Illegally Downloading Music... Ethical or Not?

      Illegally downloading music is unethical in many ways but many still continue to without a second thought on the matter. By illegally downloading music, the music downloaders are ripping off the not only the artist but the recording company, distributors, and the many others that are involved. The downloaders are only thinking about the convenience and the money that they will be saving for all their songs. It is no longer about risk taking because a lot of people download illegally. Since no one thinks that they will get caught the more they think that it is okay.

     John Stuart Mill stated the principle of utility, which is basically explained that it is ethical as long as it provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Illegally downloading music is only good for the person that is downloading it. It is stealing and taking money away from the people that created the songs. That is their job, they have the right to make money on something that they artistically created and spent time on.

     If there were more consequences for illegally downloading music more people would consider it unethical. Since there is no way of chasing down every offender, people just start to assume that they are safe. If more people receive letters that insist that they cease and desist or receive a fine, people would consider it immoral or have some sort of fear of doing it. Many also believe that the artists make enough money as it is, they become rich it does not matter how many people illegally download the artist's music.

    Some support their favorite band financially. Some do not want to rip their favorite bands off and supports them by buying every song that they produce. Unfortunately many do not even want to buy the music off of Itunes since apple receives some of the proceeds. Musicians in the making and well known musicians know how hard the industry can be, so they mainly support other artists.

    Artists work hard to produce their songs let alone the writers, recorders, manufacturers, and distributors play a big role in this industry. By illegally downloading music, all of these people are losing hard earned money from their pay check. This is their job and they deserve the money that we are too cheap to spend. Downloading music for free off of torrents or other sites is illegal for a reason. People should be thinking more about the people that they are affecting.

A Day's Worth of Advertisements

       Everyday people are exposed to 3500 to 4000 advertisements on a daily basis. Many of us, including myself, do not even notice the multitude of marketing tricks we are exposed to. Not only do we see many advertisements, it is at all hours of the day. I noticed many advertisements from the moment I had woken up to the moment that I had gone to bed. Many marketers have a problem reaching their target market since the target market consumes so many advertisements in a day. 

       After a hour of seeing an advertisements I could not even remember what the advertisement was about at all. The first advertisement I had seen was at 9:30 in the morning on the weather channel website. It was an advertisement was for a sport Sedan. Then while I was walking to class around 10:30, I saw many advertisements on the sides of trucks that passed me. I did not even have a break before I saw at least ten more advertisements in class. In consumer behavior all we do is watch and discuss the meaning of commercials. I had only been awake for about three hours and I had seen about 12 advertisements. 

     Advertisements seem to be ruling the world around us and no one even seems to notice. We read the advertisements and or slightly glance and then completely forget what we had just seen. If I was not actively thinking about what I was visually consuming, I would not have even given a second thought to it. Although I would like to be a marketer that is trying to invade every thought a consumer has, I think advertising has gotten to a scary level. It is amazing that marketers have thought of so many ways to infiltrate our lives. I can not even escape the advertisements while I am in class. 

     Although marketers have gone to extreme levels to get the most exposure to target markets I feel as though they are not actually reaching anyone. If the consumer can not remember the brand or the product the advertisement is useless. On the other hand the consumer could remember the brand and the product but be over-exposed to one commercial or print advertisement that they are annoyed and purposefully ignore it. Some may say that it is a good thing the consumer knows the brand but is anyone sure that the consumer the marketers are trying to reach actually purchase the product? I wonder if the consumer has a reason for buying the product or certain brand or has the consumer been bombarded by too many advertisements. I do not believe that advertisements have an affect on me personally but I do believe that my generation is becoming unreachable.

Men's Journal

The Men’s Journal obviously has signaling to men from the advertisements to the articles. The cover alone was designed for men by having a picture of a Harley Davidson. The titles of the magazine state things like “The Best American Beer” and “50 Things Every Man Should Know.” These titles automatically signal men instead of women. Generally women are not interested in a Harley Davidson from 1972 or interested in UFC fighting.

            Through demographic signaling alone the consumer can tell that this magazine is signaling to older men. They signal toward men that have graduated from a college and have obtained a job that earn a decent salary. These males would also be into traveling or they live a very active life. Examples of what advertisers are trying to sell these males are Seiko watches, colognes, Ford Explorers, and Triumph motorcycles. The whole magazine is about traveling to exotic places, nutrition and health articles, as well as sex articles. The advertisements deal with a lot of outdoors activities, beer, insurance, health related products, and technology. Even the MilkyWay advertisement is signaling men. When chocolate is thought of most would think that it is for women since women have the cravings. This advertisement just is a simple  Milkyway split in half and it states “ A treat for your sweet tooth. Or your chocolate, caramel, or nougat tooth. Life’s Better the Milkyway.” They were not focusing on low calories or about craving chocolate.

            The articles even include worldwide news such as the “Murder in the Amazon.” This relates to the age of the demographic. Older men are interested in keeping up with the news.  Also all of the articles are of course written about men, so that the target market can relate to every story. It is just like Cosmo for women. Everything is written about women and their stories.

            The demographics that are on the Men’s Journal website include 85 percent male readers. Of those readers the magazine is signaling men between the ages of 18 and 49 or 25 and 54. Of these readers, 78 percent are employed, and 73 percent went to college. The average salary of the consumer is around $50,000, 38 percent are single, and 52 percent are married. Women also are purchasing Men’s Journal; they count for 16 percent of the magazine’s demographic. Women would most likely purchase this is to learn more about what men like or how they think.

            Most of these signals relate to the culture and stereotypes that exist in the United States. Women are supposed to be interested in fashion, sex tips, and make-up and men are supposed to be interested in cars, bikes, and beer.

Romney Wins Maine Caucuses

CNN and Al Jeezera English have many similarities and differences in how each network relay the same information.

CNN first announces that Mitt Romney won the Maine caucuses but then goes on to talk about how his political platform has changed in each election. Romney now describes himself as a "severely Conservative" and in 2007 he was pro-choice and had more of a progressive stance on most platforms. CNN took a discernible point of view since they were only talking about Mitt Romney the republican politician. They give many examples of how Romney was changing his past to make him look better in the republican eye so that he  would win over their votes. It was like CNN was trying to show the public that he does not really know what he stands for politically and that if he was in office he might change his stand points which means that there is a politically biased against him. I do not believe that it is an unfair bias against Romney I just feel that they are informing the public on his past beliefs. Showing the public that they may not be able to trust Romney the way they want to. CNN is just delivering the truth and is only attacking Romney since he won the Maine caucuses.

Al Jeezera English first speaks about Mitt Romney winning the Maine caucuses as well but then continues to say that not many republicans are convinced that he is the best candidate for president. Then they continue to discuss the rest of the republicans that are running. They are using a International bias to discuss the different republican candidates and they also discuss how each candidate is trying to convince the voters that each one is more conservative than the other. They also discuss how if Obama's Job approval rating continues to climb than none of them will have to worry about the campaign since they will be losing. This shows that maybe Al Jeezera English is a supporter of Obama. It feels as though they listed the different candidates but considered them to be insignificant to Obama. I consider this to be bias in favor of Obama, without even discussing the democratic options they assume the people will keep believing in Obama's campaign.

Both journalistic techniques were very professional and I feel as though the Al Jeezera English reporter was acting like a regular news network in the U.S, I would have never known that it was actually a network in a different country. Each may have their own biases since people see and believe different things but both are very similar in the way that they report the news.

Revenge

Assignment 1:

One of my favorite TV shows as of late is Revenge. This show is about a girl that is trying to avenge her father who was framed and wrongly accused of being a terrorist which ultimately tore her family apart. Ever since her father was murdered in prison, Amanda Clark claimed a new identity, Emily Thorn, and one by one chased down all that were involved and ruined their reputation or life in general. Her ultimate goal is to get them to admit their wrong doings and pay the price for whatever part they played. 

Many details of this show were unrealistic, since Amanda committed arson, identity fraud, and was an accessory to murder and was never caught for any of this. She also was incredibly rich and apparently had gotten it as an inheritance from her father but I cannot see how he even had millions of dollars after all the court cases and being sent to jail since Amanda was 7 or so years old. 

It is real in the sense that many people feel wronged in their lifetimes or feel as though they have to do something to make things fair whether it be for that person or for their family members. Amanda Clark (Emily Thorn) sometimes feels lost and feels as though she has let revenge take over her whole life. She also feels she will lose the last people that she cares for in the world. Revenge has the capability to consume a person, it is a human behavior to feel bitter and want to do something about it. 

Some of the things that I would like to emulate from Revenge are Amanda's strength and abilities that most people do not think girls can possess. She is a caring character but yet does not put up with anyone who crosses her. She has a very polite way of taking digs at people since she is supposedly one of the elites at The Hamptons. She is kind but still knows what she wants and knows how to get it. She is determined and outspoken. Some of the things I would reject in my life are how she can keep going with her vengeful plans even after some of her friends have been hurt. It seems as though getting back is way more important to her than keeping who she still cares about safe. Amanda Clark does not see what she still has, she is only looking back to what she has lost. She will not stop until she succeeds in making those who ruined her life, lose just as much. 

I think some people may easily be seduced by a television show and some may believe that it is okay to be revengeful but most are using these shows as an escape from their life. People are able to find good aspects of each character that would be great to emulate but mostly I feel as though people just enjoy watching other lives but not necessarily want them. I think many people want to believe that reality shows are true but most know in the back of their minds that it just is not real and is probably scripted.