Sunday, October 19, 2014

Power of Pictures: 7718


Power of Pictures
Open Mic Week #2: ED 7718


Image CC by DoDlive.com




Pictures are powerful things.  The saying "pictures speak a thousand words" is very true.  I believe this is why many advertisements use pictures as a way to increase their revenue. Since we were young, pictures were ways to communicate and recognize objects. The article, "The Power of Pictures in Social Media Marketing" discusses the power of an image.  

 







Image CC by mcdonalds.com

This article made me think of one specific food chain.   When one see's an image of a golden  "M" they automatically think of the famous fast food chain, McDonald's.   So how powerful are our pictures?  The "Power of Words" video clip was not only inspirational but also showed how if one changes their order of words and what they are saying the meaning is truly different.  After I watched this video it reminded me of my classroom.  In my health class we discuss how to deal with issues and how we need to change our discussion statements from, "you said a mean word to me" to "I feel sad by the comment you made". By simply changing the words, the message is still the same but the delivery is different and therefore requires a different response. Just like the video stated, "change your words, change your world."




Image CC by Wikipedia.com

Unfortunately, our world see's images before we read text.  We also try to interrupt the image before we really look at what the image and how it was meant to be shown. The problem with interpretations is they are different for all.  If one looks at this picture they might "see" a different image then someone else.  The issue with images is the perception is different for all.  For example, when you look at this picture, what do you see?
Image CC by Wikipedia.com
If you looked at it from a different perspective you would see the image is a picture is of an up close fly's eye; however, we are trained to look at what we see and possibly not the whole picture.  We are trained with social media, media, advertisements, films and various other sources, images are important and should influence our lives.  In the second article, "Image is Everything: Why People Are Hooked on Image-Based Social Media" discusses just that.  The article states, “Psychologically, consumers love imagery, and seeing visually appealing things creates positive emotions.". It also states, "most people -- between 65 and 85 percent -- also describe themselves as 'visual learners,' forming meaning and organizing thoughts based on what they see more so than what they read”. So how do images affect our educational setting?  Songs like All About that Bass portray the image of any size person is seen as beautiful.  Or does it?  We started to stray away from the Barbie doll image as what we once remember to play with as children and move to a different image.  Is the message really all that different?  Barbie was advertising the skinny body as beautiful and now they opposite has accrued in this song.  The message remains the same that a specific body type is seen as beautiful rather than all seen as beautiful like in the song, "Just the Way You Are".  In the last video, "Looks aren’t everything.  Believe me, I’m a model" Cameron had to change the way she looked to make herself looks as though the photographer wanted her to be portrayed.  Whether it is a bathing suit, clothes, shoes or even Gatorade the image has to seen in a certain way to portray a certain feeling.  The viewer needs to think they can look like that if they bought the dress, or run like that if they only drank Gatorade.  As in Cameron's words, we need to “transform how we look”.  Our students look at those images and believe it needs to be true.  For example, I previously discussed Barbie.  What image is Barbie truly portraying to our youth?  In the article from the www.dailymail.com Barbie is looked at as if she were a life size person.  Unfortunately, the article also compares the image of Barbie to those of "normal" body weight and those who have developed the eating disorder, anorexia nervousa.  In Barbie's fact sheet, it looks at the different proportions of Barbie as well as Barbie when she first came out had a scale (set for 110 pounds) and a book that read, "How to Lose Weight: Don't Eat".  It isn't just females, boys are portrayed to have a body image of Ken or Go.I. Joe characters. Images surround us and we associate what we see with what we have to have and have to be.  For example, the highest paying commercial during the Superbowl are alcoholic beverages.  Does everyone who watches the Superbowl over 21 years of age?  The assumption is, everyone is having a Superbowl party and therefore must have alcohol present.  So one must ask themselves, are all the images in our media negative? In my opinion, images in the media are looking to portray a feelings.  Whether the feeling is freedom, friendship, fun, powerful or beauty it is different for all people.  There are many images in the media where the message is to portray a certain feeling so the student, parent, friend, or child so they pay their product.  For example, in the commercial of paint a father is talking with his wife assuring her everything is just fine at home. In reality, the house is a mess and there is food all over the walls. What message does it portray?  A father cannot control the children or the paint is great for removing stains?  I think the media has changed its thinking from telling us what we should look like and how we should act to a remembrance of a feeling so you will buy their product.  If it is funny one is more likely to remember the product and buy it.  Our students look at the commercials and music videos.  Based on what they see as "cool" will influence what they buy.  Does it mean the product is the best or most comfortable? Not always.  What does matter is the look and confidence of the product based on how it was portrayed by the media.  If Michael Jordan was as average basketball player would this image mean as much?
Image CC by www.wikipedia.com

 
Resources:
 The Power of Words: http://youtu.be/Hzgzim5m7oU  
Image is Everything: Why People Are Hooked on Image-Based Social Media: http://www.trendreports.com/article/imagebased-social-media


 
 






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