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media reflection

Media Reflection 6/12/19
     Throughout the past few months of doing media blogs, I have significantly increased my knowledge of marketing, roles is media, media consumption, and most importantly how it affects me. I have never evaluated media or looked closely into it like I did recently and doing this completely changed my perspective on how I see every movie, ad, commercial, etc. I can’t watch a commercial without thinking to myself about which appeals it uses, the choice of models, or the implicit messages.
     Since I was born, I have consumed an extreme amount of media. Until this semester, I barely knew what media was or how much of an impact it has on me. Now, I am much more educated on what I see and how to be aware of it. As a child I never questioned the shows and why they always use rich white actors. I honestly didn’t even notice. Now, I notice the lack of diversity in media every day. This knowledge is very important because I look at ads and know if I should trust them or not, see what kind of assumptions they make about me, and who their target audience is. Also, as a women it’s important to note that the roles played by females in the media, is not a valid representation of what women are capable of. They are often made into stereotypical house moms who cook, clean, and take care of their children. But, as an educated consumer, I can see that this lack of diversity for women in media is dashing to our society. This concept is just as important for men to understand as well. Stereotypes formed because of media is a big flaw in the system and I am glad to see some recent changes to improve that.

     I hope to continue analyzing the media I see every day like I did with these blog posts and use it to continue learning about media. I think if I keep up these habits I will be able to notice changes if there are any and new trends in marketing. Hopefully, these tendencies with improve our society and how we are taught to see one another. The media honestly does shape our perspective on the world, which I think needs to change. I have limited myself on how much media I consume, so that I am not reliant on it to shape my thoughts. This was a big step in being aware of my media consumption, and I will continue to be aware of media and its effects.

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