Bieber Fever [Media Meditation 1]

Teen pop star, Justin Bieber, seems to be appearing everywhere lately. There has even been a movie released about him called Never Say Never. I think the teenager is a talented musician and is part of a technological music revolution. The sixteen year old was discovered on YouTube in 2008. Two years later, he has the most viewed YouTube video of all time with his song "Baby" featuring Ludacris. I'm a little confused as to why Justin Bieber doesn't simply get his own special on E! True Hollywood Stories, but I can see how there is a huge market for this movie. His marketing team has outdone themselves with this one. The promotion of the movie has been plastered everywhere. I think everyone and their grandmothers know about the Bieber Fever going around.

One advertisement I found particularly interesting features reality star from MTV's Jersey Shore, Pauly D. The marketing team reaches out to a market a little older than the 10 year old screaming girls that will be dragging their parents to the movie. They caught the high school and college audience with this television commercial. I think it's simply brilliant. Take a look at it:



The Brain:
The video first hits the oldest part of the brain, the reptilian brain. This brain is the instinctual brain. The video uses this power tool in the very beginning of the commercial when it shows Pauly D. in dark lighting sitting on a chair. Viewers don't know what to make of the commercial at first, because it's not very clear what's about to go on.

Eight Shifts:
The commercial is a demonstration of an aesthetic shift because I originally found it on YouTube. It is a convergence of media. Before YouTube and the Internet, we would only be able to see this commercial when it came on TV. Now, we can watch it over and over on the Internet, providing us the ability to embed the video onto another medium to further share.

Seven Basic Principles:
The commercial definitely capitalizes on production techniques. The lighting of the commercial makes it a little spooky, which connects back to the reptilian brain. It sets a serious tone for the commercial, and for Pauly D's message. The lights then brighten when Justin Bieber walks in the room, and the whole mood changes.

Another part of the production techniques there are used in the commercial are camera angles and movement. The camera angles are pretty simple. They are either directly in front of Pauly D., or they are getting a profile shot of him. The shots have smooth transitions.

Persuasive Techniques:
Commercials are always loaded with persuasive techniques. After all, the point of a commercial is to persuade a consumer to do, buy, or think about something. This commercial is no different. I think that the persuasive techniques used in this video make it appealing, and an overall excellent commercial.

One persuasive technique that is used is testimonial. It uses Jersey Shore's Pauly D. This shows that Pauly D. supports Justin Bieber and his movie. This can lead to the persuasive technique bandwagon. Everyone is seeing it, even Pauly D.

Humor was also a technique strongly used in this commercial. Pauly D. is known for his "Guido" look with his hair gelled up like the picture below. In the video he is almost not recognizable in the beginning of the video because he has his hair down flat. He says, "my hair won't even stand up anymore." Another joke he uses is, "I can't stop buying purple pants."



Another strong persuasive technique used in the commercial is simple solutions. Pauly D's hair won't stand up anymore and he can't stop buying purple pants because he has the Bieber Fever. The solution? See the movie. He even states "I gotta see that movie."

Overall, the commercial did it's job. It captivated my attention, I remembered the advertisement, and I have shared it through my blog for my followers to see. The only thing left that the advertisement wants me to do is go see the movie,"Never Say Never." Will I do it? The marketing team sure hopes so.