Oh, wonder?

A recent article on CNA caught my attention. It was about the Korean girl group, ‘Wonder Girls’. Their song ‘Nobody’ has dominated the airwaves all over Asia, but it has managed to reach the guarded gates of America.

[Image from: Channel News Asia]

My first thought was, ‘Woah, Wonder Girls, really?’ I read the news ages ago about them opening for all the Jonas Brothers concerts; a real feat for any Asian music group.

If you remember our most recent COM101 lecture, we covered the topic of media globalisation. According to our notes “Asia is the fastest growing region… but it is not considered a major market for the global television programme…” partially due to differences in cultural background and language.

Ironically, western influence has a huge impact on Asian countries, even though we are from a different cultural background and some Asian countries do not utilize English as one of their primary languages unlike Singapore. In fact, it is starting to sound more like cultural imperialism instead of globalisation. It has always been the other way instead, that American culture dominates everyone else’s. We listen mostly to music from America, watch dramas from America and even embrace American food.

Which is why the Wonder Girls’ breakthrough in the US market really came as a pleasant surprise. Despite the fact that they sing entirely in Korean, and primarily adjust their appeal to their own Korean market, they still made it outside of Asia. With the aid of the Jonas Brothers, of course, and not to mention the endless preaching of famous celebrity blogger Perez Hilton who absolutely “love love LOVES” the Wonder Girls.

[Image from: Perez Hilton]

But it really makes one wonder. Are the girls popular because Asian culture is starting to appeal to the Western market? Or is it because of the American media which has somehow chosen to put spotlight on the Wonder Girls? So is the hype created by a shift in cultural tastes, or merely a manifestation of the mass media? Perhaps it’s a combination of both, though I’d like to think it were the latter.

As reiterated by my previous entry, medium is indeed a powerful thing. The appropriate medium, coupled with timely usage, is really a key to mass media regardless of the topic or issue.

Tweet tweet!

Twitter phenomenon!

Most of us in Singapore have not caught the Twitter fever yet, but our Western and Japanese counterparts have. Twitter is the current ‘fad’. It’s Facebook for stalkers, or well, just plain bored people who love to update about their lives! Guiltily, I have a twitter account too. However, I use it to keep track of the going-ons with my closer friends. It’s so hassle-free. All each individual has to do, is just enter whatever they are thinking or doing (just like a blog) and everyone who ‘follows’ them can read their updates. It’s way easier than filtering through Facebook since it’s like a social ‘newspaper’.

Before I sound like an advertisement for Twitter, I shall continue on how pervasive a medium Twitter has become! Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows businesses to go actively virtual. Physical shops from brands like Juicy Couture have taken extra lengths to create an active Twitter account which updates followers on their instore sales or inside news. Politicians are also starting to use Twitter, recognising its widespread and efficient way of spreading news.

[Image from: The First Post]

For example, in August 2009, when President Obama’s opponents slammed the British National Health Service (NHS), thousands of NHS users took to Twitter to show their support for the NHS with the hashtag #welovetheNHS. The Twitter campaign gained so much media attention, that it even received the support of British PM Gordon Brown.

Twitter users are able to be constantly updated on almost anything they want: from world news to gossip to their friends’ activities). One amazing thing I noticed was when celebrity blogger Perez Hilton ‘tweeted’ that he was at the Harajuku station in Tokyo for the Summer Sonic Festival, calling for any of his twitter followers to meet him there. I laughed at it at first, thinking how ridiculous that was! Within an hour, he had photographic evidence of his Tokyo fanbase. How amazing is that??

Not just for Twitter, our reliance on technology has increased over the decades. Twitter is but one small example of how society has allowed the ‘Web 2.0′ phenomenon take over our lives. Almost everything we need to know and do can be virtually done on the internet. Need to know what your friends are into nowadays? Check your Twitter. Want to chat with your friends? Log in to MSN. Don’t know how to dance? Google it.

Even our assignment is in the form of a blog! Power to the internet medium!

Foreigners: Bane or Help?

There is an ongoing dispute on the rising numbers of foreign workers (especially PRCs and Bangladeshis) which frequently headlines our newspapers. An article from Asia News Network shows a screenshot of a job advertisement (shown below). What sparked criticism was that the ad specifically stated that they prefer non-Singaporeans. This only served to create further dissent among Singaporeans regarding foreign workers, who are already unhappy at the large number of foreign workers allowed to work here.

The interesting fact is that according to the article, traditional media in Singapore has toned down the coverage of such issues whereas it is through the internet which citizens can air their ‘grievances’. It has long been argued that our media is ‘controlled’. Most of Singapore’s media acts as an agenda setting function. Take the Swine Flu issue for example. Towards the end of the saga when the situation was beginning to be under control, our media was still incessantly focusing on the issue, creating unnecessary ‘chaos’ amongst Singaporeans. It is an example of ‘priming’ whereby our media alters the standard by which we evaluate an issue.

Even so, our newspapers have already started the ball rolling on the topic of foreign workers, typically focusing on the ‘bad’ points to them. Most of the ‘good sides’ of these workers have been overshadowed and only supported by the occasional ‘reader’s submission’. This not only affects the impression Singaporeans already have of them, but only further deteriorates our cultural tolerance to these foreign workers. We don’t have to deny it, PRC and Bangladeshi jokes are common among us. Some of us (not all) see them as ‘pests’ and annoyances to our society, creating ‘low-class’ images. These prejudices are only worsened by the media focus on them “stealing the local’s jobs”.

For the sake of our country’s multiracial harmony (which seems to be soon threatened), perhaps our media should re-look into this issue and focus on more unbiased sides to the discussion, showing equal focus on both sides to it.

Communication, culture?

With more Singaporean youths being exposed to foreign media, more are embracing other cultures portrayed in foreign television shows instead of their own. Television shows ranging from Korean dramas like Women in the Sun, and American sitcoms like Gossip Girl and Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), are proving more popular amongst Singaporean youths.

Media conglomerates are aggressively targeting the youth market and youths, are increasingly being influenced by whatever they see on the media around them. The younger generation is what most researchers call the ‘MTV generation’, with many youths trying to follow the look and lifestyles of their Western idols. Even for Singapore, more locally produced TV shows are beginning to exhibit more Western values like the acceptance of pre-marital sex or couples cohabiting. As a result, the younger generation of Singapore citizens are showing signs of cultural erosion.

The power of America’s cultural imperialism needs no description, for the grip of American influence has been felt from all corners of the globe. Singapore’s very own Minister Mentor (MM) Lee Kuan Yew, a founding father and opinion leader of the nation, has always been a famous critic of Western influence.

MM Lee has always held the sentiment that opening the floodgates to Western cultural imperialism would undermine the important “Asian values” that have purportedly made the nation what it is today. MM Lee also stated in 1971 that “[Singaporeans] must give our children roots in their own language and culture… then we shall become more cohesive a people, all rooted in their traditional values, cultures and languages”

The issue of powerful Western media influence has been much debated since the emergence of Western culture after the Cold War. David Croteau and William Hoyness, in the book MEDIA/SOCIETY: Industries, Images, and Audiences, defines the phenomenon of “cultural imperiaism” as “the theory that media products from the West, especially the United States, so powerfully shape the cultures of other nations that they amount to a cultural form of domination” Croteau and Hoyness also brings up the example of the 1985 gathering of popular singers to record the song, “We Are The World” for the “USA for Africa”. As the source succinctly puts it, “American pop artists were affirming the global nature of their efforts – sung in English – with very little participation from the rest of the world.”

The permeation of Western media throughout the rest of the world has sprung up concerns that this form of cultural imperialism has adverse effects on the originality of media content, especially in Asian countries.

Although there are countries that retain their own “media culture”, such as Thailand, Japan and India, most media environments has allowed the Western influences to invade their media content. Singapore, boasting herself as an epitome of the finest of “East and West”, is constantly a subject to all forms of cultural imperialism through the media.

In such a highly developed media environment, Singapore youths have easy access to all forms of content, providing a plethora of media alternatives to local ones. Local shows also frequently “borrow” from the success of Western shows to appeal to the mass market. Tania Lim, in her paper, Let the contests begin! ‘Singapore slings’ into action, describes the rising trend of how Asian networks “[have] tried their hand at reversioning game shows”. Indeed, these formatted game shows are seen as ratings magnets, for the broad nature of the programming means that they are accessible to an extremely wide demographic.

As such, even local media networks are influenced by the success of Western ones. Instead of producing localised programmes for our population, our networks have taken the financially rewarding short cut of emulating the success of Western ones.

Judge a book by its cover

We often hear the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.

However, how often do we really listen to this preaching? Even though we tell ourselves to try not to judge someone by their appearance, most of us still do it. A person’s physical appearance is a form of nonverbal communication. The way they are, the way they dress and the way they carry themselves allow us to form a certain image of that person’s character or personality. This is why we are told that first impressions count.

Our appearance allows us to be stereo-typed. If someone has a funky dyed hairstyle, people may think that the person is a bit wild, or loud. If a girl dresses conservatively and wears neatly pressed clothes, others may go ‘Oh she’s probably one of those quiet studious types’. It’s like how we see shabby looking men at night and try to avoid them because we’re afraid they could be thieves. We wouldn’t have that thought if it were a well-dressed or handsome looking man. have a good friend who has piercings everywhere, a couple of tattoos and a penchant for rainbow coloured extensions. To strangers, she practically screams “Hi, I’m a wild child and I drink, smoke, and love being a young punk.” To us, she’s the animal rights activist who once went vegetarian for about 3 years straight, thinks cigarettes are evil, never drinks, loves politics and is absolutely ace in school.

It is not that appearances are deceiving. Instead, it is because of how we all have a certain type of ‘labels’ in our mind to categorise the different multitudes of people in society. Perhaps it is through the media that we have created a certain stereotype, but it also could be our backgrounds and social circle which has influenced how we see certain physical aspects in a person and link it back to an identity.

One of my most favourite comic sketch, ‘Little Britain’, has many perfect examples of nonverbal communication particularly in kinesics, paralinguistics, artifacts and physical appearance. The actors in the show analyze the cultural differences in the British society, and make a parody out of them, using obvious traits from each subculture for the audience to identify. Like in the clip above, the main character, Vicky Pollard is a ‘chav’ (identifiable by her tracksuit, speech, and ‘bling’). Her boyfriend, Jermain, dresses exactly like what guys in Vicky’s social circle would. However, the moment he speaks, he surprises the audience and it is at this point which proves to be the ‘climax’ of the sketch because we are unsuspecting of what he was going to do that it becomes a funny twist. Kind of like “Oh haha, I thought he was going to sound stupid, but he turned out be such a fluent speaker.”

So isn’t it interesting how we know not to judge people by their appearance, yet even before we get to know someone, we create these impressions in our mind about how they are going to be like, that when they show or act out of ‘character’, we are still surprised?

Digital Age: A New Wave of Internet Terrorism

We live in what we call the ‘Digital Age’. The internet aids us in the simplest of tasks in our daily lives and a day without it is like going ‘cold turkey’. With the internet comes social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) and forums where people from all over the world can ‘meet’ to chat in real time. It’s so amazing, we can get instant access to almost anything, which means faster news and quicker updates from fellow ‘surfers’.

(Image from: Agent-X)

Being ‘online’ is almost the same as being ‘offline’ (our real physical world). It’s like a universe of it’s own and it takes a whole new form of communication amongst people. It is interesting to note whilst the Internet aids us in many ways, it also quickens the way in which bad things (i.e. gossip, scandals, virus, scammers) are being circulated.

And that includes ‘cyber bullying’.

If you’re not aware of this term, I’m sure it’s easy to figure out what it means. Cyber bullying is a form of ‘electronic harassment’, especially amongst youths. It has been suggested that cyber bullying produces disinhibition and results in these ‘bullies’ to become more aggressive than they would be if they were confronting their victims face-to-face.

(Image from: Harold’s Kids)

Why? It’s mainly because of the anonymity which the internet provides us. The difference between traditional bullying and cyber bullying is that in cyber bullying, the perpetrator is not necessarily more ‘powerful’ than the victim; they just hide behind their computers. The perpetrator just has to post a single piece of information online and the next thing you know, it has spread to millions of other netizens. Because of how quickly information is now disseminated, it is harder to take back the slanderous words or to even attempt to stop circulation (as compared to the past where there was still time for say, an individual has the chance to “stop the press”).

Cyber bullying is a form of written (verbal) communication, from encoder (bully) to decoder (victim). Since the communication is not done in person, feedback is delayed, and the aggressors are not able to receive any form of verbal/non-verbal communication from their victims which may moderate their behaviour.

Recently, I came across a really interesting piece of news from Korea. Jae-beom, leader of a group called 2PM, was found to have made the comments “Korea is gay. I hate Koreans. I wanna come back (to Seattle)” on his Myspace account, in 2005. Netizens have managed to dig up these comments and a lot of hoo-ha has been created, especially at online communities, most of them seriously way over the top.

[Jaebeum, leader of boy group 2PM]
(Image from: Sour Love Candy)

Within a span of 4 days since his Myspace controversy was officially reported, thousands of netizens flooded the forums to give their opinion and it even sparked political discussions American-born Koreans. Petitions were even created, stating their stand on the topic. One of them was a suicide petition created by netizens on Agora, which was titled “Jaebeom should commit suicide”, and was signed by at least 3000 people. Another petition, “Please forgive our Jaebeom just this once”, was circulated and it accumulated 6000 signatures in just 2 days.

At the end of that 4 days? The said victim, Jaebeom, has since returned to Seattle and quit the music industry as a whole.

Sneaky, sneaky.

How many times have you been cheated by what was shown on an advertisement? Purchased a product and realised that you have absolutely no use of it but bought it anyway?

Welcome to the club.

Advertisers are horribly smart. They make use of word-plays, photo manipulation, and bragging of meaningless awards to create a certain image of the product which appeals to their target audience. It appeals to you in a subconscious manner, and slowly brainwashes you by showing you images of what they want you to see and not what you need to see.

Take products which rely solely on before-and-after effects. Photo manipulation is a common method these companies use to mislead show us how the products work.

[Image from: stuffthathappens]

Just from the picture alone, without showing what the product looks like, the audience immediately deduces that the product is something which can make you look younger by reducing your wrinkles. Less words, more understanding. Obviously, the image shown has been overly exaggerated, but with moderation and an ounce of believability, a proper ad could be able to convince its audience many things about the product without even having to explain it in detail.

Logos, pathos and ethos are methods in which advertisers use to draw in their target audience’s attention. Like the ad above, it uses ethos, attracting older women who wish to look younger, and also logos by showing a picture of a younger woman who looks attractive (in a way, reasoning out that having lesser wrinkles makes you look more attractive).

(An ethos ad: The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.)
[Image from: Ads of the World]

It really all boils down to communication. Much consideration goes into every little detail of an advertisement (from whatever is pictured, to the text, to where it is placed) to create that ideal image. However, advertising is a linear communication model and with all communication methods, misinterpretation is unavoidable.

Why? Everyone perceives things differently. The general population may have one understanding, but there would always be a minority or other groups of people who come from different backgrounds who will interpret the same thing in another way. When people manage to uncover and connect the underlying message of ads to something only people with the same perspective as them can see (and not what the advertisers actually intended), it may create a misunderstanding.

Check out this insurance ad:

[Image from Daily Mail]

To most people, this is just another insurance ad with some old man holding a watch. BUT, to those who listen to rock, may recognise that old man as Iggy Pop. So, what’s the problem? ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has deemed this ad as misleading as “the campaign implied that the 62-year-old artist had a policy with Swiftcover when he did not”. [Source] It created a false understanding that Swiftcover covered musicians when it did not. However, to the advertisers, they “claim they made no reference to the singer’s profession. They chose him because of his reputation for fast-living lifestyle.”

Advertising is really a good example of how media professionals can make use of communication to manipulate the perceptions of their intended audience. Communication is not one-sided, and it really is about how each of us choose to encode and decode a message which affects the results.

So next time before we just give a bare glimpse to the ads we see around us, we could take some time to appreciate it for more than the pictures and text it’s worth on the surface, and for the well-thought out message it’s trying to send us.

To end this entry, check out this video by MadTV which sums up in a humourous way how powerful perception is: