Lucky Cigarettes

George Washington Hill was a president of the American Tobacco company. He spent his waking hours thinking of ways to improve the Lucky brand. His wife said he was practically obsessed with trying to get woman to but the cigarette because they were such a large potential and no one was getting them to smoke. Hill finally got then to smoke and was personal with them on two levels Health and Fashion both of which were dearly stressed by woman. There new slogan became "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet". In 1929 it was acceptable for woman to smoke inside of the house but outside was a no no because of the possibility of being seen as a whore. Hill wanted woman smoking outside of the house to become popular and was finally done so during an easter parade. Next, woman found the package color unappealing so when they requested for the dreadful green color package to be changed to a more neutral color for fashion purposes hill instead decided to change fashion and green became the color for every fashionista.

"Radio and the Child"

The Radio is a form a technology that without a doubt many rely on. In the piece "Radio and the Child" by Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg we see that the radio was seen as a threat to parents in the past. In the 1930's Parents were threaten by the radio because it was influencing their children in negative ways. "We must not overlook, however the important fact that in some respects the radio finds the parents more helpless than the movies or the funnies" (Grurenberg pg123). At first when i read this i was taken by surprise as to why the radio was a threat to parents, but as i read through the article i quickly understood. like the invention of the movie theater the rise of the radio was a threat to parents because children were engaging in the new phenomenas. while engaging in these things there minds were being poisoned by the ways of society and before parents knew it they were losing control of their children.

Americanization through Media

The role of newspapers are crucial in obtaining and distributing information, endorsing opinion and promoting political campaigns. One important role it designed to address in the 1920's is setting new standardization for immigrants in the American society. Robert E. Park proposes that through advertising, immigrants can move from the ghetto, where there are mostly assimilated, and move into a mainstream ideal American society. Through the businesses and goods reflected in advertisements, immigrants can learn the cultural and moral values set by America which can ultimately teach these immigrants on what is supposed to be the "American Dream". Park offers a statement that corresponds with this theory; "Americans may even go one step farther. By encouraging the foreign-language press to emphasise the immigrant heritages congenial to ours, by showing it the friendly side of America, it is possible to hasten its development into an instrument of Americanization". Park shows that through this article, the art of persuasion can be accomplished through media, and to help integrate people from different morals, values, customs, traditions, and beliefs in to an American society, is the best from of persuasion.

CHAPTER 10 "ALL WRONG"

THE ARTICLE TITLED "ALL WRONG" BY RICHARD CONNELL DESCRIBES A YOUNG MAN'S JOURNEY FROM ENGLAND TO NEW YORK CITY. THE YOUNG MAN NAMED T.D.A. MARCHBANKS JOURNIES TO AMERICA TO VISIT HIS UNCLE IN NEW YORK CITY. T.D.A. WAS ON HIS WAY TO THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DISTRICT USING THE NEW YORK CITY RAILROAD. WHILE ON THE TRAIN THE YOUNG MAN STARTS THINKING ABOUT ALL THE GOOD THINGS HE HAS TO OFFER THE SOCIETY BEING HE IS FROM A HIGH REGARDED FAMILY WITH A GOOD EDUCATION. UNFORTUNATLY WHILE RIDING THE TRAIN T.D.A. STARTS NOTICING ALL OF THE ADVERTISMENTS ON THE TRAIN. ONE OF THE ADS WAS ADVERTISING A BRAND OF GARDER BELTS INWHICH STATED "IF YOU DON'T WEAR THESE PARTICULAR GARDERS THEN YOUR PANTS ARE ALL WRONG" ANOTHER ADVERTISMENT WAS FEATURING AN ADD FOR DENTAL PRODUCTS STATING, "IF YOU DO NOT USE THIS PARTICULAR DENTURE PASTE THEN YOU TEETH WILL FALL OUT" AT THE END OF THE TRAIN RIDE T.D.A FELT "ALL WRONG" THIS IS THE POWERFUL EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING IN AMERICA.

News, News and more News

"News is rapidly assuming the status of water, communication, and electricity.
Supplying it calls for an immense, a nd increasing, capital investment and very
large daily expenditures.....This means that supplying news assumes every day
more of the nature of a natural monopoly."

This quote from "The One-Paper Town" published in the Atlantic monthly, shows how news was the main commodity at the time. The New York Sun thrown out hundreads of workers leaving them without employment. News was very popular is different aspects of life and was seen not only as a source of information by many means but also as a natural monopoly , employing many people with jobs, as well as the employement of millions of dollars being thru newspapers, radio-televison or movies.

Advantages of Chain Operation

According to The Press today by Ivy Lee, "Chain newspaper development does not mean journalistic monopoly" as one one prominent group owner observes. "It means elimination of economic weaklings, fewer but more virile ownerships".

My opinion about this quote is that in order for journalistic monopoly to occur companies have to dominate the market. This quote also means that companies will take out small newspapers so that they won't have any competition. This quote states that companies monopolize the market when they need to take over another company. Monopolies only happen whenever a company goes bankrupt.

The Press Today

In the article by Ivy Lee called “The Press Today”, he describes why some newspapers feel the need to merge and become one giant paper and also why some people feel that this is not the best for the people who will read these papers or even the people working for these papers. Lee says that the newspapers now are just following the business model of other successful industries by merging. By merging, cost for maintaining writers and actually producing the paper can be cut or spread out evenly so they won’t be so great. Also with consolidation in today’s news, the risk of running the same story on two different networks has diminished, because one company will own those two networks and make sure that the stories are different or geared towards a different audience. With newspapers merging, it allows a greater chance for a chain of newspapers to open up and do business. This is because with a chain of newspapers, it is possible for the revenue to be pooled which would once again take the stress of many costs off any one newspaper.

“Chain newspaper development does not mean journalistic monopoly, it means elimination of economic weaklings; fewer but more virile ownerships” (Lee)

However, there are cons of merging newspapers and forming one giant one with smaller chains. Some people feel that the bigger newspapers that have smaller chains, would act as the masters and the chains would be the slaves. A loss of individuality and personal attitude would be lost with big corporations running the newspapers. As well with journalists and editors being replaced, they will just get replaced with someone from a different newspaper within the chain and there is little maneuverability for a new editor or journalists on the rise.

The move from independent papers to more conglomerate papers is occurring more and more now and in the hands of the right people there are enormous pros, but most of the time the cons shine through because of the people in charge.

Public Opinion/Phantom Public

The Piece Public Opinion/The Phantom Public by Walter Lippmann is by far one of the most interesting pieces that i have read throughout the course. It details alot of points that are of keen interest on my behalf. One of the most interesting points that Walter Lippmann touches base upon is stereotypes. in his piece he goes on to describe stereotypes as "The most subtlest and most prevasive of all influences are those which create and maintain the repertory of stereotypes. we are told about the world before we see it. we imagine most things before we experience them"(Lippmann pg 183). I agree with the point about stereotypes that Walter Lippmann is making in this direct instance. The message that Lippmann is trying to convey is that a stereotypes are feed to us before we can have an perspective or view about anything. I agree with this point because in the fabricated world we live in that is dominated by media we are feed lots of cruel and harsh things about individuals pertaining to things such as race sex or sexual orientation. the media feeds us negative stereotypes , especially about things that we know little or nothing about. As Walter Lippmann goes on to dictate his views about stereotypes he goes on to mention a film that i am very familiar with. This flim was "Birth of A Nation" by D.C. Grifffin. this film depicts African Americans in the worse way possible. this flim was generally in a sense used as a spoon to feed Americans a negative portrayal of African Americans. It is a good thing that Walter Lippmann used this flim as an example whole expressing his ideas on stereotypes.

Lucky Strike and Hill

I found the article "Promoting Lucky Strike Cigarettes to Women in the Late 1920's" by Edward Bernays to be fascinating. George Washington Hill was a genius at selling. His intense understanding of human motivation plus his relentless pursuit in making change happen, created "far-reaching social effects" (Bernays, p. 9). He literally was able to change social views on women and smoking. It just goes to prove how easily the public can be swayed when motivated properly. Case in point: the public buying into the idea that ultraviolet rays were the elixir to health. The article left me with a strong desire to remember "BUYER BEWARE!