The+Big+PushWM

The Big Push: How Popular Culture is Always Selling

Summary Everyday you make choices, it could what to eat or wear. Advertisements help you with your choices. When you see an Advertisement (billboard, poster, commercial, etc.) it can help you with your choice. Advertisements all have the same purpose, which is to buy **//their//** product. How many commercials do you remember that you enjoyed. Well, those can help when you see the product. It triggers the memory of the commercial which increases the chance of you buying their product. You may buy something just because it is popular, for example, Silly Bands (popular around 2009/2010}) made a huge hit, and everyone wanted one. Not many people knew what the purpose was, but because their friends had the product they needed it too. If an actor/actress promotes an item it helps the product drastically. Beyonce in 2012 was the spokes person for Pepsi, which had a sales increase. The media also has an effect. It a news channel says that carrots help with eyesight, the carrot demand will rise.
 * Chapter 1**

Summary It could be the worst product in the world that you have ever bought, but why did you buy it? Spokespersons help with these choices. Because your favorite actor or singer is promoting the item, you want to try it. When you finally try the item, you realize how bad it is but, because your favorite singer promotes it, you had to have it. Advertisements can also exaggerate. For example, a car commercial says that if you own this car, you'll be surrounded by women and jealous men. While this is extremely exaggerated, there might be a slim chance this can happen, but often times it doesn't. Same type of problems happen with all kind of commercials. In a 30 minute show, you have about 7-9 minutes of commercials. If all commercials are 30 seconds (they are usually not) they you will watch 30 commercials (if 9 minutes of commercial). Every time you see a commercial you enjoy, it sticks with you.
 * Chapter 2**

Summary Having someone you enjoy being in the commercial isn't enough. For example, not many people like country music. Having a country artist only works for one type of audience, and business want all the money they can get. So, along with an artist, they may have a catchy slogan. "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" is a catchy slogan. May people remember the bird saying this because he says it every commercial. Cool designs also help. If you see a billboard that has cool art work, you will remember the product. Some use fear against you. If you are older, and fear hair loss, there are tons of commercials trying to get you to buy a product. In fear, you may go for the most expensive one, or one that has good reviews. While some are just exaggerments and some could be true, you don't know which is which. Some adds may get a popstar to answer questions that the consumers have ask over the last commercial. This shows the company cares, and they gain even more consumers. Some use friendly colors, such as McDonald's uses yellow and red. Red shows love, while yellow shows friendship, or care, or harmlessness. While others may use black, for a cigarette commercial, to have you stop smoking, they use a lot of black.
 * Chapter 3**

Channels can get payed to advertise a type of ad. American Idol gets payed by Coke to show their drink being drank by the judges. This is just one of the examples of product placement. Product placement is where a company pays another company to promote their drink or etc. American Idol is just one of thousands of shows that use product placement. It helps one company because they get payed, and the other because their product becomes more popular. In many movies, product placement is just common. You may see a type of car in a movie, that is because the company payed for their product to be there. They get tons of recognition and more consumers. The average movie has about 9 product placements there. They can be noticable or not at all. But, the company payed for their product to be there.
 * Chapter 4**

Summary Celebrities and product placement are what make advertisements. Companies pay so much money for their product to survive in the world, whether it be for product placement or paying a celebrity to be a spokesperson for their ad. They try to pull you in their world, some companies care about you, others don't. Some companies fun fundraisers for people in need, while others don't. See product placement and a celebrity can alter you choice, but if you knew what the comapny did outside the commercial, would you still buy their product? It is hard to look past your favorite actor being on a Dorito commercial, but sometimes you have to, to see what the company does with your money.
 * Chapter 5**