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In this course I want to learn how to communicate my ideas more professionally to meaningfully contribute to online and print discourses. I think it will be extremely helpful to learn how to articulate what I’m thinking to participate in complex discussions. This course interests me because I currently know very little about communications as a discipline, as I have come from an educational background in engineering. Ideally, this course will help me blend my technical knowledge with cultural and social awareness. The topic I’m most excited for is Advertising and Brand Culture because I run my own small business, and these topics will help me improve my skills to increase my brand reach. Who wouldn’t be excited for a real life application? (Especially when it involves financial payoff!)

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Week 3: Representation, Meaning, and Media Content

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Week 3: Representation, Meaning, and Media Content

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One possible meaning that could be taken from this advertisement is that Levi’s has created a new line of jeans to fit different body types for all kinds of women. The photo shows women of different heights, shapes and ethnicities, backing up this point. The message reading “hotness comes in all shapes and sizes” further supports this interpretation as it insinuates that Levi’s believes women of all shapes and sizes look attractive in their jeans.

A second possible meaning that could be derived from this ad is that Levi’s is out of touch with reality and faking inclusion for profit. All the women in this ad are wearing the same jean size which is a 32. None of these women stray from societal beauty standards and are in no way representative of the range of shapes of women’s bodies. Stating that the jeans are made for “all shapes and sizes” in this case seems to be false as they are only showing women of one size with desirably shaped bodies. This could be interpreted as Levi’s claiming a false message and instead using conventionally attractive women in order to appeal to the masses and make more sales.

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Old Money Aesthetic Style Guide 2023 - House of Harvey

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The theory of media effects that aligns most with my own views would be the Frankfurt School theories. I feel this aligns most with my views especially since I am deeply invested in learning about fashion. Most of the fashion and beauty industry invents problems by implying the consumer is lacking something that they then set out to solve by selling consumers a product. This aligns with the Frankfurt School of thought which says that “people’s wants and desires are created and satisfied through the marketplace”.

For example, there is a recent trend in fashion called the “old money aesthetic” which insinuates that in order to appear classy and fashionable you have to dress like you come from money. Basically, the industry has just rebranded minimalist styles of fashion in order to make them sound new and exciting which prompts consumers to buy more products. Before this trend existed, no one was concerned with looking wealthy so the fashion marketers created this desire out of thin air. They then filled this desire by selling products dubbed “classic”, “neutral”, or “high quality” to solve this problem. They create this desire by pushing a certain lifestyle to the masses that they then give you the products to try and emulate. In this example, it is quite ironic that they created an idyllic rich lifestyle which can only be achieved by spending more money.

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You've probably heard the term old money aesthetic, as it's currently a major trend, and one that I personally love and try to emulate in my own style. So what is old money aesthetic and why am I obsessed?

Old money aesthetic has also been called quiet luxury, which in my opinion is just one part of what embodies the trend. It's not only about pieces with less brand logos, but it's also about a timeless and expensive style that symbolizes high society. And of course, well, the aesthetic is also old. Think style icons like Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana, travel destinations like the Hamptons and Lake Como, and iconic brands such as Ralph Lauren and Hermés.

Even if you can't afford to dress like an elite, you can still achieve the old money aesthetic style. I'm including designer pieces, as well as more affordable outfit options below.
SHOP THE LOOK

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Old Money Aesthetic Style Guide 2023 - House of Harvey

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Old money aesthetic has also been called quiet luxury, which in my opinion is just one part of what embodies the trend. It's not only about pieces with less brand logos, but it's also about a timeless and expensive style that symbolizes high society. And of course, well, the aesthetic is also old.

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The activism of Harry Potter fans illustrates the key ideas from receptions studies in a couple of ways. One way is because they take inspiration from the novels and from the author, J.K. Rowling, herself about how to live morally and make the world a better place. Secondly is that they use their interpretations of the texts and reinterpret them for everyday life.

According to Rosenberg’s article, there are multiple reasons why pop culture texts inspire fans to engage in activism. The first reason is that they have shared interests as a fan base and therefore are able to gather massive support for issues that they connect on. Secondly, the texts often contain themes that reflect the real world and they are able to use characters as role models for how to handle situations of injustice and inequality. Third, is that they are able to mobilize others because other citizens understand their use of cultural messages from popular media.

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I found the No Logo film very interesting to watch. I learned that for a lot of the earliest companies who were sold commercially at the supermarket they created logos with mascots in order to emulate the personal connection that was lost by going from selling locally to mass industrialized productions. I also learned that when companies sought cheaper labour in Eastern countries, many people in North America lost their production jobs. This phenomenon contributed to the idea of working at chains such as McDonalds being a temporary gig and being labelled “not a real job”. Overall, the documentary was very eye opening and what I found most compelling was the fact that Disney created its own town (Celebration) and convinced people to move there.

There were multiple concepts from the textbook that were touched upon in the film. The first bein the idea of advertising as discourse. In the textbook it says “promotional culture is ubiquitous in our daily landscape” and this is very evident in the film when they discuss how companies are competing for our attention so they put logos on everything: billboards, trains, clothing, bathroom stalls. This gives consumers no choice and advertising becomes a part of everyday life. The film also touches on the concept of advertising as a part of modern culture, or the idea that brands borrow from culture, reshape it and recirculate it to consumers. A good example from the film would be how Tommy Hilfiger created a brand identity based off of rock and roll culture at the time and merged with the culture by sponsoring concerts and endorsing celebrities until their brand became synonymous with rock.

Brand culture has definitely changed since the release of this video. For starters, social media has evolved immensely to the point where independent creators are making a portion of advertising revenue by producing content on the platforms. Brands now have access to relatable, average people; this includes all their data and influencers who have formed their own brand identities. In this way brands are now able to niche market to audiences through influencers.

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Top: Original Ad, Bottom: Culture Jam. Image from: https://images.app.goo.gl/LyfSsFXahUjzM24UA

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I designed this culture jam based on an advertisement for the fashion company SHEIN. SHEIN is widely known as the worst fast fashion brand in the world for its terrible labour conditions, poor constructed garments, and practices of overproduction. I created this culture jam to point out inherent flaws with business practices in the fashion community.

First, I changed the company name to read “CHEAP” pointing out how fashion brands cut corners on production costs by choosing poor quality fabrics and using unethical labour in order to maximize profit. I also changed the phrase to read “It’s all bout plastic fashion” pointing out the use of man-made plastic fibres such as polyester which make up the majority of fast fashion garments. Lastly, I changed the photo to make it look like the women was wearing a plastic garbage bag to point out not only that people who purchase fashion are wearing plastic, but they are wearing a garment that will become trash almost immediately due to the cheap construction of clothes by fast fashion companies.

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Week 9: Theories of Technological Information

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Week 9: Theories of Technological Information

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It’s terrifying to think about all the ways in which I’m being tracked on a daily basis. I often joke that the government probably already knows everything about me so I have nothing to hide anymore. I have an iPhone, and most of the apps ask to track your activity when you first download them. Apple asks for you to share your analytics with them after every software update. Most stores and homes now have some sort of surveillance such as a ring camera. Apps like Instagram and TikTok gather our information to tailor their algorithms to suit our needs. Google Maps and Pokémon Go track my location in the background even when I’m not using the apps. Anywhere I carry my cellphone, cell towers are pinging off my device to determine my location. These are just the most obvious examples I can think of, but I know there are many more, and even some I’m completely unaware of.

I think this is an incredibly scary amount of surveillance, but it is  as bad as I was expecting. I do think it would be accurate to say that we live in a panoptic society because unless you have no access to the internet, some of your information is being gathered at all times. The worst part is, that information is also most likely being sold (legally or illegally) and we probably don’t know half of what we’ve signed up for. It is almost impossible to escape the surveillance because nearly all our actions now are linked to us personally via video or data.

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My primary sources of news are all very different. Most of my news comes from family and friends who have access to cable television. I get news about the conflict in Israel-Palestine mostly from TikTok, celebrity news from Snapchat and the radio, and occasional news from the TVs at the LRT station.

Obviously, my sources come from many different places, so usually if I hear about a news event I go to Safari or Google to search journalist articles or news reports on the events to gather more information. If it is something I see on TikTok, I usually go to the comments to see what other people are saying or I look up key words in the app to find other videos discussing the issue that are not just on my For You page. Celebrity news I care less about being accurate but usually multiple magazines will report on the same issues on Snapchat so I can corroborate their stories. I trust the news on the LRT televisions because that news was vetted by City of Calgary employees and taken from news publications.

I never before considered how scattered my news information is but I think that’s because I don’t live at home anymore and can’t afford to pay for cable television for access to nightly news. I also can’t afford to pay for online news subscriptions and most social media platforms have stopped showing Canadian news content so I’ve had to turn to other sources for news.

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Week 14: Final Reflection and Takeaways 

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Week 14: Final Reflection and Takeaways 

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After reading through my previous reflections it is clear that I’ve learned so much from this course. I think the most interesting takeaway I have from this course is that messages are constantly being created and interpreted and there are so many factors that go into gathering meaning from a medium. I find this so compelling because I had never done a deep dive into how messages are imbedded with meaning, how the messages are conveyed, and how the messages are interpreted by audiences. To be honest, I never realized how much thought goes into things like political messaging or advertising and I realize now that it is very complex.

The video No Logo was quite possibly my favourite part of the course. I was very intrigued to learn more about brand identities, capitalism, and communication. A lot of the concepts from this video will influence how I communicate messaging for my small business. I’m still in the process of discovering my brand so this video and the textbook have shown me ways to improve my advertising as well a s given me examples of what I want to avoid based on my own moral compass.

Most importantly, I think this course will help me communicate for effectively in my relationships. With the knowledge I now have about encoding and decoding messages, I’m able to better understand how and why miscommunication happens. I understand now how important my personal context is in shaping my messages and also how every person I communicate with has their own background and ideas that influence how they understand my messages. I hope to better understand the people around me by analyzing their communication from multiple angles instead of taking it at face value.