Read these below responses for the question and provide an answer- address each student as if you were talking to them directly and give them your opinion on their response to the question- three separate answers for these three students.   

Topic 2 DQ 1

Select an Internet or magazine advertisement. Determine the likely audience. Describe how microcultures are reflected within the advertisement. What impact might this advertisement have on the audience? How might the audience’s attitudes concerning microcultures be influenced by this advertisement? 

 Dwayne R.

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/nivea_worry_lines_kids

This ad is to promote a line of Nivea’s skin care products for a men’s moisturizer. It shows a man with a lot of wrinkles on his forehead with a kid hanging off of the wrinkles with a tagline of ‘because life makes wrinkles’. The likely audience of this ad is for middle age men. It also reflects microcultures in this internet advertisement. A microculture is an “identifiable group of people who share a set of values, beliefs, and behaviors and who possess a common history and a verbal and nonverbal symbol system that is similar to but systematically varies from the larger, often dominant cultural milieu,” (Neuliep, 2020). This microculture would be the group of middle age parents who are men as this group all share the same common stresses of being a parent but they are also experiencing the effects of aging and stress at the same time and these effects are clear through the wrinkles or worry lines that develop on their foreheads. This ad would be informing their audience that wrinkles and skin aging caused by stress can be lessened or reduced through the use of skincare products, specifically this moisturizer and this advertisement may have the impact on the audience by convincing this audience to purchase this product and increase Nivea’s sales of this product. A lot of the members of this microculture do not use skin care products and this may change their attitudes on this product because skin care products and moisturizers are typically considered to be something that women generally use, rather than men, however this shows that what is going on in these members of the microculture’s lives is causing their problems and it is okay to be concerned with skincare and wrinkles even as an aging male. It shows that wrinkles are brought about by different life stresses and that it is acceptable to use skincare products to reduce the effects of stress and life. I feel like this ad is trying to change the general attitudes of these middle age men and what is considered to be manly because using moisturizers and other skincare products does not typically fall under “manly” behavior but given a chance, these items can help improve this group’s health and skin.

 Kendra A.

A TV advertisement from Proctor and Gamble that aired in 2017 represented microculture. This advertisement audience segment is African Americans. The purpose of this ad is to show, scenes of black parents openly sharing truths about bias their children will experience. “the talk”, that African Americans families have to have with their children growing up in a society that does not accept the color of our skin. That makes it hard for us to be who we are and go where we want and be what we want. In this advertisement it represents pain, and discrimination that African Americans face on an everyday basis. The scenes reflect certain issues and comments pertaining to, “you are pretty for a black girl”, “let’s talk about when you get pulled over”, “you have to work twice as hard and be twice as smart”, “come straight one after practice make sure you got your ID in case you get stopped”, and “but you are not gonna let that word hurt you”. This type of microculture is still very much relevant today and it does not discriminate based on race, it is happening everywhere. I have heard the, “you have to work twice as hard and be twice as smart” my whole life. My mother had this conversation with me before I left for undergrad and it instilled me and fueled me to make sure that I not only graduated but I did with honors. I wanted to make sure that my education would be furthered not because I am African American but because I am a women in this society that often tells us no and I wanted to show them that “YES I CAN”. The audience attitude towards this segment I true believe speaks for itself. The attitude represents pain, worry, concernment, strength, hardships, disrespect, and sadness. These attitudes come from a deep place since Africans Americans were first chained and thrown to the ground as slaves without meaning. The impact and purpose of this advertisement towards the audience is that no matter where you go in life or how you grow up, “the talk” will always happen for African American children and it will be the talk that will help you further your life in this society and let you know that yes the color of your skin is different but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be who you want and have the freedom you deserve, this is your home too. My message is, “Racial inequality is the inescapable reality of America. It didn’t begin with us, but it can end with us. If we choose to act” (talkaboutbias, 2020).

 Zackery C.

This particular advertisement is one I came across earlier this year. The audience targeted is anyone who may become pregnant. It is a message by Focus on the Family that is essentially speaking out against abortion. It proposes a Pro-Life agenda. With that in mind, I would expect the audience to be limited to those who consider abortion as an option. While that audience may seem counter-intuitive to the message, hear me out. Focus on the Family is an organization that looks to make a change in the world through their messages. So, their intent with a message like this would not be to solidify the minds of those already having a child. It would want to change the minds of those who would consider abortion.

The hope would be to change the mind of someone who recently discovered they are pregnant and doesn’t want to have the child. By convincing the expectant parent to have the child they would be allowing another baby to carry on the legacy by having a child of their own. Also, in a more subliminal way, they are stating “your parent gave you life, so give life to your baby also.” I know that is not the direct message, this could be an form of subliminal messaging. After all, sometimes “the subconscious mind is aware of the messages” (Mazzei, 2020). While maybe not completely subliminal, the message is certainly there, in my opinion.

Life is precious. This is an alternative message of the advertisement. This message is clear, as well. Since this message is a more universal message, it makes the advertisement possibly targeted to anyone who watches the advertisment. So, that may simply destroy everything I have written by making the target…Everyone. I like this particular advertisement, because it offers a few messages to a variety of intended target audiences.