Even if you believe that fan and brand communities lack the clout to significantly alter corporate behavior, you still need to understand the way participation works within this new affective economy so that you can direct criticisms at the actual mechanisms by which Madison Avenue seeks to reshape our hearts and minds.
Find examples of fan communities (think of Blakley's "taste communities") affecting corporate behavior or attempts by corporations to woo those fan communities. Are there other examples like American Idol? Were they effective? How so? Do people feel more loyalty when they feel that they have an input?
Post by the end of the day Friday.
This show, 'Tosh.0' on Comedy Central is completely based on internet videos made by average people or submitted by fans. The show airs prime time on TV, however, all the videos shown on TV can can be watched again in real time on Daniel Tosh's blog here: http://tosh.comedycentral.com/
ReplyDeleteThere is even a link for fan submissions prominently featured on the site.
What it interesting about this show though is how it is about 95% made up of videos from fans and common people; the other 5% being Tosh's commentary and jokes about the videos. In a sense, Tosh.0 is a show created mostly by the
...people who watch it and the internet community as a whole
ReplyDeleteI can think of many instances where fan communities affect corporate behavior. One example of this would be the show Big Brother. Big Brother is a show in which about 14 people are brought into a house and live together for the entire summer, or until they are voted off by their fellow housemates. While in their, they have the chance to win prizes, form alliances, etc. The outside world contributes a great deal to this. When the houseguests compete in food competitions, one of the teams loses and they are placed on what is called "Slop". However, America gets to pick what else they can eat. There are usually three choices and they are all pretty odd, like avacado and sardines, etc but America gets that vote. There are also other instances when they have someone called the sabatouer. This person tries to sabatoge other people secretly and for each task they complete they get money. America participates in this in a variety of ways. Not only do they have a part in picking which person will complete the tasks, but they also get to assist in picking what tasks the person has to do. America votes by sending in text messages as well as voting online.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of a fan community interacting with the corporate world would be the show Boston Med. Boston Med is a show that was on last year that featured three hospitals in Boston (Boston Childrens, etc) and they shared not only the patients stories but you also were able to see what the doctor's lives were like both inside and outside the hospital. When they were finished with the season, people banned together to try to get it to come back on by joining a facebook group called "Boston Med". Many people expressed their love for the show and how they wanted it to come back on. Due to this massive amount of attention, they are now creating a spinoff series at another hospital.
These are all examples of how the two interact with each other. Without fans, these shows would probably not continue.
A few shows I can think of that certainly have fan communities would be "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing with the Stars." Both of these shows are similar to American Idol in that the fans decide ultimately who wins the competition.
ReplyDeleteSo You Think You Can Dance is a competition where dancers can compete to win a variety of prizes and a role of dancing in some famous show. America gets to vote for the dancers they like just like American Idol. Having the ultimate say in who wins the competition gives fans a sense of importance. They get to decide instead of watching judges decide, essentially they are the judges. Fans vote by texting or calling, which is very easy and simple.
Another show very similar to these is Dancing with the Stars. This show also uses the concept of fans voting for the winner. Again people feel important and become loyal to the show because they are deciding the winner. They continue to watch the show because they want to see if who they voted for is still there.
Both of these shows have a wide fan base and have even won Grammys because of their popularity.
The whole concept of having a say in a national television show gives people a sense that their voice is being heard, that they are somebody. I feel that if fans didn’t have a say in these shows they probably wouldn't be as popular.
An example of affecting economics similar to that incorporated by American Idol developed on the recently completed season of "Dancing with the Stars". But instead of the fanbase being wooed by a corporation, the fanbase attempted to manipulate the voting for political reasons. Bristol Palin, the daughter of Republican presidential hopeful and former vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, was one of the final three contestants, though she was perhaps the least talented or qualified dancer. When she beat out Brandy, the talented singer/dancer who might have been the most talented dancer, even the judges expressed shock and amazement. How was this achieved? A conservative republican website by the name of Freerepublic.com organized a campaign to utilize fake email addresses to stuff the ballot box in Bristol's favor. They justified this by saying they were making a statement against supposed Democratic voter fraud. This highly successful maneuver propelled Bristol all the way to the final show, keeping her mother's name and face a constant presence. This outraged the overall fans of the show, leaving some to question the need to establish a better voting scheme or admit the show was in danger of losing its credibility.
ReplyDeleteAn example of affecting economics that was unsuccessful took place in 2003 when the NBC drama "American Dreams", a top ten show, faced sudden and unexpected cancellation. I was a big fan of the show and took part in the campaign to save it. Interestingly, the show's sponsors Campbell's soup and Nabisco, makers of Oreos, encouraged fans, along with several web fansites, to email, phone, and snailmail requests to NBC executives to save the show. The response was enormous, receiving acknowledgement in the press and by NBC executives who, nonetheless, cancelled the show. Why? To this day, that has not been answered. The overnight cancellation of a very successful and popular show is a mystery, made even more suspicious by the fact that fans are clamoring on the Internet for information regarding the release on DVD of seasons 2 and 3. NBC refuses to release the DVDs or the reason why they will not. The producers of the show must have upset or angered the powers that be.
Along with the other shows described by our classmates, another example of fan communities affecting corporate behavior would be the People’s Choice Awards. This awards show happens every year and is solely based upon America voting for their favorites in the categories of “Movies”, “Music”, “Television” and “Online”. Within each category are several awards that will be given out to “Favorite Pop Artist”, “Favorite Family Movie”, “Favorite TV Comedy”, etc. America is able to vote in various ways, including via text, online and through their smartphones. This show is very effective in getting people to vote because it is talked about months previously on television and online. The fan base only gets larger as years go by. People love the fact that they can take part in issuing someone an award. There is also excitement in finding out whether or not your favorite selection got picked or not. The website offers information regarding links to other websites (facebook, twitter, etc). People who participate in the process of voting are usually the ones who will watch when the award show premieres. This is a great estimate to the amount of viewers this award show could get next month.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading this chapter, I immediately thought of the MTV Music Video Awards. The categories, such as Best New Artist, Best Collaboration, Best Male and Female Videos, Video of the Year, etc. are open for people online to cast their votes. Fan communities are definitely the main drive of this award show. The majority of the people who have a strong appreciation or love for an artist will go online and vote for them to win these awards. By voting for their favorite artist, fans feel they have a say in the outcome and as though they are participating in something to directly help the artists. Because of this, they ultimately have a say in who wins each award. The fact that they can vote also increases the possibility that they will tune in to watch the award show when the results are aired. This system benefits the artist, the people voting, and MTV itself.
ReplyDeleteA show that has a large fan base community is the Conan O' Brian show. While the late night talk show did not require anyone to vote for a particular candidate each week, the show still required viewer participation. Fans could go online to watch video clips, play games, and take polls. All of which Conan made sure to engage his audience. Conan has a huge fan following. Conan chose to leave prime the popular late night show and move to a basic cable station because he knew his large fan base would follow him. His newest show is still very successful. Recently, his fans in Finland are outraged because his new show does not air there. Conan encouraged viewers to go online and help support to get his show to air in Finland.
ReplyDeleteI liked Henry Jenkin's argument in chapter three about the power of adertising, marketing, and fan communities when used in conjunction with corporations. Not only has the show "American Idol" set the tone for media conglormerates using clever marketing and advertising strategies to capture audience's and increase viewership, Now we have the brain child of an idea of "fan communities" which give the viewer a chance to call in, create "online communities" to vote, and let their voices be heard. This idea proved successful with numerous shows other than American idol such as "Dancing with the stars," "America's best dance crew," and "So you think you can dance." The way these types of shows operate is so intriguing to the corporations who woo them because they know that any platform where people can be loyal and committed to calling in votes every week, blogging about results, and creating a web of constant feedback based on the show, and outcomes they want in on! Its an excellent marketing/advertising tool that they don't have to work too hard on developing. I feel that a few reasons why these fan communities are becomming so successful for corporations is because people like to feel involved. As loyal viewers we want to be a part of something epic and being able to have our own word gives us a little more sense of power thus increasing our loyalty to the show.
ReplyDeleteI feel that today, fan based media is everywhere. While award shows were the pioneers for bringing in fan communities and giving them a voice, there are so many more shows that promote this audience participation. American Idol became a huge success and we have seen many shows follow the same idea over the years. "So you think you can dance" and "Dancing with the Stars" are more examples of viewer participating media. These shows allow for us, the audience, to feel involved and give our opinions a place. Week after week, people tune in and await the results that they were participating in making happen. With such a vast audience tuning in weekly, corporations are able to advertise consistently and to these specific audiences that are continually watching these shows. I liked Sarah's reference to the "corruption" that can come out of these shows also. The Bristol Palin scenario was a clear attempt to keep politics at the forefront and set aside the real meaning that the show was about. This corruption and voter fraud does cause an issue for those involved in the show as well as with the loyal fans.
ReplyDeleteToday, there are fan communities everywhere who corporations are reaching out to. Not only can people call in to vote for their favorite contestant on shows such as "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol," but people can also rig the show and call in for their least favorite. People feel that they have the power to change the outcome which creates a fan base. Reality shows such as "Jersey Shore" have become very popular. These shows may not have too much product placement, but stores sell Jersey Shore products: shirts, hats, jewelry, posters, and other items that can be found on the show. Corporations and businesses are appealing to the wants of the consumer; their main goal is to make money. By gaining customer loyalty, these corporations will continue to make money now and in the future.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I am a complete American Idol junkie. Back in Season 8, I'l admit to staying up for hours, with like 6 phones, to vote for Adam Lambert. On that final night of the season I'm pretty sure I fell asleep dialing the number with phone in hand. However, there was more to the season 8 finale between Adam and Kris than more people know. Adam is obviously a raging gay, and of course, the South had a beef with that. A local AT&T in Arkansas, which is Kris' hometown, gave thousands of people free phones in which to "power vote for Kris. Power voting is much more efficient compared to normal voting.
ReplyDeleteWhat resulted was more than half of the millions of votes coming from Arkansas. There was a whole threat of conspiracy, and a lot of people were really, really pissed. So this is blatantly a form of AT&T attempting to woo people into voting with the treat of free phones.
Another example is the early Saturday vh1 show, Top Twenty. This music show requires viewers to vote every week on their favorite music videos. The video with the most votes gets the #1 spot for that week. This is good for artists with huge cults of fans, such as Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Katy Perry. But for the lesser-known artists it is much harder to even make the list.
Another example of American Idol to me The Apprentice, these shows are effective because they focus on getting entertaining people on the screen and on the drama within the show. They do this in their advertisements for the show and on the show itself. For instance people become more dramatic when they are on national television. I feel that with The Apprentice and American Idol fans like the idea that they can vote or put their input in…but in reality it’s the corporations who make the decisions in the end.
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