Century Link ad & deconstruction:
Interesting stats about the rural availability of competitive communications companies: "Another fact is that 55% of our rural communities have the choice of 2 or fewer providers, while 95% of urban areas in NM have the choice of 3 or more providers." That is definitely true in the part of West Virginia where I live - its Frontier or nothing!
The ad deconstruction was so interesting - I love that stuff. The theme of global connection being at our front door was a strong pull for me. I noticed the subtle signals depicting various places across the globe: the Japanese(?) writing that was behind the Japanese business woman; the Seattle Space Needle in focus for a moment before the dog went down the stairs; the British flag that flanked the upscale hotel; and I recognized Red Rocks Ampitheater in New Mexico right away (strangely I have only been to Seattle). I have a feeling I related more to the idea that I can be connected with people across the globe, which is why those element stuck out to me more than the middle class elements.
Alltel ad deconstruction:
This ad for Alltel presents a stereotypical middle class, nuclear family who decides to rent out their daughters bedroom to "ethnic" folks (and a chicken). This deconstruction makes a good case that racial stereotyping is being used, which seemed obvious to me - a bit disturbing that this ad used humor, at the expanse of foreign stereotyping, and attempted to draw such a huge gap between what was "normal" and what was "abnormal". I would like to know whether this ad was effective or not. Did the market it was targeting really find the humor in this? I, personally, enjoyed the fun loving foreigners and relate more to that carefree lifestyle - or at least, I'd rather be the fun loving foreigners than part of that family. The family, honestly, seemed boring, and I didn't relate to them at all. Was that the point - that I wouldn't want to be part of that boring family that didn't get the Alltel service and therefore had to live with a carefree, fun group of strangers to always have as a reminder of how boring I was in comparison?
Media Messages mean different things to different people. Sometime it hard to figure out who the intended audience is for a commercial. As I become more media literate and self-conscious about my white, middle class values I find more and more commercials less appealing. I think the point of the Alltel add is that if you went with Alltel you wouldn't have to rent out rooms (and we all know that people who have to rent rooms rather than buy homes are weird and Un-American)
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