This reminded me of Daniels' "Public Secrets" project, because it seems somewhat similar to a treemap. The viewer is asked to decide between two options, and these options lead to the viewing of different advertisements (and therefore more options that are thematically or product-fully related). It seems to me that this Hulu project is evidence of the changing/dynamic genre of advertising. Instead of sticking with what the assumed consumer base is for each show, the website invites the consumers to in essence tell it what to advertise. In this way, they are given some control over what they are seeing advertised, but Hulu retains ultimate control over their consumer experience. It seems like this system of choice and control is a way in which genre can affect the lives of the public--through deciding how consumers relate to the genre of advertising.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Hulu Advertising and Genre
I was thinking about different cases that I could talk about during my SCD 3 while watching Hulu today (heh heh), and I started thinking about the new way that hulu advertises as sort of an extension of our discussion about genre. I don't know if you watch hulu at all, but basically it has this new feature that allows you to choose the ads you want to watch, to personalize your own "ad experience." So when you watch a show, there is usually an option at the beginning to either take a questionnaire about a certain product or TV show and watch the rest of the show commercial free, or to watch with regular commercial breaks. If you choose the latter option, each ad has the question, "Is this ad relevant to you?" with a yes or no button to choose. If you choose to click on either button, the program promises to use your information to better you "ad experience." With either option, the viewer is asked to directly participate in choosing the type of advertisement that is directed towards him/her.
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While I like the idea of genre being "open" and while the idea of not having to see certain commercials, I think Hulu is misuing narration in letting viewers choose the ads they see. Even though the marketing statistics generated from the choices made are an "open secret," I think Hulu is right in the mix with Graham Greene, who, according to Booth, was often reproached for "making his evil characters too sympathetic, for making evil itself attractive" (p. 389).
ReplyDeleteUnless viewers are familiar with how the algorithms being used might be applied (as in, to select what covers of a magazine or what news headlines) one sees, the standard set for the "reader" is too high; I don't think Hulu, like Robert Penn Warren said of Hemingway's writing should be "exonerated, its harmful effect on the weak is irrelevant" (p. 386). That's too broad a definition of "weak" for me.
(I confess, however, that after a few weeks of seeing that so-and-so "likes Tough Mudder" on Facebook, I clicked and made the ad go away.)
Wait... I need to correct myself...I think Hulu is more of a media and so "genre" would apply to the commercials/types of commercials.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of the accepting or rejecting of commmercials by Hulu viewers still leaves the genre open, though.
I think this idea of interactive media being a new genre is really interesting, and although I am a severe technophobe, the reactive quality seems to coincide with Miller's criteria of genre almost more than a traditional text. She writes, "Since 'rhetorical forms that establish genres are stylistic and substantive responses to perceived situational demands,' a genre becomes a complex of formal and substantive features that create a particular effect in a given situation"(153). Daniels website is extremely relevant in this context because the algorithm of site representation depends on audience participation. Genre then becomes glorified in the website and other sites that are directly effect by their "readers."
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