Saturday, September 11, 2010

Hegemony

The concept of hegemony helps me understand the following out of this Mcdonalds advertisement. First off, the ad is getting the attention of morally obese people or those who have to simply need to watch their weight for health issues. Second, the ad is meant a real minder opener in that it reminds you what may happen if one over indulges in fat food! Third, people must always be aware of this. The best way I might be able to explain hegemony is to begin with gate-keeping, which focuses on who should be the ideal social group to target in an advertisement or commercial. What is it that will automatically catch people's attention. The second thing would be an agenda setting which is what you'd want the targeted social group to think about. What main idea you'd want them to get out of the alleged ad or commercial.  The third would framing which would be what associates with the targeted social group. In the case of the Mcdonalds ad for example, the framing would be that unhealthy eating habits should be carefully be looked at. The whole idea of hegemony helps me understand a more broad idea being presented in advertisements and commercials. Since learning about hegemony, "the big picture" is now clear to me instead of focusing on the humor that in the Mcdonalds ad there might be a huge fat arm in your face. Most might just freak out at how it initially looks and not even think about the reason for the ad. I also have a better understanding of how the advertising industry goes about their work.

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