Campaigning at Your Mailbox

Election Day is approaching. In local elections or other elections where voting turnout is expected to be low, direct mail has long been the preferred method of advertising. And if you are not a registered voter, you never see these mailings. Examples will be shown on a PowerPoint in class.

Questions...

•How are these mailers an example of targeted communications?

•Why are these ads effective?

•What are the advantages and disadvantages of slate mailers?

•How might an "atoms to bits" transition take place with this type of political advertising?

Facebook: Friend or Faux?

This is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in June 2014.

It's rare for anyone to post a photo showing how lousy they look today. People don't post long accounts of weekends spent organizing their sock drawer. They don't give you all the details of their cockroach-infested one room apartment or make a video about their rusty old car that breaks down once a month.

People generally reveal idealized versions of themselves on Facebook and other social media. Not surprisingly, real life has a hard time looking as attractive, on a regular basis at least. And what does that do to our sometimes fragile sense of self and well-being? NPR has posted this thought-provoking video.

•In your experience, how true (or not true) is this video?

•In what ways are social media posts a reflection of real life? How are they a reflection of a fantasy life?

•Can social media posts be competitive? How?

•Do "likes" train people to make crowd-pleasing posts? Are "like" buttons turning us into trained seals?

•Does social media make people more satisfied or less satisfied with their lives?

Fake News (Thank Goodness!)

This is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in January 2019.

On the night of Feb. 25, 1942, the Los Angeles Area was under attack from enemy aircraft. Or was it? A little more than 10 weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and several days after a Japanese submarine shelled an oil field just north of Santa Barbara, an unidentified object floated over Los Angeles. Citizens panicked. Civil defense mobilized. Anti-aircraft guns were fired. And CBS radio reported on a possible attack. In the years since, it has become clear that if there was anything in the skies over Los Angeles that night, it was perhaps an errant weather balloon or small blimp.

Questions...

•How well or badly did CBS radio do in reporting this story?

•Why did radio news have a more difficult time covering this story accurately than the newspapers?

•Would today's social media make sure the story was reported accurately, or would it have added to the hysteria?