Media literacy

As a creator and consumer of media, it is important that we understand the nature of and methods used to attract attention in advertising. These skills are important because they allow us to critique an ad, which lets us break down the stucture so that we can understand why it appeal to us and how we can use imagery to appeal to others.

A straightforward method of understanding media is to know the five basic concepts that form a text and the five questions we should ask when examining a text. To learn these five questions and concepts, we will examine an ad and ask see how they relate to the text.
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Core concepts and questions. (Answers)

1. All Media messages are constructed. Who created this message?
(The short answer is Burger King. They hired a large team of artists and production people to create the concept and to physically make the ad.)

2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules. What techniques are used to attract my attention?
(In the editing process, the editors highlighted the woman and the burger while darkening the background. This draws our attention to the burger and the woman who is consuming the burger. The facial expression of the woman is also used to attract our attention, she looks shocked at the experience of eating this burger.)

3. Different people experiece the same message differently. How might people understand this message differently than me?
(There are always a plethora of perspectives on any text. Some people might read the words "It'll blow your mind away" as innuendo and argue that this text is using sex to sell burgers. Others might argue that the ad isn't sexual at all, and that the catchphrase is meant to suggest some sort of 'burger enlightenment'. Both of these readings are valid, and this text could be interpreted any number of ways - the key is to support you hypothesis with your knowledge of theory.)

4. Media have embedded values and points of view. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
(The primary points of view this ad is trying to communicate is that Burger King is better than their competitors. If you interpret this ad as containing innuendo, you might make the case that it supports sensuality. Ultimately, it is the intent of the creator of the ad to appeal to as many people as possible while not offending too many people, so this must be taken into consideration when determining what the philosophy of the text is.)

5. Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power. Why was this message sent?
(To sell the Burger King super seven incher, to attract customers to Burger King, and to persuade the audience to associate positive thoughts with Burger King.)

So as you can see, media literacy is an important skill set to attain, and so long as you are well-grounded in communication theory you will be able to use these five simple questions to examine texts and understand them.


Here are the sources I used:
1- This site compares and contrasts images from different fast food companies. They have a lot of useful images and interesting criticism.
2- Dr Kevin Williams book "A media studies reader" Cognella. 978-193555156-0 was referenced in the creation of this post.