Watch TV or Go to Jail

[Arrian]

Advertising doesn't work on kids.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Ramo
Look at the biotech industry. Half of the ads don't even mention what the drug is supposed to do ("ask your doctor if you need xxxx"). So these businesses' misplaced priorities drum up demand for obscenely expensive drugs by getting them more visibility, and people end up spending insane amounts of money on brand-name drugs instead of buying far less costly generics. A commercial culture is in opposition to people making informed choices.

Uhh... do you know why they don't mention what the drug is supposed to do.

Because once they do... they then by law have to list all the side effects. That's why they say talk to your doctor.
If the doctor wants to hide that there is a cheaper version of the drug... is that the fault of advertising?

A commerical culture is not in opposition to people making an informed choice... it's just another source of information. Or are you opposed to free speech?

[rah]

Has no one considered that these kids saw and opportunity to play hookey and are using this as a convenient excuse? Kids have been doing evil deeds, under the cover of high principles for all of known history.
Tell me honestly that none of you have ever done it.
I know I did a few times.

If so, the kids get an A for effort but probably deserved their punishment.

[The Templar]

Originally posted by Ming


Ads only work on the desires you already have... they can NOT make you buy something you don't want. If an ad "works" on you... it's because the desire was already there in the first place.

Ads are as much about creating preferences as they are about acting on pre-existing preferences.

My favorite are ads that are not so much about the product advertised but that instead connect products to increased social status or to sex. The new products thereby attempt to "parasite off" drives that are typically unconnected to the function of the product. This is a fairly common method for advertising alcholic beverages, for example.

In cognitive science terms, advertisers attempt to stimulate modules such as those governing sexuality or social status and thereby associate a product with that stimulation. Does it always work? Is it 100% effective? Nope, but don't act as though advertising is not a form of behavior manipulation. And don't act as though the ad industry is not aware of this.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by rah

If so, the kids get an A for effort but probably deserved their punishment.

You mean, jail?


Right...

[rah]

Originally posted by Osweld



You mean, jail?


Right...

If they were just trying to skip school and created the ruckus that they did, Hell YES.
Mommy we skipped school but it's not our fault. WE um um um objected to watching commercials in school. It's not our fault, really. You should hire some lawyers or call the papers or civil liberty groups and get some people to punish the evil school district for treating us the way they did.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by rah


If they were just trying to skip school and created the ruckus that they did, Hell YES.
Mommy we skipped school but it's not our fault. WE um um um objected to watching commercials in school. It's not our fault, really. You should hire some lawyers or call the papers or civil liberty groups and get some people to punish the evil school district for treating us the way they did.

They walked out of class and got put in jail. THEN the civil liberty groups got involved, and for good reason.

[rah]

And even if they truely did it like they said, If you're going to perform civil disobediance, you must be willing to accept the punishment without whining about it. While the punishment may have been a bit much, I don't think it was that excessive.

SO either way, I have no problem with the punishment.

[General Ludd]

Gods, locking up fourteen year olds for the "civil disobediance" of skipping class?
I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

[Ming]

Am I going to deny that we don't try to create the most effective advertising possible... No. But can it make you buy a product you wouldn't normally buy... No.

You raise an excellent example with beer advertising. Yeap... you will be hipper if you drink our beer vs another... a typical message... or drinking our beer will get you laid... standard young adult messages.

But... a beer ad can't make a person who has no interest in drinking... drink beer. It can't make somebody who hates the taste of beer and prefers wine, drink beer. It can "MAYBE" make somebody who drinks beer want to drink one brand vs another...

It could make a person TRY beer for the first time... Just like watching a buddy drink a beer, or seeing somebody drink a beer in a movie... but whether they continue to drink beer, or never drink beer again will have EVERYTHING to do with the experience, and NOTHING to do with the ad.

So it's a matter of brand preference... not behavour modification... because a non beer drinker will not just start drinking beer because of an ad.

[rah]

Originally posted by Osweld
Gods, locking up fourteen year olds for the "civil disobediance" of skipping class?
I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

I doubt they were put in a cell with hardened criminals.
They broke a rule. And were punished no worse then being grounded in there room for a few days.
And regardless of what's been posted (there is no definative proof as to their motive)

Heck, when we were young, if you did that to a NUN, they would have beat the crap out of you and then your parents would have too when you got home. And the next time, you showed a little more respect.

That's half the problem with this "THE WORLD OWES ME" generation.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by rah


I doubt they were put in a cell with hardened criminals.
They broke a rule. And were punished no worse then being grounded in there room for a few days.
And regardless of what's been posted (there is no definative proof as to their motive)

Heck, when we were young, if you did that to a NUN, they would have beat the crap out of you and then your parents would have too when you got home. And the next time, you showed a little more respect.

That's half the problem with this "THE WORLD OWES ME" generation.

Man, you're nuts. They're just skipping class. It's their choice if they want to attend class or not. That is not something you send them to jail for, it is something that you should warn the kid of the effects it may have on his grades, and leave it at that.

And please don't tell me you think they should be beaten instead.

[Japher]

They should attend class or not attend class. It ain't something they can come and go from as they please.

Like those stupid ppl at the theaters who leave and reEnter like every 15 minutes!!

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Japher
They should attend class or not attend class. It ain't something they can come and go from as they please.

My teacher's often gave me the opportunity of leaving in the middle of a class.

[realpolitic]

It's good to see young people are still willing to Question the Authority of the Media Listening to "authorities" kept us in Vietnam, excused the murder in Chile etc. Explore the answers within, you may discover abundance on earth - such as converting to Solar, and national policies that don't p*** off the rest of the planet. In my generation the Mings said, "My country right or wrong", this generation they seem to be saying, "My greenhouse effect right or wrong".