advertising controversy

I found this article to be very interesting and very unethical. The Ralph Lauren model looks terrible. She is way to skinny I don't know what anyone would want to look like that. This just takes the thought of what is "beautiful" to a whole new level. I like the point that touch ups should not be allowed people should appear in the magazine or ad as how they look not without flawless it makes the business impossible to work with. I hope a law like that could be passed because ads like this are unacceptable.

Chapter 5- Meaning

We live in a world of meaning and failures in communication occur everyday. We all understand and interpret things differently due to our codes, language, and culture. Misinterpreting something in the media is especially difficult because you have no one there to answer your questions because the media is a one way communication tool. People rarely ever stop to think about what something means they just take it how it is. There are two different types of meaning Representational and Conceptual.
Representational word --- object
Conceptual word--- concept
The most important thing to look at is the code and semiotics. A code is a systematic structure or organization of signs. Semiotics is the discipline that studies the nature of any system of meaning. The world is made up for codes and meanings. We create our own reality if how we choose to interpret and understand the meaning.

Ideology

The media and social institutions play a large role is the dissemination of ideologies. Ideologies have shaped us to think a certain way without us even knowing it because it is all psychological, so there for not questioned. For us to critique these ideologies we need to look at the media as an institution. The media has shaped us all to think, see, and do things a certain way and there for has shaped our realities. We do things everyday that we don’t even know. When we go to the movie theater we “need” to get popcorn and a soda. When we go to a concert we “need” that T-shirt or poster. We don’t need any of these things we are just conditioned to believe we do. Ideologies have shaped our way of thinking and the way we see the world. So we will never know if what we do is because we want to do it or because we were “told” to do it or think it.

Models of communication

The Transmission model is much like the idea of transportation. This model is based off of Harold Lasswell’s description of mass communication. The message needs to be transported from one person to another without messing it up too much or interfering with the original message. It’s the communication process of moving a message from the sender through a medium to a receiver
source > message > receiver
The main concern with this model is if you are receiving the same message that is being sent it all depends on accuracy of the transported message. Who/says what/to whom/though what channel/and with what effect?

The Cultural model
“The culture model of communication sees communication as the construction of shared space or map of meaning within which people exist.” Culture surrounds everyone and everything in its community. This model is the more common model but is the less well know model of the two. People are always trying to give meaning to their experiences and then in essence give their own interpretation to different things. This model is all about balancing culture with the certain needs of the individual.