Media Bites: Frosted Flakes

In this week’s Media Bites, GRIID takes a look at sugar cereals that target children. We look at a recent Frosted Flakes commercial and other techniques that these marketers use to convince kids that they should consume their products:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Nike

In this week’s Media Bites, GRIID looks at the global sports apparel giant Nike. The Nike commercial we deconstruct is a new one featuring NBA All Star LeBron James. This commercial continues the same stylized approach that was used when Michael Jordan was the company’s main marketing icon. However, the company continues to use sweatshop labor abroad and slick ads can not hide that fact:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: E-Trade

In this week’s Media Bites, GRIID looks at the online investment company E-Trade commercials that use babies to brand their company. We deconstruct a commercial from the 2009 Super Bowl and provide links to reports and analysis on the recent Wall Street crisis:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Bridgestone

This week’s Media Bites deconstructs a commercial by Bridgestone/Firestone that ran during the 2009 Super Bowl. The commercial uses Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head to brand their image, but we show you how the company treats its workers abroad:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Coca Cola

In this week’s edition of Media Bites, GRIID looks at Coca Cola commercials that aired during the 2009 Super Bowl. The coke ads are promoting their “open happiness” campaign. We deconstruct this idea and present information about how the consumption of Coke products harms us and what Coca Cola’s business practices are around the world:

Media Bites – Coke from Girbe Eefsting on Vimeo.

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Go Daddy’s Porn

In this week’s edition of Media Bites, GRIID looks at Go Daddy commercials that aired during the 2009 Super Bowl. Go Daddy continued their trend of using women’s bodies to sell their imagine, but they also used a pornographic theme in one of the ads:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Budweiser

In this week’s edition of Media Bites, GRIID looks at the numerous Budweiser ads that ran during the 2009 Super Bowl, the techniques they use, and how some of their ads even target children in order to develop brand loyalty. :

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: General Electric Exposed

In this week’s edition of Media Bites, GRIID analyzes two recent commercials by General Electric:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is an effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.

Media Bites: Cargill

This is the first installment of a new weekly media analysis project called Media Bites by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID). This week’s analysis looks at the global grain giant Cargill:

About Media Bites

On any given day, most Americans are exposed to about 3,000 different commercial messages. These messages are in the form of TV ads, billboards, product placement in movies and video games or online advertising. Media Bites is a new effort by the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy to provide some regular analysis of these images and messages that corporations and the government use to manipulate the public into supporting products and policies.