At the Paley Center: She's Making Media

The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public.  Tune into conversations online with experts on topics such as models for investigative journalism, new tools for digital media, demonstrations in cloud technology, engaging communities through social media, reflections of genres and genders through television history, and more. It’s a fantastic resource and collection for all those interested in media.

At the Paley Center is now airing their second season of their series “She’s Making Media” on PBS stations.  Hosted by Pat Mitchell, the president and CEO of The Paley Center for Media, the series spotlights women’s role in media and highlights through their stories the new and innovative ways that they have used media to teach and inspire.

At the Paley Center: Marlo Thomas

Marlo Thomas has been affecting media for over 40 years.  In That Girl, her character represented a generation of women that did not want to solely be in typical female roles of the 40s and 50s like their mothers. Ann Marie, in That Girl, reflected a trend in society of female empowerment and independence. Through her career, Thomas selected roles that she felt would be right for women, selective to not play characters that went against her own sense of morality. She can be credited with helping to change the way women looked at their own lives with her roles in the media. And, with the transformational change at the onset of new media, she continues to evolve women’s issues. You can check out marlothomas.com for news, entertainment, and dialogue on topics affecting women. Through her works, Marlo Thomas sends the message that women “can have it all.” 

Click for Marlo Thomas Video

At the Paley Center: Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda has used the media to promote to women the idea of knowing yourself. She has gone on a journey of self-discovery reflecting on the stages of her life and shares her insights and findings to help and inspire other women. Even at a very young age in an interview clip in 1960, she had the insight to acknowledge that she wished that she could enjoy more of what she was doing in the moment. Her advice to reflect on the experience of your full life in order to know what direction to take in your future is valuable. Through her dialogue, she makes women conscious of the journey to get to the end of the “third act” with no regrets.

Click for Jane Fonda Video

 At the Paley Center: Arianna Huffington

Just as Arianna Huffington learned courage and strength from her mother, she teaches women by way of her example to have the strength and courage to pursue our dreams and aspirations.  In her book Becoming Fearless and through other media vehicles, she encourages women to not be afraid of failure because it will only hold us back from realizing our potential.  It is important for her to speak her mind and her truth, as she has exhibited through top news site, the Huffington Post.  She also advocates “unplugging and recharging,” to promote health and wellness. She has not only affected the content of political and business messages in the media, she has affected how those messages are disseminated through the media with the improvement and elevation of new media.

Click for Arianna Huffington Video

At the Paley Center: Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler has an incredible story that she shared on, At the Paley Center.  She is a writer, an activist, and a cancer survivor.  Through her play, The Vagina Monologues, she provided her perspective on her own womanhood and opened a forum for other women that allowed them to express themselves and the joys and pains of being a woman. She considers the performances as a way to transform social consciousness and has empowered women around the world to develop their own productions to support the commitment to end violence against women.  Eve Ensler gives of herself because she realizes that these causes are greater than she alone. She shares the message that “if we find that thing in our lives that is beyond us, we can always find a way to keep going” and uses art to inspire women and help them realize their own strength.

Click for Eve Ensler Video

I found the discussions to be thought-provoking and inspirational.  In addition to the programs that I featured in this blog posting, you can also enjoy videos with Glenn Close and Maria Elena Salinas this season on At the Paley Center.

Begrudgingly,

BB

Tackles, Flowers, and Sex

Over 111 million Americans watched Super Bowl XLVI this month.  That’s more than a third of the country’s entire population.  And, in between touchdowns and tackles, those same football fans tuned in to the highly anticipated Super Bowl commercials.  Some usual suspects who have traditionally aired Super Bowl commercials veered away from previous strategies of objectifying women to promote interest in their product.  Remember last year’s Sketcher commercial?  It featured Kim Kardashian coquettishly leading viewers to believe that she had just concluded a sex session with her handsome trainer, telling him “you were the best I ever had,” then leaving him for Sketchers’ new Shape-Ups shoes.  This year, Sketchers shifted its communications strategy, sending the sexual overtones to the dogs – literally. Their spot featured a Greyhound race with a bulldog “underdog” winning while sporting Sketchers on his little moon-walking doggy feet.  The spot caught the attention of viewers and garnered favorable reviews from both men and women.

And although several auto manufactures and snack companies made us laugh this year, not all advertisers shifted messaging strategies from sexual innuendo to comedic blatancy.  Super Bowl viewers were hit with a huge dose of sex-charged commercials.  A crop of advertisers surfaced exposing onlookers to sexy commercials that had some men salivating, some women offended, and some pre-teens blushing.  One spot that caused a stir was brought to us by online flower company, Teleflora. The spot stars Victoria’s Secret super model, Adriana Lima.  After slowly pulling her stocking up her extended leg, zipping her sleeveless black dress, and touching up her lipstick, she looks into the camera and speaks directly to the male audience saying, “Guys, Valentine’s Day is not that complicated. Give and you shall receive.” 

Women voiced reactions from mild annoyance to outrage for what they called an overtly sexist commercial. Twitter accounts buzzed and social media comments rang out comparing the character in the commercial to a hooker and clarifying – for the record – that flowers will not equate to sex.  But, plenty of men had opinions about the commercial too and were not shy about sharing them.  Here are some interesting ones from YouTube.

 

In response to the “haters,” one post read, “All hot women cause the normal red-blooded male to think about sex… hell even desire it.  That’s like blaming GM, Chrysler, and Ford for car crashes.” Another entry read, “Yeah I’ll be buying my wife flowers for Valentine’s Day.  Hopefully by giving I’ll receive something too.”  Yet another comment read, “Don’t watch the commercial if it bothers you. The rest of us real men will continue to enjoy the commercial, probably buy their woman some flowers, and then enjoy the rest of the evening getting laid!”  And, I don’t want to leave out this infamous comment, “If watching the commercial makes you feel bad about yourself, then do something about it!” 

No matter how much the comments make the mildly feminist cringe, these attitudes do exist.  Teleflora tapped into it.  The originators of these YouTube messages did not pay $3.5 million for a 30-second spot to broadcast their views, but they were able to transmit their messages to the masses.  You can bet that Teleflora is tuned in, observing with satisfaction the ongoing comments and chatter as their online flower orders increase.  Buzz did not just result from the message delivery via purchased airtime and social media, but also from the news coverage that followed.  For days after the Super Bowl, we saw headlines like “The Smoldering Hot Super Bowl Teleflora Ad” and “Sexy Ad Stirs Controversy.”  Conversations ensued on news and lifestyle programs.  Politics, health, the economy, natural disasters, and crime stories were trumped by Teleflora’s Adriana Lima and her sexy suggestion to the men of America. 

Gender influence in media was evident in the commercials, news coverage, and online chatter.  Through the visual medium of television, the spot apparently elicited a physical reaction for some.  The message became not only what was enacted in the commercial, but the reaction of those seeing it. 

Could these commercials be working to condition women into believing what their role as women should be?  Could they be attempting to condition men into believing what they should be getting from women?  Some say that it’s all a form of audience manipulation.  Yet others say that the commercials simply reflect real attitudes and desires of the audience that is watching.  Whether the former is true or latter, the Teleflora commercial tapped into an emotional place for both men and women.  And, isn’t that what a commercial is supposed to do?  

And by the way...  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !!

 

Begrudgingly

BB