PopularCultureICS16RUE

Chapter 1 summary: Pop culture is all around us in commercials, newspapers, and ads. People can become famous through this. People have different views on what's cool and what's not but big companies always try to find out what they think everybody else thinks is cool to make more profit.
 * Question: What is "pop culture"?**

Chapter 2 summary Advertising is everywhere, but sometimes companies make false claims to make their product look and sound incredible. Companies began to realize that people would not read 400 pages about a product in the mid 1900s and began to use more visuals and less words. They have also targeted peoples' interests and fears like wanting to fit in. Companies use this strategy now to make profit by making claims that their product can prevent something "bad". This especially works nowadays that people want to fit in with everyone else and be "cool".

Chapter 3 summary Companies use tools of persuasion to advertise and attract customers. The two main ways are by appealing to the senses and using interactive ads. Companies make games for people to play to advertise. By doing this they spread the popularity of their product as people play it and share it with others. Adding special codes you can only get from the product also gives people another reason to buy the product. Companies appeal to the senses by making things look good and getting stylists to perfect everything. They also try to use sound by incorporating a catchy jingle or song.

Chapter 4 summary Companies advertise to specific audiences. They want to specifically expose young people to their products so that they can have them as a future customer. They also target teens and tweens feeling that they are more vulnerable because they want to fit in and want to be like others. Using this, companies also use product placement in popular shows like American Idol. If people see famous and successful people using a certain product or drinking a certain beverage, they'll want to use it too. They also try to advertise like this in kids shows, but many people don't like this happening and ask companies to stop. Due to this, many companies pledge to stop advertising on kids' shows.

Chapter 5 summary Companies have been using celebrities as a big source for advertising. Companies like to give celebrities free clothes and accessories in hope that they will wear it to a big event where photographers take pictures and the popularity of the product spreads. Sports companies also like to give athletes free gear to use and wear so that people will want to use it too. Nike paid tennis player Maria Sharpova and signed an 8 year deal where she would get 80 million dollars. With this, both celebrities and companies can get something they want. They both gain popularity as the celebrity appears in different commercials while the public sees the celebrity using a product and in so in turn, they want to buy the product. Companies also use animated characters to advertise but people have often got upset because then little kids want to buy the products which are often sugary or unhealthy.