Reading Response #5

Part One
Recently after reading an article by Robert Scholes titled: “On Reading a Video Text” has inspired me to take a second look at the subliminal things happening in all sorts of video media that I have come across lately. Scholes gives a breakdown of all the things happening with our thought process during and after we have been exposed to video text. He uses a Budweiser commercial involving baseball, an African American Ump, the chance for success and the all American dream to show how as a society we can be shown snippets of a story and piece it together for ourselves making it have meaning and for some businesses thus making it an ideal marketing ploy.
Sholes states that “In processing a narrative text we actually construct the story, bringing a vast repertory of cultural knowledge to bear upon the text that we are contemplating.” Basically Scholes is saying that as we watch the commercial we fill in the bare bones outline of the story with our own meaning for it. We give the commercial a sense of importance to us by filling it with knowledge from our culture and things that make sense from society as we know it. And in making this comment Sholes is saying that we feel unified with what the commercial is saying by “getting the story” feeling as if we were participating in it instead of just viewing it therefore making it far more likely that in the future we may drink this beer, or buy this item, or use the services being offered to us through this video text.
Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k52bxMjQnsoThis advertisement that I chose to use was a recent Super Bowl Ad for the company Best Buy and their buy it back program. Meaning that you buy a product from them and when it comes time to upgrade they buy back your old product at a lower price when you upgrade to a new one. This Ad was marketed using Ozzy Osbourne who is an aging burnt out singer from an older metal band named Black Sabbath and a newer pop singing sensation named Justin Bieber who is the newest “it” guy for all the teenagers and pre-teenagers.
It starts with Osbourne in a space type costume in what could be a spaceship type atmosphere holding up a cell phone saying something about the newest 4 G phone. Background voice chimes in to remind Osbourne that there is a newer version the new 5 G phone. Now poor Osbourne already looks confused and in steps Bieber who takes the phone from Osbourne who turns to leave the set. Camera pans on Bieber and cut is heard from offset where the camera pans back to Osbourne who is seen lingering in the background while shooting stops and we hear camera man state Ozzy is still on screen. He fully exits and boom close up to Bieber who holds up the phone and states it’s the newest 6 G phone. Camera pans on Osbourne and his wife looking confused where she asks “what’s a 6 G?” and he asks “what’s a Bieber?”
Now this ad is selling us on the newest technology and the idea that you don’t want to be out of date like Ozzy Osbourne. The marketers are counting on the cultural knowledge that we all know Ozzy Osbourne is a burn out. An ex metal singer who used to party hard and had a reality show with his family called “The Osboune’s” where anyone whom watched it saw that Osbourne was none to technology savvy or even remotely hip. So you had better rush out and upgrade that 4 G phone to the new 6 G so that you aren’t like him. Than to top it off they throw in your cultural knowledge of Justin Bieber who is coolness himself the complete opposite of Osbourne and presto instant upgrade people rushing out to get their new 6 G phone.