he still survived.


Question of the Week

In this blog, I have told you a lot about Qin Shihuangdi. What is your opinion about the first emperor of China? Do you like him, or do you dislike him? Explain why.








  

Monday, October 7, 2013

The Reptilian Emperor

Introduction

        Over 110 million years ago,in the Middle Cretaceous period, a gigantic creature roamed the wet lands of the Sahara. No creature could escape its grasp. It was called the Sarcosuchus imperator, or also named the "Super Croc". The Super Croc took on the biggest and fiercest creatures like the well-known  T-Rex. These large and fearsome creatures bowed down to the "Super Croc" in fear. According to the article "This Croc Really Rocks" Paul Sereno, a well-known paleontologist says, "The crocodile would wait for an unsuspecting  to approach the river or lake for a sip of water. Then bam! And that would have been it. Once it clamped onto the leg or neck of an animal, there wasn't a lot the prey could do."


Features of the Super Croc


       This ferocious creature had many different features that made it the one of the most fearsome creatures that ever lived. The Super Croc had a skull that was alone 6 feet long! Now, how did the Super Croc take down animals like the T-Rex? Well, the Super Croc could weigh about 10 tons and could be about 40 feet long. That's about as long as a school bus!   It spent most of its time in the water. How did the Super Croc catch prey under water? It had an extremely strong jaw that was designed for grabbing  prey. The Super Croc could also catch prey both under and above water. It had over 100 short but very strong  teeth in it's jaw! How did the Super Croc protect itself from creatures that stood up to the Super Croc? The Super Croc protected itself with armor plates called scutes. It also had a wider snout in the front for either making a noise to other Super Crocs, mostly for mating, or for the Super Croc to have a keen sense of smell.



Some Intelligent Thoughts

      When I first found out about the Super Croc, I was in a shock. How could such a powerful and ferocious creature become extinct over 100 million years ago? It had everything it needed to survive. It had power, defense, and it was a strong mechanism designed to catch from small slippery fish to large dinosaurs  like the T-Rex. The large scutes that covered its entire body protected it from the large and powerful jaws of other carnivorous creatures that roamed the wet lands , which we now know as the Sahara. Its strong jaws that were 6 feet long had over 100 teeth, that made other dinosaurs cower in fear. However, I am also glad that the Sarcosuchus imperator does not live today, although its less feared ancestors like the Nile crocodile still live.The Super Croc would have wiped out the entire human race by now!


Top Five Facts About the Super Croc

      1. The Super Croc had a wider snout in the front for either communicating to other Super Crocs or for it to have a keen sense of smell. This was a rare feature that very few, if any, animals have.
      2. The Super Croc was covered in armor plates called scutes that protected it from other feared creatures that roamed the wetlands of the Sahara while the Super Croc was still alive.
      3.  The Super Croc had a jaw full of more than 100 teeth!
      4.The Super Croc had a jaw that was 6 feet long, which gave it a massive bite.
      5. The Super Croc could weigh up to 10 tons and it could be as long as 40 feet long.


Five Cousins of the Super Croc


  • Boar Croc-grew up to 20 feet long and stood upright. It ran very fast and had 3 rows of fans, which was used to slice up prey. 

  • Rat Croc -grew up to about 3 feet long and also stood upright. It ate plants and grubs and used its buckteeth to to dig for food

  • PancakeCroc-was the largest, but not as large as the Super Croc. It catch animals 3 times its size and kept its head low to the ground.

  • DogCroc -it was as big as a dog and had a nose similar to a dog's. It was also an upright crocodile,  also was fast, and ate mostly plants and grubs. However, scientists say that it used the speed to run from animals.


  • DuckCroc-about 3 feet long and ate mostly fish or frogs. It had a long narrow snout, used for searching bodies of water of food 


Question of the Week

As you have learned in this blog, there are many different cousins of the Super Croc. Which cousin would you want to be (besides the Super Croc)? Give your answer with reasons and features that crocodile has.