Demonstrable Demographics

            This week, as a class we were collectively asked to read several classmates blogs and compare similarities or differences in relation to the hailing process of advertisements. After reading all of the blogs I chose randomly, I was only able to find similarities in all entries. Each individual expressed that they believe advertisements are appealing or ‘hailing’ to our demographic in a successful way. Fellow classmate Ellen believes “that Nike is encouraging the women population to just believe in themselves and go for something with confidence” (http://em12jk.blogspot.ca/2013/11/what-hail.html). Ellen is stating that in her opinion, the hailing process is giving young women a positive reflection of themselves, opposed to a negative one. When analyzing an Iphone ad, another classmate stated that “the portrayal of the phone as a life tool for people who do various activities makes it appeal to a large demographic” (http://jattinc.wordpress.com/). With the advertisement of a product like the Iphone that can be used by either gender, this type of hailing process works extremely well. Instead of using strategies to only hail one gender or age group, this advertisement is expressing that anyone’s life can improve by purchasing this product. Both individuals suggest that advertisements have been using clever techniques to attract our demographic by not only portraying our demographic in a positive way, but by not creating a stereotype in the ad that can only relate to a certain type of individual.

Brittany suggests that advertisements are “constantly reinforcing our gender roles while subconsciously appealing to our demographic” (http://cpcframblings.blogspot.ca/). I disagree with this thought process because as stated above, I believe that advertisements do a better job at attracting a demographic without the need for gender roles. Yes, it is a successful way of attracting a certain gender for a product, but by developing an advertisement that can relate to everyone, the company has a greater chance of being more successful. I feel that the representations advertisements make about the teen/young adult demographic are very accurate. They understand how we think, what we want, and how to encourage us to buy a company’s product through advertisements.