The Bad Impact of Advertisements

 

Besides of the TV programs like news, movies, and music programs, we can find information from the TV advertisements (ads). The major purpose of TV ads is to promote a thing or service. However everything has progressed day by day include the TV ads. TV ads not only as a media to promote something but more than it, TV ads can influence people to do or not do something. TV ads in Indonesia nowadays are more harmful than helpful for the audience aware or unaware.

According to Jeremiah O’Sullivan R, author of “the Social and Cultural Effects of Advertising”, persuasion is core mission of advertising. Advertising tells you how the product service or idea you are considering will improve your life. The ways people promote their product nowadays just make me ashamed as an Indonesian people. They persuade people to use one product by teasing other products. For example is herbal product is teasing another product. They are teasing each other by slogan, making joke to another product with change their product slogan. Yes, sometimes it is funny and entertain but the bad impact is people will tease another’s because it is familiar on TV. Teasing each other’s is not a big deal, because people will think it is funny and not wrong, and people will use it in daily conversation. We know that TV is the fastest media which can influence the society.

Freedom of choice and advertising-supported entertainment which is often a promoter of social change, are two important components of society that are both promoted through advertising. Because ads can give the fastest effect to social change, it is good if the ads are not identifying the racism. We know that Indonesia is a multicultural ethnic nation. We can see many colors in Indonesian life. We can see on TV that many ads usually hurting other tribes. For example is a cosmetic slogan “white is beautiful”. In my opinion this advertisement is not understand of their marketing object. It is inappropriate to Indonesian people, what about The Papua tribe which is born with black skin? Should they use the cosmetics to be beautiful? It is better if the ads in Indonesia show their respect to every tribe by making a very careful ads slogan on TV.

In fact, according to Megan Vande Kerckhove, a student at the University of Florida’s Interactive Media Lab, advertising is free speech, and it can work to promote free speech. TV ads usually use the rude word to promote their products, and it  influence people to use those words in daily conversation. Children will talk just the way they want to and not respectful. The creative teams of ads try to make the ads interesting by using the rude words. In my opinion, creative is not an excuse to be impoliteness. We have to realize that we are Indonesian people; we learn manners, norm, and religious.

Based on those facts it is logic when I say that TV ads in Indonesia are more harmful than helpful. Ads can influence people to use something or to say something. We need to distinct the policy of TV ads in Indonesia, to reduce the bad impact of TV ads. The good ads should not give a bad influence to others people, but giving a good influence to do or say something.

References:
Morley, Miranda. The Effects of Advertising. (Online)
smallbusiness.com
accessed on 16 May 2013

Stefan, tracy.  2007. Function and effect of Advs. (Online)
Smallbusiness.chron.com
accessed on 17 may 2013

The History of Ireland’s/Scotland’s Rebellion against British Government

 

As the beginning, it is important to inform that the inhabitants of Scotland is Protestant and Ireland is Catholic. Most of the rebellions was happened  because of the different religions belief, The English at that time indeed prosecute people to follow the Anglican Church. It is not surprising that the Irish grew angry with English bullying, and frequently rose in rebellion. There were major revolts in 1569, 1571, 1576 and 1579.  Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone the supporter of Catholic Europe who has a strong politic power in the stage of Europe. In 1597 came the inevitable English backlash with major campaigns’ against Ulster, but a year later, at the Yellow Ford on the Backwater River, Hugh Maguire led the Irish cavalry in a stunning victory against the English. With this rout the Rebellion caught fire throughout Ireland (Rebellion and the Nine Years War, p.95). O’Neill  supported the Ireland rebellion. The English army took its revenge by attacking and killing the inhabitants of Drogheda and Wexford. At that time many Irish dead in English’s army hands. The end of all rebellion and the Ulster Gaeleic was on Christmas Eve 1601. O’Neill surrendered to the English at Mellifont in March,1603.  For the first time, England ruled the whole of Ireland. From the August 1649 Oliver Cromwell seized Ireland.

Charles I was the king of Scotland and also the king of England. Charles I was forcing the Scots to accept a new prayer book which is used in the Church of England. The Scots was getting angry to the King and making a declaration called the National Covenant. The king decided to against the rebellious of Scotland.

Early in 1651, Charles was crowned Charles II of Scotland at Scone Castle. Following his coronation as king of the Scots, Charles II raised a Scottish army and invaded England.he was gathering the army to fight the Cromwell, but his army was defeated at Wonchester in September 1651. Charles II barely escaped with his life and he was hunted by the roundheds for 40 days before he managed to escaped to France and safety. When the relationship of England and France getting well, Charless II move to the another place, he had became exile for 15 years and was returning to the Kingdom after Richard Cromwell was not capable of running the Country.

The terms of restoration were worked out between 1660 and 1662. The New Model Army was disbanded and sent home.     Both Scotland and Ireland were now unwillingly part of a United Britain under the leadership of Cromwell.

References :

Barber, Nicola and andy Langley. 1999. British History Encyclopedia. Spain : Parragon

_________.Civil war and revolution. online
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/civilwars_timeline_noflash.shtml

_______.  Rebellion and the nine years war. online
www.enniskillencastle.co.uk/media

http://www.localhistories.org/irehist.html

 

The Cultural Effects of Christening the Native-Americans

In 1620 one hundred Puritans boarded the ‘Mayflower’ship bound for the New World, carried 102 passengers from England. They belonged to a group of English Protestants called Puritans who disagreed with many of the practices of the Church of England. They explored the new teritory for starting a new live far from the England rules. And for many centuries this people give the cultural effects such as: The protestant heritage which is contains the important values in life and celebrations such as: Thanksgiving day and Halloween days.

Protestantism has been a powerful force in shaping the values and beliefs in Americans. These values include of self improvement. The protestant believe that the sinners do not need the forgiveness from Priest, what they need are to improve themselves and ask for God’s guidance, forgiveness, and grace. Protestanism has traditionally encouraged a strong and restless desire for self-improvement.

The life styles of Puritans influence the Native American live: the material success, hard work and self discipline. The material success here means that if people who were blessed by God might be recognized in the world by the material success. The loyalty to The God came first then the blessed from God later. However the Puritan never encouraged the idea of gaining wealth without hard work and self-discipline. Many scholar believe that the emphasis on these two values make an important contribution to the industrial growth of the United States. They also believed that the hard work and self discipline was the holy characteristic blessed by God. Those are the life styles of puritan which has had influence many group in The United States.

Volunteerism and Humanitarianism are the ideas from Puritan to improving oneself by helping others. The motive of volunteerism and humanitarianism are strong: the Americans believe that they should devote part of their time and wealth to religious or humanitarian causes in order to be acceptable in the eyes of God and in the eyes of other Americans.

Giving thank to God had always been a part of the Puritans. They were giving thanks for the successful harvest, for God blessed and for the fortune. Giving thanks always the primary reason for the celebration. As we know that Puritans came from The England, in England itself the celebration were rewarded for a bountiful harvest after a year of sickness and scarcity, the Pilgrims gave thanks to God and celebrated His bounty in the Harvest Home tradition with feasting and sport (recreation).

There is still controversial and many assessment about the history of Halloween celebration. But from all about the assessment, the interesting one is about the date related to the religions belief. Literally, it is the eve of All Saints ’ Day, November 1 in the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In the evening of October 31, the Christian feast the following day. The meaning of Halloween itself is: Halloween as a rite of seasonal passage and as a rite of passage of the life cycle.
However, Puritans have been giving the various values, beliefs and culture for America society until this day.

Sources:
The First Step to American Studies compiled by Sri Herminingrum
______. (2003-2014) ThanksgivingHistory http://www.plimoth.org/learn/MRL/read/thanksgiving-history
______. (2006). The Pilgrim Father.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/The-Pilgrim-Fathers.htm
British History Encyclopedia

Elizabeth I’s Efforts to Solve the Problem of Religious Intolerance in England at That Time

Elizabeth should make a careful decision in that time; Elizabeth tried to control the religion’s hard-liners to minimize the conflict. Another reason for treading carefully was because every decision could ignite the war between countries. Protestant leaders in northern Germany expected Elizabeth to take up the cause of the Protestants. In other hand, Elizabeth was also very aware that two very powerful Catholic states (Frances and Spain) were waiting for the Queen’s decision. Every decisions that Elizabeth did at that time will be causing the angger of the Protestant believer and Catholic believer. The final religious settlement recognized royal supremacy within the church. The Act of Supremacy made Elizabeth Supreme Governor of the Church and church officials were required to take an oath of obedience to Elizabeth. This supreme made the position of Queen Elizabeth was very strong.

In 1559, Elizabeth framed new religious laws with the help of her chief minister, William Cecil. This known as the religious settlement of England then establishing England as a Protestant Country. The church and priest had to use the English Prayer Book and Queen Elizabeth also remove all the superstition in the church:

• That the minister in a parish church faced the congregation when he read the Common Prayer and gave divine service.
• That during baptism, a minister should dispense with the making of the cross on a child’s forehead as this was mere superstition.
• That those who were unable to kneel during communion should not have to do so if they were aged or sick.
• No minister should wear anything other than a plain surplice during a service.

The protestant became popular in England whereas Catholics became minority.  As the Supreme of Governor of the Church, Elizabeth gave tolerant to every religion in England as long as not out of the rules. Elizabeth practiced religious clemency and tolerance, which was an attempt to harmony the state of affairs between the Roman Catholics and the Church of England.

The Protestant, The Catholic or The Puritans (the radical protestant) have their own church and no one have right to disturb any religions and belief.

SOURCES :

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/elizabeth_church_england.htm

http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/elizabethanchurch/queenandchurch.html

British History Encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Supremacy_1558

MAGNUM ADVERTISEMENT: CONTENT, PARADIGM AND SOCIAL CLASS

By: Krisnawati Sigiro, student of Brawijaya University of Indonesia

Popular culture is always defined, implicitly or explicitly, in contrast to other conceptual categories: folk culture, mass culture, dominant culture, working-class culture, etc (John Storey, 2001, p.1).  Watching television is one of popular culture in all over the world without limiting the ages and classes. Mass media have a big power to spread any information include news, entertainments’, and advertisements by watching television or read the newspaper, magazine and website. As people watching the television, advertisement always appear in television to promote either persuade people to buy products. The popular advertisement that the writer want to criticism is about Magnum Advertisement. Advertisements in Television which are contain the audio, visual, and also aim. The cultural text here are images, sounds, objects and practices are sign systems, which signify with the same mechanism as a language.

The History: Launched in 1989, MAGNUM was the first handheld ice cream targeted as a premium adult offering. Today, MAGNUM is one of the world’s leading ice cream brands, selling one billion units annually worldwide, and it is the biggest brand of Unilever ice creams. Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries (totalfood.com).

In the television advertisement, Magnum introducing the director of their product is Bryan Singer : the famous director who produced the famous movies such as Usual Suspects Movie, X-Men and Valkyrie movie.

The actress in this advertisement is the popular actress named Caroline Correa.

Using the famous actors: academy award winneractor Benicio Del Toro. 

The Scene in this advertisement show the high quality of movie. The actors did the dangerous
scene, like in the heroic movie to find the gold (gold ice cream).

The slogan “as good as gold” giving the luxurious meaning such

“This ice cream will be giving the deluxe experience of ice cream taste”. 

Zooming the Ingredients’, its texture and tell the Ingredients are: the Madagascar caramel
with deep gold chocolate.

Simply, eating ice cream means when people eat some ice (every kind of ice cream and enjoyed it when they like the tastes) but this statement change the paradigm of people by the Magnum ad content . It is proved that cultural practices are commodified by large corporate culture industries. Since large corporate is the producer of this, the capitalism always exist into this.  In this context cultural study has been partisan in taking up the cause of change (BarkerChris, 2011).

What people think when looked at the magnificent advertisement are (based on the writer as a consumer) :

• From its advertisement content, people judge Magnum as a luxurious ice cream

Idealism is one of key terms in mass media means that the media have a power to influence society by the technology effect ( McQuail, 1983). As explained above, the content of Magnum create with the highest effect by the producers and the actress.  The director of their product are : the famous director from famous movie such as Usual Suspects Movie, X-Men and Valkyrie movie. The actress in this advertisement is the popular actress named Caroline Correa. Also the actor is the famous actor, the award winner  actor Benicio Del Toro. As a famous actress the producer though to giving impression that their product are the best ice cream which consume by the popular people. Popular people identical with the luxurious things, include their food. Magnum as a luxurious ice cream will appear in people mind when looked at the advertisement. This thought spread by the television to the consumer quickly

• The ice cream for middle-up class social class.

Magnum as a luxurious ice cream for people who able to pay for it. Indirectly this magnum advertisement make the class classification of its consumer by its content. People also want to taste the luxurious taste of this advertisement. As the paradigm of consuming ice cream change by the advertisement content itself, people have dream to consume and explore its taste. People in middle-up class can consume the magnum ice cream as much as they want. Because its appropriate with their taste, the specific ingredients which are expensive such as Madagascar caramel and chocolate were mentioned. But for people in middle-down class (income) have to think again to consume this product since the price of this product is more than the price of main food. But it is a common when people want to force their self to buy magnum when the magnum make the dream of consume it.

• The ice cream increases the people prestige by consume it

Commonly when people using the famous products or expensive product, it will be increase the people’s prestige. By consume the magnum ice cream the prestige is not directly increase but giving impression that people have a good taste of ice cream. The people who consume the expensive food usually increase the prestige of those people. Unilever very serious to put Magnum as a first class product by open the Magnum cafe. This magnum cafe usually located in mall, or famous building in all over the world. In Indonesia the located of this building is in Grand Indonesia Shopping Town.

References:

Barker, Chris. 2011.Culture and Cultural Studies._____.

Burton, Graeme. 1999. Media dan Budaya Populer. Jalasutra: Jogjakarta

Storey, John. 2001.Cultural Theory and Popular Cultural; an Intoduction. Pearson education limited. England

_______. 2013. Magnum Ice Cream Partners with Zac Possen. Accesed on october 26, 2014 on

            http://totalfood.com/articles/magnum-ice-cream

Pictures are courtesy of youtube. http://www.youtube.com. Published on March 13, 2012

The pictures’ sources are from gopixpic.com
http://i.ytimg.com/
http://static1.purepeople.com/
http://www.catjuan.com/
jewishcurrents.org