Blog Evaluation

Before my RTF class, I had never used a blog in my life. I had used MySpace and facebook, and even twitter for a while, but never proper blogging. I think that it is a great opportunity for students who, like me, had not been exposed to blogging, to learn about it and get more comfortable with it before trying it out for themselves. This is probably the most positive aspect of blogging for RTF 305, just learning how to blog. I found only one difficulty with the blog prompts in general, and it has nothing to do with conceptual or technical difficulties. The concepts are not hard, and the user interface for blogging is easy, so everyone should be able to blog effortlessly, but of course there is procrastination. Blogs are probably the ideal form of assignments for a class, because they eliminate paper handouts and as students, we can work on them when we have time. Other than procrastinating, I think that there should be no problem with students using blogs. If it does come down to procrastination, like it did for me, then the only way to overcome it is either to do work, or learn from mistakes when the grades are posted.

Personally, none of the blog prompts seemed hard in a mentally strenuous way; it's not calculus or quantum physics. However, the blogs which I did enjoy writing more were ones that I felt related to and that I felt I was invested in. For example, one blog about comedies where I compared and contrasted how issues and themes are presented in two comedies that I watch regularly. Given that students are disciplined, which they should be, then blogs seem to me like a great way to include participation grades in classes, especially for undergraduate students. Having a blog made me feel like I was in complete control of my grade, because I decided whether I wrote my blog or not; for graduate students, I feel, the continuation of their studies in a given field seems to depend on their contributions and understanding of that field. So, I think that blogs are great, especially for incoming freshmen like myself. I have no recommendations, but I do have a couple of things to say. The blogs should be organized, and the person who is to read and grade the blogs should do so promptly, as well as posting grades. In my case, this was true and it made my class less stressful.

Yes, you may use my blog in a paper or report.

Globalization

Globalization--What is it? According to textbook definitions it is the lessening of cultural differences through the spread of media. Others might say that it is the a euphemism for world domination. Those extremists. But really, what globalization is is the unification of different cultures into a global culture through media. Thanks the the availability of media, the spread of different cultures is catalyzed into a more holistic concept of culture. 

Tied with this concept of a global culture is the undeniable fact of cultural domination. By cultural domination I don't mean the domination of others through culture, but the domination of one culture over others in this 'mix' of cultures that globalization is. This can be then related to the concept of cultural imperialism; cultural imperialism is the domination of one country over another one through media. I can not start this discussion without bringing the United States into it as the hub of globalization. Thanks to its status as a superpower, the United States is where a vast majority of media is originated and then distributed. Film, television, and music are some of the industries that are the leading cultural exports of the United States. 

Countries that are not as developed as the United States are very much dependent on the cultural exports of the United States. Many Latin American countries are dependent on the United States to define their own culture. I can attest to this myself; I was raised in Mexico but the presence of the United States was pervasive throughout the entire culture. iPods, TV shows, movies and more are some of the media that we received from the United States. The emergence of Mexican Cinema is gaining momentum, and slowly becoming an important outlet for movies, but before, movies were exclusively American imports. However, countries that do not possess technological developments to mirror the United States, such as poor Middle Eastern countries and East European ones are left with the media that reaches them from culturally dominant countries. 

Absolut Advertising

Absolut Vodka had an advertising campaign some years ago that I consider extremely clever and very successful. The vodka company took advantage of the similarity between the English word 'absolute' and the Swedish word for the eponymous vodka, 'absolut.' The campaign consisted on several advertisements which had an image that had the shape of the Absolut Vodka bottle somewhere in it, and below it a statement that started with the word 'absolut.'

I think that the cleverness behind this advertising campaign is very much due to luck. The brand is lucky that the word absolut is spelled almost the same, that the word has such a big possibility of combination with other words, and that the bottle has such a distinctive shape. The word absolut gives the advertising campaign quite an enormous array of possibilities. In the example above, they use the phrase "Absolut Berlin" below a piece of the Berlin Wall shaped like an absolute bottle. The advertisement gives the vodka a relation to freedom, almost saying "drink our vodka and you'll demolish the barriers that you carry."

The brand realized the potential in their hands and exploited it completely. You can find advertisements that range in appeal from emotions to seasons, countries, cities, people, minority groups, almost anything really. Often, the company also teamed up with artists to design special edition bottles and then an accompanying campaign, like below. I believe that the range of appeal that the campaign has is extremely effective. It can make almost anyone believe that, by drinking absolute vodka, you can achieve almost anything.