Advertising and News Environment in Media Communications

The advertising and news environments in media communications are catered to the interests of the targeted audience. Companies advertise toys on channels that children watch as a means of influencing them to ask their parents to buy a specific item. Advertisements on a channel that broadcasts programs about the outdoors will have the products that are most interesting to people who enjoy the outdoor experience. “This language of advertising, although less apparent to communicator and audience alike, is firmly anchored to cultural norms and often says more about a society’s psyche than the more obvious stereotypes of content” (Unwin, 1974, p. 4). The news environment in media communications is often more diversified because people who watch the news often belong to a wider variety of consumers from teenagers to parents. The concept of media planning is important so that the advertisements reach the company’s targeted audience. “The purpose of media planning is to conceive, analyze, and creatively select channels of communication that will direct advertising messages to the right people in the right place” (Arens, 2009, p. 280).

To gain a better understanding about the decision made by the advertising and news environments in the industry of media communications, it is necessary to determine the influence of advertising and news on society. Commercials often focus on introducing a product or service to the public, or providing subliminal messages inspiring brand loyalty whereas the information from a news press release provides vital information about upcoming events to both the internal and external publics of an organization.

During the “Anderson Cooper 360 degrees” talk show, the advertisements seemed to focus on regular advertisements, but one of the major focuses was cellular devices. This segment covered the latest information available on the George Zimmerman, Treyvon Martin case. The controversy associated with the cellular phone calls placed by George Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin prompted cellular companies to attempt to capitalize on the focus of cellular phones. The most dominant advertising force during the program was the computer and electronic device giant Apple Inc.

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The iPhone 5 advertisement’s intentions were to continue to establish the Iphone as the best option for smart phone users. In June 2007, the Apple Corporation released one of the newest smart phones with the intentions of crushing the efforts of its competition including the creators of the Blackberry and Android cellular phones. The targeted audience was cellular customers who wanted more from their smart phones. The ad reads “Touching is believing” encouraging people to enjoy the benefits of a cellular phone, iPod, and computer compatible with Apple computers both laptops and desktops.

The effect of the advertisement is intended to spark interest in its targeted audience and continues to establish brand loyalty during this cellular phone revolution. The commercial that ran almost every commercial break implies that at this point nothing else matters but trying the new iPhone 5, upgrading a person’s cellular phone experience, and an attempt to divert the attention of one of the newest cellular devices, the Galaxy S4. The advertisements for the Galaxy S4 focused on the phone’s ability to send messages, search the Internet, and use social networking websites during on a phone call.

Was this another subliminal message that focused on the phone conversation that Treyvon Martin was on during the altercation ? If he had a better phone could he have altered someone about the guy following him before it was too late. Regardless of the intentions, specific, or indirect, of the Galaxy S4 the actions influenced by the agenda setting theory used by the company focused on the differences between the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone. These differences are often the determining factor between why a person picks one product over another.

Even though an issue in the George Zimmerman case was the issue of the cellular phone conversation, the majority of the commercials were not directly related to the news story contained in the program. The news environment associated with the program “Anderson Cooper 360 degrees”, focused on the objectivity of the jury on the evidence presented in the case. The information presented had a balanced approach to the situation because some guests sided with the family of the victim whereas others were focused on the issue of self-defense. This balanced pproach questioned issues such as sensationalism, persuasion, and journalistic ethics. Because this case is a sensitive subject sparking questions of racial profiling, self-defense, and the protocol of a neighborhood watchman there were many issues intended to catch the attention of the audience. One area of focus were the laws associated with self-defense in the state of Florida.

“These laws, commonly referred to as castle laws, stand-your-ground laws, or shoot first, ask questions later laws, have the common feature of strengthening legal protections for those use deadly force in self-defense” (Holliday, 2012, p. 07, para. 1). The “shoot first, ask questions later” approach of George Zimmerman was criticized because of the recording of the phone call where the 9-11 operator told Zimmerman not to follow the individual. One of the major points of Anderson Cooper was that even though George Zimmerman had the right to protect himself, he was instructed to leave the situation alone because a police unit was on the way to investigate the so-called suspicious individual. Had Mr. Zimmerman followed the instructions he would have been in a situation in which he believed he had to defend himself.

CNN’s program, “Anderson Cooper 360 degrees” focused on the sensitive elements and evidence associated with the George Zimmerman case. The program touched on the areas of objectivity, persuasion, sensationalism, and self-defense. The commercials had an indirect association with the information provided in the program. The frequent advertising of cellular devices was a subliminal tactic to establish brand loyalty, and make users question, or appreciate their current cellular phone carriers.

However, outside the phone conversations held by Treyvon Martin with a friend, and George Zimmerman with the 9-11 operator the commercials during the program were random focusing on the average audience member’s interest. The news environment portrayed a surprising balance of opinions whereas the guests focused on the facts, laws, and any situational analysis conducted on the evidence available for the George Zimmerman case. The influence of advertising and news on society has a general approach with subliminal sodalities.

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