LE SSERAFIM’s K-pop dance hit Eve, Psyche and the Bluebeard’s Wife has an unwieldy title that even fans of the group find difficult to remember. Who are the three women mentioned in the title? Each of them is a woman from religion, mythology or folklore that gave into temptation and did something she was explicitly told not to do.
Eve
Painting (detail view): Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (1827) by Peter Wenzel
Eve is the best known of the three women. She is from the Bible (in the Book of Genesis)—she is the first woman, created from one of Adam’s ribs.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are told by God not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden and are told that they will die if they eat it. However, a serpent tempts Eve, telling her that eating the fruit won’t kill her; instead, the serpent tells her, ‘your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’
The Temptation of Eve: This is a photo I took while visiting Venice. The sculpture is at Piazza San Marco (St. Marks Square).
Eve finds the forbidden fruit attractive and ‘the tree desirable for gaining wisdom,’ so she eats the fruit and then offers it to Adam. After eating the fruit, the two suddenly realize that they are naked (i.e., they lose their innocence), As punishment for disobeying God, they are expelled from the Garden of Eden (in what is known as ‘the fall of Adam and Eve’); and Eve (and by extension all women) is made to endure pain in childbirth and be subservient to her husband, while Adam (and by extension all men) is made to endure a life of hardship.
Psyche
‘Psyche Opening the Golden Box’ (1904) by John William Waterhouse
Psyche, from Greek mythology, is most famous for her love story with Eros, the god of love (known as Cupid in Roman mythology).
In this story, Psyche is a princess who is so beautiful that people begin to worship her as if she were a goddess, which greatly annoys Aphrodite, the actual goddess of beauty. Aphrodite plans to pull a mean-spirited prank on Psyche and tells her son, Eros, to ‘make this little shameless girl to fall in love with the vilest and the most despicable creature who has ever walked on Earth.’ However, the prank goes wrong and Eros ends up falling in love with Psyche. Meanwhile, Psyche’s father is told a prophecy that she is destined to marry a scary dragon-like monster.
Psyche and Eros end up in a strange marriage (It’s complicated!). They live alone in a palace, and Psyche can only be with Eros at night and is not allowed to see him. Psyche assumes Eros is a kind of hideous beast, as per the prophecy, but he is caring, loving and devoted. She does ask to see him, but Eros insists that in the darkness they are equals, and he asks her not to insist upon seeing him. Before long, Psyche becomes pregnant.
One day, Pysche’s two sisters come to visit her. Even though Eros warns Pysche not to be influenced by her sisters, they manage to convince her that her husband is probably a dangerous monster (Why else would he insist on remaining unseen?). They tell her that she should look at him and, if he turns out to be a monster, kill him. At night she brings a lit candle and knife and finally gets to see him in the candlelight. He turns out to be gorgeous. However, Psyche accidentally spills hot candle wax onto him and wakes him up. Eros sees Psyche (and the knife). Heartbroken at her lack of trust in him, he flies off, leaving her alone.
Cupid and Psyche (1709) by Giuseppe Crespi (this is the part of the story where Eros suddenly wakes up)
Psyche then tries to win him back. Aphrodite, still angry at Psyche, informs her that to find Eros, she must carry out a series of near-impossible and/or extremely dangerous tasks. Eventually, she is rescued by Psyche during the last task.
Psyche revived by the Kiss of Love (1787 et 1793); photograph taken in the Louvre by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT
The whole story is explained in this pair of videos:
Bluebeard’s Wife
Illustration (1911) by Walter Crane
Bluebeard is the main character of a French folktale. Bluebeard is a wealthy and powerful nobleman who has been married six times, with each of his wives disappearing one after the other. He gets married a seventh time.
In the most famous version of the story, written by Charles Perrault in 1687, he and his wife are unnamed. He is given the nickname Blue Beard because he has a blue beard. The wife has different names—Arianne, Jeanne and Boulotte—in different versions of the tale.
Illustration (1901) by D. J. Munroe from ‘Tales of Mother Goose’ by Charles Perrault
One day, before leaving on a trip, Bluebeard hands his wife the keys to his palace, and tells her that she can enter any room except for one—an underground chamber. He threatens her that she will feel his wrath if she ever opens the door to that room. She becomes curious about what is inside the room, and finally she unlocks the door to see what is inside.. Inside the bloody chamber are the bodies of Bluebeard’s six previous wives.
When he returns, Bluebeard discovers that his wife entered the chamber and then tries to kill her. She is saved by members her family, who go on to kill Bluebeard.
The Meaning
One common theme in all three stories is that women have an innate sense of curiosity (Eve wants wisdom, Psyche wants to learn the truth about her husband and Bluebeard’s wife wants to see what’s in the room) that can tempt them to do what is forbidden.
In all three cases, the rules are set by someone else (God, Eros, Bluebeard) and the women are simply told what the must not do.
Though the message in each of the stories seems to be ‘don’t give in to curiosity’, there you can also positive consequences of breaking the rules:
Eve gains knowledge (for all of humanity) and becomes the mother of all humankind.
Psyche, after completing the tasks (with the help of ants, an Eagle and a goddess named Persephone), reunites with Eros. To make up for her suffering, Zeus makes her immortal, and she also gets to live with the gods (instead of just living in a lonely palace).
Bluebeard’s wife is saved by her family, who kill Bluebeard, which, of course, ends his murder spree and is a form of justice. His wife inherits his wealth and enjoys a happy life.
Thus, although the the myths are—on the surface—cautionary tales about the danger of giving into temptation, there is also another message there that rebelling and breaking the rules can, in the end, be empowering. It is this message of empowerment that is the core of the song.
The Bridge What you waiting for? 이게 타락이면 we fall fall fall What you looking for 원한다면 now we fall we fall we fall
What you waiting for? If this is a downfall we fall fall fall What you looking for If you want now we fall we fall we fall
They lyrics refer to the excitement of doing what is forbidden.
Translation
From the chorus Boom boom boom 내 심장이 뛰네
Boom boom boom; my heart is beating
From the chorus I wish for what’s forbidden
More importantly, the lyrics include a couple of lines about the power, independence and freedom that can be gained by breaking with tradition and following one’s own desires.
Translation
From Verse 1 내 룰은 나만 정할래 yeah 볼 거야 금지된 걸 Never hold back 더 자유롭게
I’m the only one who sets my own rules yeah I’ll see what’s forbidden Never hold back, more freely
Visual References in the Music Video
The following shot with Kim Chaewon miming the action of drawing a bow and releasing the arrow is a reference to Eros/Cupid, whose arrows can make people fall in love.
The shot shown below combines imagery associated with Psyche (Eros/Cupid’s arrow) and Eve (The ‘forbidden fruit’ is often depicted as an apple). In he background, there is an apple atop a pile of books. That would represent the knowledge Even gained from eating the forbidden fruit.
On the wall in the background of one of the dance sequences is a painting of apples.
The painting on the wall that can be seen in a few scenes is The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise’ by Benjamin West.
The painting is shown below.
Benjamin West, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (1791)
Towards the end of the video, the paining is covered with graffiti: ‘I WON’T HIDE MYSELF.’
A Little More about Bluebeard
I hadn’t heard the story about Bluebeard before, but it seems the story used to be widely known. For example, it was a made into a 1901 movie by Geoges Méliès, a 1972 movie starring Richard Burton and Raquel Welch and several other movies over the years..
Behind this K-pop dance hit with simple, repetitive lyrics is a deeper meaning—that not only is it natural to want to do ‘what is forbidden’, but breaking the rules set by others and rebelling can be empowering and freeing.
AI-generated video previews (Prompt: a young native American woman sipping coffee in a trendy cafe. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Over the past several years, issues with racial bias in AI systems have been reported in a wide variety of contexts (see Section 6.1 for links to related articles):
AI-generated art & video (the focus of this article) & image editing
Chatbots like ChatGPT
Search engine results
Social media content recommendations, advertising recommendations and censorship
The provision of social welfare and health care services
Assessments on the likelihood of criminals reoffending (which are used to help determine sentences and bail conditions)
Facial recognition, including the identification of suspected criminals
Visa applications
There have also been suspected (but unconfirmed) cases of racial bias in artificial intelligence systems used for assessing job and university applications.
The prevalence of these issues leads to the question:
1. Is AI racist?
Artificial intelligence programs behind chatbots like ChatGPT and image generators like MidJourney don’t have emotions or attitudes, so they can’t feel hatred towards people of a specific race, but…
AI systems often mirror human biases.
When Joy Buolamwini, a black woman who is now one of the leaders in research related to bias in AI, was a graduate student at MIT in 2015, she noticed that some of the facial recognition algorithms she was working with could not even detect her face, let alone match it correctly (Ted Talk: How I’m fighting bias in algorithms. She was invisible to the facial recognition system, yet it had no problems identifying her white colleagues. The cause of the problem was quite simple; the facial recognition programs had not been trained to recognize faces of people with dark skin and had not been properly tested on people of different ethnicities—that can be considered a kind of human error.
When an AI system is being developed, human biases can easily creep in during each stage of the AI training process. Biases may appear in:
the selection of data (e.g., text, images, code, etc.) that makes up the initial ‘training set’
the instructions (i.e., ‘the algorithm’) that tells the system how to classify, analyze and interpret the data
the methods used to test and evaluate how well the system works
Another source of human bias can be found in the massive body of text and images on the Internet. Deep machine learning AI programs like ChatGPT and Midjourney scrape vast amounts of text and/or images from the Internet, analyze that data and then use the analysis to mimic human communication and artistry. If the scraped data has issues—for example, under-representation, stereotyping, disinformation, distorted imagery or even directly expressed racism—the mimicked output from the AI is naturally going to exhibit those same issues. In other words, garbage in, garbage out.
Thus, although AI systems aren’t inherently racist, they can reflect (a) the biases of the developers and (b) any systemic racism in society.
2. Observations
I recently tried out AI programs (mainly using Kaiber, but also working with Stable Diffusion 1.5, Runway and DreamStudio) that generate images or videos. After experimenting with a wide variety of subjects and art styles, I noticed a few issues related to racism:
Underrepresentation of certain ethnicities
Stereotyping
Susceptibility to disinformation and misinformation
The art style’s effect on the ethnicity of subjects
When I was experimenting with Kaiber, certain ethnicities—black people, people of South Asian ancestry and indigenous people from the Americas and Australia—were absent from the generated videos and preview images. They didn’t appear unless I added that specific ethnicity or a key phrase like ‘street in Africa’ to the list of text prompts.
For example, when I entered the text prompt ‘young woman in a coffee shop’ and selected the Photo-realistic art style preset, Kaiber only served up preview images featuring white women and women that could easily pass as being white (i.e., the ethnicity is ambiguous, but the person appears to be Caucasian). Even with different modifiers—such as ‘in an office’, ‘in a classroom’, ‘soldier’ and ‘construction worker’—only white and ‘white-passing’ women appeared in the previews. They were also all young, slim and conventionally pretty and had long hair (though a few of the construction workers had their long hair tied up).
Kaiber previews (Prompt: young woman in a coffee shop. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: young woman in an office. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: young woman in a classroom. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: young woman construction worker. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: young woman soldier. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
I also tried negative prompts like ‘drug addict’, ‘murderer’ and ‘thief’, and the results were the same (which in this case is a good thing—it would be much worse if Kaiber’s AI decided that all office workers should be white and all thieves should be black). There were two exceptions to the Caucasian-only previews, and these are discussed in Sections 2.3 and 2.4.
This default-to-Caucasian tendency has also been noticed by users of Midjourney, one of the leading AI image generators.
Where does this bias come from? This kind of underrepresentation likely comes from the database of images scraped from the Internet. The Kaiber previews look very much like they were based on stock images from sites like Shutterstock or Alamy (see the following images).
Selection of stock photos of ‘woman in an office’: Shutterstock
Selection of stock photos of ‘woman in an office’: Alamy
These kinds of sites provide especially useful data for text-to-image and text-to-video AI programs as their images already come with descriptive tags and titles.
The stock image sites do have a fair amount of diversity, but most of the models in the photos that appeared when I used search terms like ‘woman in an office’ were young slim white women who had long hair. It appears that this already limited amount of diversity is further decreased in Kaiber’s AI system.
Similarly, the more painterly examples in the Midjourney examples are likely inspired by online images of art. The art world is more diverse nowadays; however, the study of fine art has long had a Eurocentric focus. For example, a Google Images search for ’20th century painting portraits’ looks like this:
Screenshot of Google Images search for ’20th century painting portrait)
Thus, the underrepresentation problem in the images produced by Kaiber and Midjourney appears to be caused by (1) underrepresentation in general in Internet images and (2) flaws in the AI algorithm that amplify the already existing underrepresentation.
Developers of older text-to-image programs like DALL-E have been addressing the problem of underrepresentation, but it is difficult to strike the right balance. For example, users have noticed DALL-E putting in diversity where it doesn’t really fit (e.g., in depictions of historical figures like Queen Elizabeth I) and wasn’t asked for (Anyone noticed a significant algorithm change in last few days to create far more diverse images?).
With a menu of inputs, a user can compare how different professions are represented by Stable Diffusion, and how variables such as adjectives may alter image outputs. An ‘assertive firefighter, ,for instance, is depicted as white male. A ‘committed janitor’ is a person of color.
I didn’t notice that kind of job-based stereotyping when working with Kaiber (as everyone was white), but I when tried adding specific ethnic minorities in the prompts, the results were mixed. If I typed in ‘black man’ or ‘black woman’, the preview images looked fine and didn’t have any of the extreme distortion noticed by users of early AI text-to-image programs (Black Artists Say A.I. Shows Bias, With Algorithms Erasing Their History). However, when I used ‘native American’ in the prompts, in all the preview images, the subjects were decked out in feathers and/or beads.
Kaiber previews (Prompt: a young native American woman sipping coffee in a trendy cafe. Style preset: Entergalatic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: a young native American woman sipping coffee in a trendy cafe. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
In contrast, when I used a similar prompt (‘native American man in a trendy coffee shop’) in Stable Diffusion 1.5, the imagery was not stereotypical at all. Therefore, it seems that Kaiber’s algorithms need tweaking.
Image generated from Stable Diffusion 1.5 (Prompt: native American man in a trendy coffee shop. Style preset: Cinematic)
Image generated from Stable Diffusion 1.5 (Prompt: native American man in a trendy coffee shop. Style preset: Sai Anime)
I also used ‘Africa street scene’ and ‘Europe street scene’ as prompts, and the preview images were stereotypical. The four previews for Africa all featured dusty villages with people wearing colorful traditional clothing. The European scenes featured classic architecture and stylishly-dressed pedestrians.
Kaiber previews (Prompt: Africa street scene. Style preset: Cinematic)
Kaiber previews (Prompt: Europe street scene. Style preset: Cinematic
Some of the facial features of people in the African scenes were distorted and/or unclear. However, in this stage of its development, Kaiber is often poor at handling facial features in long shots. It does much better with close-ups, and Kaiber didn’t seem to have problems handling close-ups of people with dark skin.
2.3 Disinformation & Misinformation
Here is one exception to Kaiber’s Caucasian-only-default. When I used the prompt ‘person wearing a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic, all four previews were of young East Asian women.
Kaiber previews (Prompt: person wearing a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Adding ‘doctor’ and ‘surgical mask’ led to the following previews (two Caucasian men, one probably-Asian-possibly-a-man, and one female who could pass for Asian or Caucasian but whose eye color suggests the latter.).
Kaiber previews (Prompt: doctor wearing a surgical mask during the Covid-19 pandemic. Style preset: Photo-realistic)
Just using ‘doctor’ as the prompt led to preview images only of middle-aged white men.
Why did Kaiber’s AI suddenly decide to ignore its own Caucasian-by-default tendency for the COVID-19 prompt? It does not appear to be a result of stock images (which, as the following screenshot shows, don’t seem to focus on people of Asian ancestry).
Selection of stock photos of ‘person in a mask during the Covid 19 Pandemic’: Shutterstock
Instead the most likely cause is the tendency for major news networks to use photos of people of East Asian ancestry wearing masks in stories about COVID-19, even in articles that were entirely unrelated to Asia or Asian people. This tendency is well documented in a lecture by Jennifer Huynh entitled The ‘Kung Flu’: How Media Images Frame Asians in Diasporic Chinese and US Newspapers During the Pandemic.
And why were three of the women in the preview images wearing black masks with valves? That kind of mask was not commonly worn during the pandemic. They were, however, quite common during the Hong Kong protests of 2019. It appears that Kaiber’s AI connected the prompts ‘mask’ + Covid’ to the idea of ‘young East Asian female’ and from there started getting influences from the imagery of the Hong Kong protests.
To see how AI could be affected by misinformation and disinformation, I asked an AI writing program at you.com to write an essay on China’s social credit system. This system is wildly misrepresented in most media reports. In reality, there is no numerical social credit score that is used to threaten people; it simply doesn’t exist (a more accurate picture of the ‘system’ can be found in the article China’s social credit score – untangling myth from reality). In the AI-generated essay, there were seven ‘factual’ statements. Of those seven statements, six were completely incorrect and one was partially correct. In the essay, the AI did attempt to provide counter-arguments, but the entire essay was built upon a foundation of falsehoods.
Kaiber’s insistence on relating COVID-19 to mask-wearing Asians and you.com’s total acceptance of the social credit myth demonstrate just how pervasive and influential media bias and propaganda can be.
2.4 The Effect of Style and Language
When generating AI images and video in Kaiber, you also need to specify the art style. Kaiber has a variety of presets, and the choice of style can affect the ethnicity of the subject. Kaiber has two anime-related style presents—Lost and Meteora Graffiti. Among the prompts for Lost are the names of anime directors Makoto Shinkai and Hayao Miyazaki. Among the prompts for Meteora Graffiti are the names of Ilya Kuvshinov (character designer for the anime Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 and The Wonderland) and Katsuhiro Otomo (the director of Akira). If you choose either of these two preset styles, you will likely get anime-inspired, East Asian-looking characters (this was the second exception to Kaiber’s Caucasian-only tendency).
When I combined the prompt ‘a young black woman sipping coffee in a trendy cafe’ with the Lost style preset not all the preview images had black subjects.
Kaiber previews (Prompt: a young black woman sipping coffee in a trendy cafe. Style preset: Lost)
Similarly, when I used Kaiber’s ‘video transformation’ feature with the style prompts: ‘oil painting’ and ‘van Gogh’. Kaiber changed the ethnicity of the ballet dance in the source video from ethnic Chinese to Caucasian.
Screenshot from the original video
Screenshot from the Ai generated video (Prompt: ballet dancer. Art style prompt: van Gogh, oil painting.
While it makes sense for anime set in Japan to focus on Japanese characters and for 19th century European artists to paint predominantly white people, there is no reason why an art style should determine the ethnicity of the subject.
3. Guardrails
The developers of most popular programs like ChatGPT do try to install ‘guardrails’ that attempt to prevent their AI algorithms from spewing out biased or harmful information (OpenAI Chatbot Spits Out Biased Musings, Despite Guardrails). For example, if you ask ChatGPT write racist content, you will likely get a response like this:
Screenshot of a ChatGPT response
There are methods to get around guardrails, such as by retrying or rephrasing the prompt or by asking the the AI to ignore the guardrails or by asking the AI to imagine itself as a fictional character. For example, Steven T. Piantadosi, head of the computation and language lab at the University of California, Berkeley, got ChatGPT to produce racist and sexist Python code simply by asking the AI to try again (YouTube video: ChatGPT about good scientists).
Screenshot of a ChatGPT response
4. A Poisoned Well
There are two massive challenges AI is facing:
First, many AI systems rely on human-generated content, and that content can be misguided if not deliberately misleading. AI systems that scrape data from the Internet are drinking from a poisoned well. One might argue that AI can be trained to evaluate the reliability of various sources, but who is going to decide what sources are credible?
Second, people nowadays are using AI systems to churn out and upload a lot of content. Besides amplifying the biased and incorrect information that is already there, AI systems are adding their own errors into the mix. For example, when I was researching the use of AI in English language teaching, I noticed that ChatGPT was often coming up with apparently original but incorrect grammar and pronunciation rules, such as:
The definite article ‘the’ can’t be used with countable nouns (This is untrue. Example: ‘The knowledge I gained at school proved to be useful in my career’)—from 50 Ways Teachers can use Chat GPT to Save Time: YouTube video.
You can’t say ‘the waters’ (Also untrue. Examples: ‘He wants to test the waters before deciding to run for election’ and ‘She is exploring the waters around the British Isles’)—from the same video.
Programs like ChatGPT are now introducing new sources of error that future AIs may draw from. In essence, AI is poisoning itself. This kind of self-poisoning may exacerbate existing problems with bias in AI. As Rahul Rao writes:
The research so far indicates that [an AI] model will suffer most at the ‘tails’ of its data—the data elements that are less frequently represented in a model’s training set. Because these tails include data that are further from the ‘norm,’ a model collapse could cause the AI’s output to lose the diversity that researchers say is distinctive about human data. In particular, Shumailov fears this will exacerbate models’ existing biases against marginalized groups. “It’s quite clear that the future is the models becoming more biased,” he says. “Explicit effort needs to be put in order to curtail it.”
To sum up, AI systems can easily reflect the biases present in society or held by their developers. To combat this:
AI system developers need to be more aware of the potential for bias when training, testing and evaluating the systems.
Similarly, any companies, institutes, government departments or other organizations that are making use of AI systems, need to guard against bias.
AI developers need to continuously fine-tune and update their algorithms and adjust their guardrails whenever issues are noticed and reported. Many developers are already doing this, but the approach is naturally a little like the whack-a-mole game.
Users of AI systems need to be more aware of the pitfalls and limitations of AI. They can also report any bias-related issues they come across to the AI developer or to the Algorithmic Justice League (www.ajl.org/), a watchdog organization founded by Joy Buolamwini.
Educators should help students develop strong media literacy skills (like how to identify bias).
Stable bias: Analyzing societal representations in diffusion models (https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.11408) Alexandra Sasha Luccioni, Christopher Akiki, Margaret Mitchell & Yacine Jernite, 2023.
Examining the potential impact of race multiplier utilization in estimated glomerular filtration rate calculation on African-American care outcomes (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-06280-5) Salman Ahmed, Cameron T. Nutt, Nwamaka D. Eneanya , Peter P. Reese, Karthik Sivashanker, Michelle Morse, Thomas Sequist & Mallika L. Mendu, 2020.
On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big? (https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3442188.3445922) (Emily M. Bender et al.) Emily M. Bender, Timnut Gebru, Angelina McMillan- Major & Shmargaret Shmitchell, 2021.
7. Additional Reading: Bias in Camera Technology
Interestingly, the problem of human bias infecting technology predates the computer era. There have long been issues with the way cameras treat the skin tone of people with dark skin, but camera manufacturers, film manufacturers and developers, photographers and movie lighting professionals have made improvements in addressing this problem.
This video features (1) Creatures—the latest song in my music series—and (2) my experiments using the Kaiber AI video generator (kaiber.ai/create),
I’ve always struggled to find video footage to go along with the songs on my main YouTube music channel. I have tried taking videos of dancers, using screen captures of music visualizers, using video footage I took while travelling, making montages of street art photos and collaborating with an underwater dancer. For this video, I experimented with Kaiber, an AI video generator that is useful for producing dream-like videos with evolving imagery.
Download the song
Creatures is the 45th song in my Free Background Music Series. It is a laidback piece that is largely created from loops, with the core piano coming from a promotional collaboration between Landr and Pantone (PANTONE Color of the Year 2020: The Classic Blue 19-4052), with additional parts played on a Korg M50 synthesizer. As with the other songs in the series, this work can be used for free in non-commercial projects and in YouTube monetized videos (that are otherwise non-commercial in nature) as long as credit is provided (‘music by longzijun’). For more information, you can refer to the detailed Terms of Use. The song can be downloaded from:
The music was recorded, mixed and edited using Cakewalk by Bandlab (which is free), and I did the mastering in Magix Audio Cleaning Lab.
About the Kaiber AI video generator
With Kaiber (kaiber.ai/create), you can choose from three main animation methods:
Flipbook: This is Kaiber’s signature style; it creates a somewhat jittery video in which the imagery evolves in a dream-like manner. You can control the amount of change via the ‘Evolve’ setting, but even if you use the very lowest setting, the main character’s facial features, hairstyle and clothes will still gradually change. Most of the shots in the above video were generated using this mode.
Motion: This is a relatively new feature. The animated clips are between 3 and 4 seconds long, but they have smoother motion. If you select a high ‘evolve setting’ you can get interesting transitions.
Transform a video: With this method, you upload an existing video and tell Kaiber’s AI what you want to do with it. In this mode, if you set ‘Transformation’ to a low value (1 is the minimum and 10 is the maximum), the effect is more like a filter, with only slight changes to things like the color and amount of detail. If the setting is near the maximum, you can completely change the look of the main subject(s) and the whole environment. In principle, it works similarly to rotoscoping or motion capture. At the moment, if you are using Kaiber, this mode is the only way to get realistic movements like running, walking or dancing.
I recently used this K-pop song—Eleven—by IVE, to demonstrate some of the decisions that a music producer is responsible for. There are quite a few interesting things about the song’s composition, arrangement and mix, so it is worth looking at them in more detail. Before reading further, you might want to listen to the song and think about what makes it so distinctive.
Context
Eleven, the debut single of six-member K-pop girl group IVE, was released on 1 December 2021. It was written and produced by Peter Rycroft (Lostboy), Lauren Aquilina, Ryan S. Jhun and Alawn, with additional lyrics by Seo Ji-eum.
Structure
The song has a typical pop-song structure:
Intro Verse 1 Pre-chorus 1 Chorus
Verse 2 Pre-chorus 2 Chorus Post Chorus
Bridge Chorus Post-Chorus
Melody & Harmony: Scales & Chords
There are some interesting things going on with the melody and harmony. The melody mainly uses two scales:
E minor (E F# G A B C D E)
Mixolydian b13 mode in E (E F# G# A B C D E): As this is a scale that is more common in Indian music, it is sometimes called the Hindu scale. The G# gives it a ‘major’ feel while the C natural and D natural give it a ‘minor’ feel.
The effect is that the melody of the song has a mysterious feel, with a slight Indian or Middle Eastern influence.
The song is ‘officially’ in A major (A B C# D E F# G# A), but the note that really makes A major a major scale—C#—is conspicuously absent in the song. And in terms of harmony, if you look at the actual chords, you will see that:
the verse and chorus center around the E major chord (E G# B) and
the pre-chorus centers around the E minor chord (E G B)
Thus, the song has a kind of neutral vibe—not quite major, but also not quite minor.
Melody & Harmony: Tension & Release
This song makes effective use of tension and release. Tension between the melody and harmony is created when the melody avoids the notes of the underlying chords and/or uses notes outside the scale associated with those chords (What is Tension and Release in Music?). Release then comes when the melody resolves to one of the notes of the underlying chord.
For example, in the song Eleven, the chord under the main ‘one two three four five six seven‘ hook (the first bar in the following excerpt) is C major (C E G).
The melody—E F G A B D B A—dances around ‘C’, but it never lands on the note. This leaves you expecting a ‘C’ that never comes, In addition, the F# over a C major chord also creates some tension as it is the tritone above C (If you are not sure what I mean here, try playing C and F# together and you will hear that the sound is rather dissonant—i.e., the notes clash with one another).
Similarly, the chord for the next bar is D major, but there are four E notes and no D notes, again creating a feeling of tension as you anticipate a resolution to D. Finally, the phrase resolves to a G# that eventually goes over an E major chord (E G# B). This provides a feeling of resolution, but the feeling is not as ‘final’ as it would have been if the note had resolved to the root note (E).
Tempo
The tempo of the song is 120 bpm, but before each chorus, there is a ritardando (i.e., a gradual slowing down), which is quite unusual in a dance-oriented pop song. Just before the chorus, the song speeds up back to the original tempo. In the first two instances, the speeding up takes one beat, while for the last instance it takes two beats (which adds a little variety). In IVE’s dance routine for this song, the ritardando and sudden return to the main tempo are emphasized by using movements representing drawing a bowstring and releasing an arrow.
Syncopation and Articulation
The melody in the verse is heavily syncopated. In the first four bars of the verse (shown below), for example, every note lands on the eighth note after the main beat. This use of syncopation also helps to create a mysterious feel.
In the hook, though the notes for the lyrics ‘one two three four five six seven‘ are on the beat, they are given a (somewhat) staccato articulation. Rather then flowing into one another (i.e., legato), each note is clearly separated. with a sixteenth note rest between each word in the phrase.
The Arrangement & Mix
The arrangement overall is quit unusual for a dance pop song. The arrangement of the song is very sparse, especially in the first verse and pre-chorus , where there are only vocals and three percussive parts:
a melodic/rhythmic pattern that is introduced in the intro
a simple drum beat with a kick drum and a weak snare sound (and no hi-hats or other cymbals)
a tuned-percussion sound that makes one think of the sound of a tabla or dumbak combined with the sound of a marimba. Due to the tabla/dumbak/marinba-like sound, the arrangement has a slight Indian or Middle Eastern vibe that complements the melody
In Eleven, the pattern from the intro and the tuned-percussion part that appears in most of the rest of the song have a multifunctional role—they help create the rhythm, they provide counter-melodies and they also create the chord progressions that make up the harmony.
In Western pop music, instruments tend to have one or two functions only—for example the drums provide the rhythm, the lead guitar focuses on melody, the keyboards focus on harmony, the rhythm guitar is responsible for harmony and rhythm, etc. However, in pop music in other cultures—like many genres of African, Middle Eastern or Indian music—the multifunctional approach used in Eleven is common in things like tuned percussion and very rhythmic ‘harmony’ and ‘melody’ parts.
There is a short solo phrase in the intro played with a woodwind-like synth sound that appears again as backing vocals in the post chorus. This melismatic (melismatic = using several notes to sing one syllable) phrase also has an Indian or Middle Eastern feel to it.
In the choruses and second pre-chorus, sustained synth chords appear but they are quite far back in the mix. The synth past just adds a bit of solidity to the chorus. In the chorus and post-chorus, there are also a lot of little background vocal parts. It is a very ‘vocal-centric’ arrangement overall.
The sparse arrangement puts the main vocals very front-and-center, and this is further emphasized in the mix, which has the vocals being very ‘forward’ in the mix (i.e., the levels are very high compared to other instruments in the mix).
Although it is safe to assume that the usual effects (reverb, compression and EQ) have been added to the vocals, these effects have been used in moderation, so the vocal character and timbre of each singer’s voice is clear. This is a good choice for a debut single as it is able to showcase the voice of each singer in IVE.
Demo Version
You can listen to the demo version of Eleven in the following video. Many of the things that are mentioned above—the influence from Indian music, the major/minor neutrality, the tension between melody and harmony and also the unusual ritardando—are already present in the demo version. The things added in the production stage—such as the intro, instrumentation and backing vocals—merely serve to further emphasize mysterious the Indian/Middle Eastern vibe
Conclusion
Overall, Eleven is an interesting song and was an effective debut single. First, the sparse arrangement and minimal use of effects showcases the characteristic voice of each singer. Second, the vaguely Indian/Middle Eastern influences in the melody and arrangement (and also in the visuals in the music video), created a unique, slightly exotic and mysterious vibe that helped set IVE apart from other 4th generation K-pop girl groups.
These innovative sites allow you to explore your creativity though experimenting with differing ways of creating music through your web browser. Some of these sites have export/download functions so that you can save the sounds you made. For others sites, you will need to record the audio coming from your computer or device. There are a few ways to do this mentioned in this article: How to Record the Sound Coming From Your PC (Even Without Stereo Mix).
Can each of these apps make an entire song? No, not really, but they can give you some interesting beats, melodies and sounds to work with, and they just might inspire you to take your music production into new directions.
Some of the programs listed are easy to understand and play, while others have a steep learning curve. Click on the thumbnails to go to the websites.
Make Rhythms
Citizen DJ
Create beats from splices of public domain audio (old movies, speeches and song recordings) and classic drum machine sounds. For some of the material you need to provide attribution. You can check the terms of use for each collection once you select it for remixing (US Library of Congress).
The Infinite Drum Machine
Use loops of everyday sounds to create rhythms. use the filter function to specify sounds related to the terms you input. (Experiments with Google)
Rhythm
Make simple three-part looping rhythms. Permission is given to use the sounds in your own music (Chrome Music Lab).
Groove Pizza
Create rhythms by drawing shapes (musedlab).
Beat Blender
At the four corners are different kinds of beats that you can edit. Everything in between is a variation on those four beats. A MIDI output option is available. The save function, however, does not seem to work (Experiments with Google)
If you are logged in, you can invite friend to jam with you on this drum sequencer
808 Cube
A free beat-making app that combines 808-style drum machine sounds that get flipped around like a Rubik’s Cube. there is also a function for uploading your own sound samples.
Roland50 Studio
Roland celebrates it’s 50th anniversary by releasing online version of several of is drum machines (as well as a couple of bass and synth sequencers). The synth sequencers are especially good if you are aiming for a retro arcade game sound.
WebAudio MIDI Drum Machine
A drum machine with various drums sounds and effects.
Create Melodies & Harmonies
Blob Opera
Drag your mouse to make four blobs sing. Vertical mouse movements determine the pitch and horizontal movements determine the vowels (Google Arts & Culture).
Arpeggios
Create sequences of arpeggiated chords. Permission is given to use the sounds in your own music (Chrome Music Lab).
Word Synth
Choose a scale, type in words, assign them a note and select the degree to which you want them to be ‘sung’.(Experiments with Google)
Typatone
Type in letters, which are then translated into musical notes.
Scratch
Create music (and/or animations) via coded instructions. Make sure you watch the tutorial before trying to work with this app (musedlab).
OneMotion Chord Player
Try out different chord progressions.
Incredibox
Create a mix with beatboxing, lead vocals, rap and back-up vocals. This is a paid app, but there are free demos available. The music created from the app, however, can only be used for personal, non-commercial projects.
Web Synthesizer V
Create melodies with lyrics in this free online version of a paid desktop program.
Isle Of Tune
Add streets, buildings, plants and streetlights. Assign sounds to all of them and these sounds get played as the cars drive past.
Tones
Create melodies and sequences
Blockdust
By joining blocks together, you can build synthesizers, put effects on your voice, remix & manipulate samples and arrange self-playing musical environments. (by Femur)
Omni
Experiment with 40 different scales, including East Asian and Middle Eastern scales. (by Femur)
Beepbox
A piano-roll-style music app
Patatap(caution: flashing images)
Type any of the letter keys on your computer keyboard. Tapping the space bar will change the sound of that key
Acid Machine 2
Create sequences of beats, basslines and melodies
Sampulator
Use your computer keyboard to play a limited number of samples (percussion, keyboard, guitar, effects and speech)
Efflux
An online sequencer
Mario Sequencer
A Mario-Brothers-themed sequencer that gives you a class 8-bit game sound.
Music Grid
A simple sequencer.
AR Synth
Drag and drop classic synthesizers and drum machines and then program them to play sequences. (Experiments with Google)
Draw Sounds
Paint with Music
Draw shapes and lines which will then be converted to melodies. The horizontal dimension determines the length of a note but NOT the when the note actually gets played. (Google Arts & Culture)
Kandinsky
Convert shapes and lines into melodies. Permission is given to use the sounds in your own music. (Chrome Music Lab)
Scribble Audio
Play around with different types of sound waves (sine, square, sawtooth and triangle). You can save the sounds in WAV format.
PIXELSYNTH
Create very weird electronic music by transforming the pixels of an uploaded image or drawn lines into musical notes.
Create Sounds with your Body
These apps require a webcam to be installed so that the programs can monitor your body movements.
Semi-Conductor
Conduct a virtual string section by moving your arms. (Experiments with Google)
Body Synth
Create sounds by moving your body. (Experiments with Google)
Add Effects
Voice Spinner (Chrome Music Lab)
Spin the sound your voice (or anything coming from your mic) like a DJ spins records
Nsynth Sound Maker
Combine the sounds of two different things (e.g, guitar + flute, cow + organ) and adjust the proportion of each sound. This can create unique sounds. (Experiments with Google)
Tone Transfer (by Google Research)
Take the melody produced by one thing (e.g., human voice, birds chirping, etc) and turn it into and musical instrument sound. You can also upload your own files or use a microphone input.
Play Online Synthesizers
Viktor: NK-1 Synth
Experiment with building your own sounds from different kinds of basic waveforms.
Tony-b Machine
A synth with retro sounds.
Websynths Microtronal
Explore all kinds or parameters—waveforms, modulators, filters, delay, feedback, etc.
TrueGrid
Move patches, flip switches and rotate dials to create sounds in this digital version of a modular synth.
WebSID
Recreates the retro sounds of an early computer: the Commodore 64.
Cardboard Synth
Experiment with analog synth sounds.
Play Other Virtual Instruments
Theremin (Google Doodle)
A theremin synth developed by Google for in celebration of Clara Rockmore
Theremin (Femur)
Drag your mouse across the screen to change the pitch (and you can also add delay, feedback and ‘scuzz’.
Theremin App
You can select waveforms, 12 different keys and 18 different scale types
Virtual Bandura
Play this plucked Ukranian folk music instrument.
Virtual Pantam Playground
A virtual handpan—you can select and edit different scales.
Create Ambient Soundscapes
Ambient Mixer
Create mixes of ambient sounds from the sites library or adapt other users’ templates. I would recommend using this site for personal use as the licensing and rights are ambiguous.
Tabletop Audio Soundpad
Sound effects and music for creating ambient soundscapes. The site is good for exploring and for working on personal non-commercial projects, but the creator’s terms of use when it comes to commercial use are ambiguous.
Add Texture
Mix ambient sounds. Your mixes are free to use for non-commercial purposes as long as attribution is provided. For a commercial license the fee is £25.
Adapt/Remix other People’s Music
Rather than helping your create your own music, these sites let you transform and remix existing music.
Unseen Music: Helios by Yume
Move elements of the pictures to mix a beautiful electronic soundscape composed by Yume.
Play a Kandinsky
This site explores the relationships between sound, color and emotion using a painting by Kandinsky as kind of interface. (Google Arts & Culture)
Variations Playground
Create your own variations of Dvořák’s New World Symphony, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Britten’s the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. (musedlab)
Visualize Sound
Oscillator (Chrome Music Lab)
Hear and see visualizations of four different kind of soundwaves (square, sine, sawtooth and triangle).
Spectogram (Chrome Music Lab): See the spectograms (visual representations of audio frequencies) of different kinds of sounds. You can also input sounds via your microphone.
Piano Roll (Chrome Music Lab)
See a simply display of how selected classical music works look in the MIDI piano roll format.
Seeing Music
View visualizations using sample audio or upload your own audio. You can see different kinds of representations such as waveforms, oscilloscopes, spectrograms and ‘Hilbert’ visualizations.
Other Tools
Easy Virtual Choir
An app for quickly creating a choir from individual videos.
Ableton Launchpad Intro
Thinking about getting a Launchpad MIDI controller. You can experiment with this app to see how it works.
Ableton: Learn Synths
A hands-on-guide to things like oscillators, waveforms, envelopes and filters.
Ableton Learn Music
A step by step guide to all the basic principles of creating rhythm sequences and melodic and harmonic patterns.
Full Music Production Software
Bandlab Studio
A complete DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software that allows you to record and mix music. You need to create a free account to access the software.
Coming Soon: AI
There are already a few web-based services that will auto-generate music for you, but the results tend to be generic. For example, with AIVA you can generate a song like this: Always in Your Mind, Never in Your Heart – AI Composed R&B Track by AIVA (though a lot of human remixing was done with the material generated).
However, Google recently released a research study on one of their experiments: MusicLM: Generating Music From Text. With this program, you can write text prompts or hum a melody and the software will come up with a song in the style of your choice. MusicLM’s idea of jazz is ‘ropey’ at best, but it does a good job in other genres. We seem to be at the stage now where AI-generated imagery was a couple of years ago. The results are interesting. but no replacement for the real thing. However, it is likely there will be a similar breakthrough in music AI in the next couple of years just as there was with AI-generated imagery.
If there are there any sites I should add, let me know.
Future articles will look at free online DAW software and editing tools as well as free music apps. If you have any recommendations, let me know.
Orchestral Sunset is the eighth track in the Short Instrumental Themes series. It was mainly played on a Korg M50 synthesizer. There is also a drumless version:
Intro Theme 07 (Soft & Hard) is made up of two sections: the first part is electronic (synthesizer and percussion) while the second part is more like rock (guitar and drums).
Love & Time is the fourth track in the Free Short Instrumentals series. It is a solo piano instrumental that has a nostalgic feel. The song was played on a Korg M50 synthesizer.
Lines of appeal are the approaches used by advertisers to attract potential customers or clients. When a clothing company is trying to persuade people to buy its products, for example, it might use an advertisement that shows a group of attractive young friends wearing clothes from that brand and having a great time. In such an ad, the advertiser is appealing to your desire to be part of a group, so this kind of advertising approach is called a social line of appeal.
When you see such an advertisement, you won’t automatically think ‘Gosh, I can have more friends if I wear that T-shirt’ and then rush out to buy it. Instead, the advertiser is trying to plant a seed in your mind—that there is something special about the product or brand. The hope is that you will have a more favorable impression of the product/brand and that you will be more likely to buy it when the opportunity arises.
If you understand how lines of appeal are used in advertising, you can better protect yourself from having your thoughts and emotions manipulated by advertisers and you will be better able to make better consumer choices.
Here are some of the most common lines of appeal:
Social appeals (Friendship, Part of the gang, Romance, Sex, Stand out, Family, Good Housewife)
Personal appeals: positive emotions (Heartwarming, Nostalgia, Empathy, Social issues, Patriotism, Cuteness)
Personal appeals: negative emotions (Fear, Shock, Guilt, Outrage)
Rational appeals (Solution, Bandwagon, Scarcity, Value for money, Authority/expert, Statistics, Celebrity endorsement, Testimony, Technical, Heritage/tradition, Modern/futuristic, Durability)
Nature appeal
Other appeals (Brand, Music, Comparison, Plain)
Trigger warning: some of the ads featured in this article are for addictive products (cigarettes, alcohol) and/or have sexual, racist, misogynistic and/or bigoted imagery.
1. Social Appeals
These kinds of advertisements focus on appealing to our desire to belong, to fit in, to be accepted, to be loved, to be desired and to be appreciated. There are a few different kinds of social appeal.
1.1 Friendship
Friendship appeal ads usually feature two or three people, typically of the same sex, happily enjoying each other’s company.
American Eagle Ad
Maltesers Ad
1.2 Part of the Gang
Having close friends is good, but belonging to a large group of young, attractive, energetic fun-loving friends will make your life richer and more colorful. This is the implied message of the part-of-the-gang line of appeal. Ads using this line of appeal typically feature a large group of laughing or smiling friends having a great time.
American Eagle Ad (The warm muted colors, sea of denim and long hairstyles give the ad a 1970s nostalgia feel)
1.3 Romance
Who doesn’t want to be loved?
Ad for Coca-Cola
Some companies like Hong Kong watchmaker Solvil et Titus make the romance line of appeal an important part of their brand identify. Solvil et Titus advertisements are often melancholic and nostalgic and deal with themes such as longing, separation and loss, which is a very different approach than the ‘love and happiness’ message of the Coca-Cola ad shown above.
Ad for Solvil et Titus
The company has created several long cinematic commercials such as this one (featuring a classic 1980s Canto-pop song, 似水流年, or ‘Years Flow Like Water’, sung by Anita Mui):
It is still quite rare to see same-sex couples in love appeal advertising; however, here is an example from a campaign by Coca-Cola to combat LBGTQ discrimination in Hungary. This ad campaign combines romantic appeal and social cause appeal.
Pro-LGBQT ad campaign from Coca-Cola.
1.4 Sex
Ads using the sex line of appeal tend to focus on the body as an object for sexual desire.
A typical Abercrombie & Fitch ad
Sex appeal used to be one of the most common lines of appeal in advertising, but it is less popular these days. One problem is that it has already been used so much that it has become too obvious. Another problem is that if this approach is done poorly, the advertisement may come across as being tacky or in bad taste. For example, in the following ad from Dolce & Gabbana, it looks like the woman is being attacked.
A questionable ad for Dolce & Gabbana
Sex appeal ads can be more subtle and may focus on suggesting a sexual feeling in they way the model looks at the camera, in the model’s gestures and/or in product shapes.
Coca-Cola ad
1.5 Stand out
Being part of a fashionable and energetic group is great, but wouldn’t it be even better to be popular and ALSO stand out from the crowd and catch everyone’s attention. The stand out line of appeal is based on this desire.
Midori ad
1.6 Family
Ads that use the family line of appeal tie the product or brand to the idea of a warm and loving family. Watchmaker Patek Phillipe, for example, ran a successful family appeal ad campaign in which they presented their watches as part of a family tradition. Each advertisement shows a parent and child bonding over a shared experience with the text explaining that the company’s watches can be family heirlooms to be passed down from generation to generation. By focusing on attractive young parents with attractive children doing luxury activities like sculling, the ads combine the family appeal with prestige, potential and beauty appeals. The idea that the watch can be passed down to the next generation is also related to the durability line of appeal.
Family appeal can be combined with a fear appeal (‘Use our product to keep your family members safe!‘), as in this ad by Michelin, a tire manufacturer.
Michelin ad (This ad uses a play on words. The expression ‘ride on’ means ‘of vital importance to’, as in the sentence ‘The success of the program rides on the whether or not we can raise enough money.’ And of course, ‘ride on’ in this ad also literally means that family members are riding in the car)
1.7 Good housewife (outdated)
Here the focus is on being a good housewife. This outdated kind of ad is sexist in nature and implies the true value of a woman is in her ability to do household chores, please her husband and raise children. From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, women’s magazines were filled with advertisements such as the following:
Heinz ketchup ad (‘HEINZ KETCHUP beckons a man! It cultivates the habit of coming home to eat’.)
Ad from the British Gas Council
Men’s magazines also used to feature ‘housewife’ ads, but these focused on what a man could buy that would improve his wife’s cleaning or cooking.
Ad for a Kenwood blender (“Cooking’s fun” says my wife “…food preparation is a bore!”)
You still see ads that use this line of appeal, but such ads can attract negative publicity. For example, Hong Kong company Giordano was criticized for this clothing line and accompanying ad. In the ad, the man is wearing a ‘Work’ T-shirt and a woman is wearing a ‘Cook’ T-shirt, thus reinforcing gender stereotypes.
Giordano ad
The decline of the use of the housewife appeal show how lines of appeals can go in and out of fashion.
2. Beauty & Youth Appeals
These two lines of appeal are tied to the desire to be more attractive.
2.1 Beauty
A beauty appeal ad often just features a young, attractive and slim model doing nothing but looking off into the distance, off to the side or directly at the camera. The model in the advertisement is an ideal object to be admired for his/her good looks alone.
Lancôme lipstick ad
The advertisements often feature highly attractive models shot in carefully controlled environments with professional lighting. In addition, the images are also often Photoshopped to remove wrinkles and skin blemishes or even to adjust the body shape of the model. As a result, the images often show a kind of unobtainable ideal.
The beauty line of appeal is especially common in cosmetics, skincare and fashion ads.
Ad for shoes from Giuseppe Zanotti (The model isn’t even wearing the shoes; she just holding them)
This use of beauty appeal is less common in men’s advertising, but it is still a relatively popular advertising strategy.
Calvin Klein fragrance ad
Although the beauty line of appeal is commonly used in ads for clothing and skincare products and cosmetics, it can also be used for any kind of product or service. For example, the following ad for Sennheiser headphones uses the beauty line of appeal.
Sennheiser ad
Nowadays, women and (to a lesser extent) men are exposed to a large number of advertisements that send the message of how important it is to be beautiful. This repeated exposure to beauty-appeal advertising can have a negative effect on one’s body image and one’s self-esteem.
The beauty line of appeal—with its emphasis on physical perfection—is problematic, but it is made worse in the following anti-littering advertisements. The ad featuring a female model has the word ‘pretty’ highlighted, while the ad with the male model has the word ‘smart’ highlighted. When put side by side, the ads are basically saying men should be smart while women should be pretty.
Poorly conceived anti-littering ad campaign
Beauty appeal advertising often includes a youth line of appeal. The models are often very young and any signs of aging are usually Photoshopped away.
2.2 Youth
The message of youth appeal ads is usually: ‘Our products will make you look younger.‘
L’Oréal ad (‘Fight 15 signs of Ageing’)
When using the youth appeal, advertisers sometimes adopt a different approach in which the message is: ‘We can help you feel young!‘
Centrum ad (‘It’s better feeling young on the inside’)
2.3 Natural beauty
The natural beauty line of appeal is a reaction against the flawless, Photoshopped perfection of the beauty appeal.
Starting in 2004, Dove carried out its Real Beauty campaign, with advertisements for its brand of skincare and soap products. The ads featured women of all shapes, sizes and ages. The campaign was a conscious effort to fight against the unreal expectations created by the Beauty line of appeal.
Images from Dove’s Real Beauty campaign
The model Winnie Harlow, who has very obvious skin discolorations has been featured in advertisements such as the following ad for Puma sportswear.
Puma ad featuring Winnie Harlow
This message behind this line of appeal is NOT ‘You should be more beautiful’; Instead it is: ‘You are beautiful, and we understand that, and our product will help you keep looking good just the way you are.‘
3. Lifestyle & Culture Appeals
These lines of appeal focus on a lifestyle or culture. The implied message is: ‘Using our product is part of a the lifestyle you desire or part of the culture you belong to.’
I’ll introduce some of the more common lifestyle appeals—Prestige, Adventure, Exotic and Fitness appeals—but there are many other kinds of ads that make use of the lifestyle appeal.
For example, this video ad for a Hong Kong apartment complex (The Papillons) uses a lifestyle appeal, with the lifestyle being a very westernized urban yuppie lifestyle—gently cycling on riverside bicycle paths, going to coffee shops and cafés, shopping at bookstores and lounging around on the grass in a town square. Tellingly, almost all of the shots in the video are of Melbourne, Australia (and not of Hong Kong). The name of the apartment complex is a mix of English and French (‘papillons’ is the French word for ‘butterflies’), and song accompanying the video is in English and French, further adding a western flavor to the video.
The video also uses friendship, romance and family appeals, but the main line of appeal being used here is a lifestyle appeal—the message is: ‘Even though you are in a crowded city like Hong Kong, if you live in our apartment complex, you can enjoy the same leisurely lifestyle of a yuppie living in Melbourne, Australia.’
3.1 Prestige (aka snob appeal, status appeal)
Here the focus is on wealth and high social status. The implied message is that even if you are not rich, you can get a taste of that lifestyle by using the product. Wealth and class can be shown in things like activities (e.g., yachting), the models’ clothing, the props (e.g., a luxury car) and/or the choice of model (e.g., a famous rich socialite). Frequently used colors are silver and gold (which are are used to represent wealth) and greys and earthy colors (which are used to represent good taste).
Ad for India’s Golden Chariot rail line (Note the slogan ‘Travel Like Royalty’)
Image from an advertising campaign for Roger Vivier featuring model and socialite Poppy Delevingne
3.2 Adventure
The message behind the adventure line of appeal is: ‘Our product is part of an adventure-based lifestyle, so it is suitable for adventurous people, and even if you are not adventurous now, that potential is there within you and our product might bring it out.’
Toyota ad
Jeep ad (combining the adventure and nature appeals)
Mountain Dew ad (combining the adventure and friendship appeals)
Renault ad (combining the adventure and family appeals)
3.3 Exotic
Related to the adventure appeal is the exotic appeal. The implied message of this appeal is: ‘This product is related to something rather unusual and exotic, so if you buy it, that shows your have wide-ranging and adventurous tastes.’
The exotic appeal is problematic to begin with. What exactly is exotic? The word literally means ‘of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad’ as well as ‘strange in a way that is striking’. However, this idea of ‘foreignness’ and ‘strangeness’ is usually from a Western point of view. Therefore, imagery from Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Pacific islands might be considered ‘exotic’ when it is aimed at Western audiences.
In its most innocent form, this line of appeal makes use of tropical settings and colors, as in the following ads for Banana Boat sunscreen and Dubai travel packages.
Banana Boat ad
SOTC ad
Exotic animals can also be used to create an exotic feel. Gucci recently launched an advertising campaign for 2022 (the Year of the Tiger) that features real tigers and tiger-themed clothing. In a previous ad campaign, the company used flamingoes.
Gucci ad for the Year of the Tiger
Unfortunately, the exotic line of appeal can easily lead to imagery that is stereotyped and/or racist. Here is an ad using geisha imagery, but with a white model, to advertise flights to Tokyo.
Air France ad
Even worse is the following ad from Max, a footwear company. The ad features a tiny women wearing a kimono tied up in the shoelaces of a man’s shoe. It is unclear what message the advertiser is trying to send, but it does seem racist.
Max Shoes ad
The exotic appeal was quite common in the past, especially for tobacco products and cosmetics. The following vintage perfume ad is an example of that.
Rigaud vintage ad
When using the exotic line of appeal, it is easy to cross the line into racism, so it has largely fallen out of fashion as an advertising strategy.
3.4 Fitness, health & athleticism
Ads using this line of appeal focus on the product as being part of a lifestyle in which physical fitness and being healthy plays an important part. These ads feature everyday people doing a sport or being active.
Adidas ad
New Balance ad
3.5 Culture
Advertisers sometimes try to market their products to a specific cultural, ethnic or religious group. The advertisers are saying, ‘We value you and understand you, so our products are suitable for you.’ Here is a 1970s ad targeting urban black Americans that combines culture appeal and friendship appeal.
Ad by Tom Burrell (an influential figure in multicultural advertising) for Coca-Cola
The following ad from Burger King targets Muslim consumers during Ramadan. The burger eaten into a crescent moon shape refers to two things:
During Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to eat only at night;
The crescent moon is a symbol of Islam.
Burger King ad (the cleverness of graphics means that this ad is also using a creativity line of appeal)
Both the Burger King ad and the Coca-cola ad are done in a respectful way. If created carelessly, however, advertisements based on the culture appeal can come across as being disrespectful. For example in this ad for YellowPages (a business directory app) in Britain, the text encourages people to find out about a Korean rice dish, but the illustration displays a noodle dish.
Poorly conceived YP ad
3.6 Subculture & anti-subculture
There are many smaller subcultures in society. Subcultures in the West include punk, steampunk, new age, hipster, cosplay, goth and normcore communities. Japanese subcultures include lolita, gyaru and yankee communities. The idea behind the sub-culture appeal is to associate the brand or product with some aspect of the subculture.
Let’s look at punk as an example. Punk has a clear visual aesthetic, clothing style and music, but more importantly (for the advertiser), it is associated with things like rebelliousness, youthfulness and energy.
Eurostar ad
The above ad for the Eurostar rail line does not work well. The advertiser is trying to show how the new railway is changing London. The intended message of the ad is that Eurostar is able to make even a nihilistic hardcore punk believe in the future. However, to get that message, the viewer needs to already know that ‘no future’ was a popular slogan in the late-1970s punk movement.
Image from blog.lagrandeboutique.net/en/between-punk-and-grunge-when-fashion-and-music-mix/
Here is a page from 1980s catalogue for punk-style clothing. The design of the catalogue is based on punk music fanzines (i.e., fan-made magazines) from that era.
An advertiser can also take the opposite approach and disassociate the brand/product from a subculture—in this case, the advertiser is saying: ‘You know this group of people? You hate them, right? Oh, we hate them, too! Therefore, our products are suitable for you.’ Here is a clothing retailer criticizing the hipster subculture (and clothing style) in one of its ads.
Carhartt clothing ad
The anti-subculture approach can be problematic because it is (1) based on hatred and (2) focuses on what the product ISN’T as opposed to what it IS.
4. Humor & Creativity Appeals
In ads using humor and/or creativity appeals, the focus is largely on the advertisement itself. The message is that the advertiser, like you, has a sense of humor and the ability to appreciate funny, creative and clever things. Besides sending this message, a successful creative or humorous ad can also attract more attention with eye-catching visuals, and the ad may even end up getting shared on social media.
In the following ad for JBL headphones, there is creativity in the use of the white space in the design to create the shape of headphones, and there is humor in the exaggerated faces of the screaming children and the poor teddy bear.
4.1 Humor
Here is an example of an ad using the humor line of appeal. The following ad from Foster’s, an Australian beer company, is based on a typical friendship appeal ad—one that features a few male friends presumably sitting in front of a television watching a sports match and cheering for their team. However, in this ad, one of the friends is a little different.
Foster’s ad (The kangaroo helps identify Foster’s as an Australian brand)
The following ad for Facebook mocks the fonts, futuristic imagery, graphic design and writing style of 1950s advertising. The retro style is played for laughs, so the main line of appeal being used here is humor.
1950s-style ad for Facebook
4.2 Creativity
The following ad from Heinz uses two main lines of appeal: one is the natural appeal (with the tomatoes and the garden emphasizing the product’s natural ingredients) and the other is the creativity appeal, with the artwork cleverly putting the tomatoes in the form of a bottle.
Heinz ketchup ad (compare to Heinz ad shown earlier in this article)
The above ad calls to mind the fruit-and-vegetable portraits of 16th-century artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Evian’s ‘Baby Me’ commercial effectively made use of creativity, humor and music appeals.
5. Potential/Improvement Appeal
The message of ads using the potential appeal is that the thing being advertised can help you improve as a person and help you realize your potential. This appeal is often used in ads for sportswear.
Asics ad (‘I am made of more today than I was yesterday’)
Nike ad (‘Anticipate Greatness; Find Your Greatness’)
Adidas ad (‘Greater Every Run’)
In the following ad (in which the model is bursting through a wall of water on which the left are words like rage, anxiety and insecurity), the message is: ‘The physical wellbeing that our product can help you attain will lead to emotional and mental strength.’
Asics ad
The potential line of appeal was famously used to by the American military in many of its recruitment campaigns during the 1980s with the slogan ‘Be all you can be’.
US army recruitment ad
Potential appeal is sometimes combined with family appeal in advertising for children’s products (with the following ad even explicitly using the name of the appeal in its text).
Wyeth infant formula ad
Although the beauty line of appeal is also about self-improvement, it only focuses on one narrow aspect—appearance. Ads with the potential line of appeal are more about becoming a better person and reaching your potential.
6. Personal appeals (positive emotions)
These are advertisements that aim to get a positive emotional response from the viewer. The implied message of these ads is: ‘We are a caring company and we share the same values that you do, so if you are thinking about purchasing this thing that we make or are thinking about using this service we provide, well…you might consider us, right?’
6.1 Heartwarming
These are sentimental ads meant to tug at your heartstrings. Thai advertisers seem particularly good at using this line of appeal. Here is an example:
Silence of Love: Ad for Thai Life Insurance
It is difficult to be heartwarming in a single image, so this line of appeal often works best in video ads. The drawback of this line of appeal is that viewers can get so caught up in the heartwarming story that they don’t pay any attention to the company, product or service actually being advertised.
Ripple: Ad for the Singapore Community Chest
6.2 Nostalgia
This line of appeal, in which the advertisement looks fondly back at a time gone by, is often combined with a family or romance appeal.
As mentioned earlier, Solvil and Titus’s watch commercials often use this line of appeal combined with romance appeal. The purpose is to associate their product with a sense of timelessness. Here is one of their ads featuring Chow Yun-fat that leans heavily on feelings of nostalgia.
Solvil & Titus ad
The following ad from Nintendo makes effective use of nostalgia appeal (as well as family appeal and heartwarming appeal). The message here is that the company has been a part of the viewer’s life from childhood to adulthood.
Two Brothers: Nintendo ad
6.3 Empathy
In the empathy line of appeal, the advertisers are trying to show you that, like you, they are concerned for others and try to help others. For example, in the following Pedigree dog food ad, the focus is on the fact that for every purchase you make, the company’s will contribute some of the money to finding homes for stray and abandoned animals. There is a picture of an adorable dog named Echo to arouse your emotions.
Pedigree ad
To further drive home the point, the text touchingly describes how excited Echo is whenever potential adopters appear and how disappointed she is when she is not chosen.
Text from the Pedigree ad
The following is an empathy appeal ad from CARE international.
CARE ad
6.4 Social issues
Advertisers may try to associate the products with various social issues (anti-discrimination, diversity, anti-climate change, environmentalism, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, etc.). Such ads carry two messages: the first is the message associated with the cause itself (e.g., ‘We all should take care of the environment!’) and the second is the message that the company behind the advertisement shares your values and your concerns.
It is important to note that we are talking about the message the advertiser WANTS to send about its values, not the actual values of the company itself. For example, many oil companies like to present themselves as being concerned about the environment, when in reality their actual business practices are often horrible for the environment. This kind of playacting is known as ‘greenwashing’. For example, in 2019 BP (British Petroleum) ran a series of ads depicting the company as being dedicated to fighting climate change. The campaign was heavily criticized for being misleading.
BP ad
BP ad
Using the social issues line of appeal is a risky advertising strategy. One risk is that viewers may think that the advertiser is being insincere, which is what happened with that BP ad campaign.
A second risk is that the advertiser may anger some its potential customers. For example, Nike’s use of ads featuring Colin Kaepernick—the American football player who popularized the practice of kneeling while the national anthem was being played as a form of protest against racism and police brutality— angered some of those Americans who think the practice is unpatriotic.
Nike ad
Here is an inspiring Nike video ad focusing on the issue of female empowerment in Muslim societies.
Nike ad: What will they say about you?
The above ad is inspiring, but the following ad, a Women’s Day ad from Bic, is awful. The text implies that (1) it is important for a women to look youthful and (2) men are smarter than women.
Poorly conceived Bic ad for Women’s Day
This is the third major risk of the social issues line of appeal: the advertisers may show that they don’t truly understand the cause they say they are supporting.
6.5 Patriotism
Some ads appeal to the viewer’s sense of patriotism. In the following ad from Chevrolet, the text at the top refers to the American Revolution (followed by BEST) and the red bars forming the letter E represent the red stripes on the American flag
Chevrolet Ad
In the next ad, there is already patriotic branding in the product name (Canadian) and the logo (a maple leaf), but this is emphasized even further by the large ‘Made from Canada’ text and the prairie scenery.
Molson Ad
6.6 Cute/kawaii
This line of appeal typically features baby animals, mascots, cartoon characters and/or little kids. Cute things tend to have babyish features (e.g., small size, big eyes, round body) and tend to elicit feelings of amusement (They’re fun!), safety (They’re harmless!) and care (They’re helpless!). Consequently, though the cute line of appeal is especially popular when advertisers are targeting children, it can also work well with adults. For example, the mascot Kumamon features prominently in the tourism advertising of Kumamoto prefecture in Japan. The mascot is used to present the prefecture as a friendly, fun and nature-oriented tourist destination.
Kumamon in his office.
Kumamon products
7. Personal/Emotional Appeals: Negative Emotions
These lines of appeal are similar to those in the previous section in that they aim at getting an emotional response from viewers. However, the emotional responses here are negative ones like fear, shock, guilt and outrage
7.1 Fear
When using the fear line of appeal, the advertiser is trying to tell you that its products or services can protect you from something bad. The ad will show the ‘bad thing’ (e.g., a car crash) happening or about to happen or will show the results of the ‘bad thing’ (e.g., a child waiting alone at home for a parent who was killed in the car crash).
The fear appeal ad is often used by insurance companies. Here is a template that has been used by different small insurance companies (they add their own logos and text to the image).
Life insurance ad template
Fear appeal is quite commonly used in campaigns against drink driving, drug abuse and domestic violence. Here is a fear appeal ad being used in a child car safety campaign:
Child Car Safety Ad
Fear appeal ads can be very negative. For example, the video ‘Break in’ is a fear appeal ad from the Republican Party for the 2020 presidential elections in America (see video: Break in) . It depicts an elderly woman fearing a break-in but not being able to get through to the police while the text informs viewers that the competing candidate, Joe Biden, would reduce police funding if elected. The dark footage, ominous music and strange camera angles create a suspenseful, threatening mood.
Sometimes fear appeal ads cross the line into bigotry and prejudice. The most famous case is the 1988 US presidential campaign ad focusing on a black convicted criminal, Willie Horton (This is the 30-year-old Willie Horton ad everybody is talking about today). Another example of a bigoted fear appeal ad is the full-page ad that was published in Hong Kong’s Apple Daily in 2012 (‘Locust’ Ad Breaks in Apple Daily) in which Mainland immigrants and visitors are described as being locusts who are consuming Hong Kong and its resources. In Britain in 2014, the United Kingdom Independence Party ran this anti-immigrant ad:
UKIP ad
7.2 Shock
Shock appeal ads intend to grab the viewer’s attention with shocking visuals. The advertiser’s hope is that the feeling of shock will motivate the viewer to take action. One of the most commonly used kind of shock appeal ad features an image of a sickly, skeletal child accompanied by a request for a donation.
One problem with advertisers using shock appeal is that many viewers may simply not want to see such a shocking image at that time, so they may get put off by the ad.
Here is an relatively mild example of a shock appeal ad from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The ad aims to persuade you not to buy exotic animal souvenirs when travelling.
WWF ad
When I was working with students on a fundraising project for Operation Smile China (a charity which provides free surgery for children born with cleft palates), I found that the shock approach worked well when (1) the potential donors were warned in advance (in person) that they would see disturbing images and (2) the shock appeal was combined with a solution appeal (e.g., in this case the potential donors could also see the ‘after’ photos of children who had already been treated).
7.3 Guilt
An advertisement using the guilt line of appeal tries to get the viewers to look at their own actions (e.g., wasting food) or lack of action (e.g., simply having a comfortable life and not doing anything to help while others are suffering). Compare the tone of the following ad from UNICEF to the similar (but not-guilt-focused) ad from CARE International that is shown in the empathy section.
UNICEF ad
Guilt appeal ads may also stress how inexpensive it is to do something such as support a poor child in a developing country and the ad may emphasize how little that amount is compared to what people in your country normally spend on non-essential things.
7.4 Outrage
Ads using the outrage line of appeal try the get the viewer angry enough about something to take action. For example, this ad from Moms Demand Action (an American group that would like to see better gun control laws) points out how ridiculous it is that Kinder chocolate eggs are banned in America for safety reasons (because the toys inside the eggs are considered choking hazards) while many children have access to firearms at home.
Ad from Moms Demand Action (In this ad, image of the classroom in the background has been desaturated to give image a more ominous feel)
8. Rational Appeals
While personal lines of appeal focus on evoking an emotional response, rational lines of appeal try to focus on giving a logical reason why you should prefer a particular product/brand.
The terms ‘rational’ and ‘logical’ are used very loosely here. The reason given in an ad may NOT actually make sense, may NOT be logical and may even be misleading or false; using a rational line of appeal simply means the advertiser is TRYING to present some kind of logical reason.
Many of the following rationales are based on ‘bad logic’, mistakes in reasoning known as logical fallacies (Purdue Writing Lab: Logical Fallacies).
8.1 Solution
This is a straightforward kind of appeal. The message is simply: ‘You have a problem; our product is the solution.’ In the following ad, the top two-thirds of the ad presents the problem (different kinds of allergic reactions) and the bottom third offers the solution (allergy medicines to relieve symptoms).
Activis ad
The following ad from Nike uses this line of appeal in a humorous way. The problem? Your lover has gone away and you are annoyed. The solution? Go for a run (in Nike shoes) and reduce your stress.
Nike ad (‘If something is burning you up, burn it by running’)
8.2 Bandwagon
The implied message of the bandwagon line of appeal is: ‘Our product/brand is popular. If so many people like it, it must be good.’
This way of thinking is a logical fallacy known as the bandwagon fallacy. Just because many people like something, that doesn’t mean it is good. This fallacy is also known as ‘argumentum ad populum’, ‘appeal to common belief’ or ‘appeal to the masses’.
The bandwagon appeal gets its name from the English expression ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ (which means to do something because it is already popular). The Activis allergy medicine ad featured in the previous section also makes use of this line of appeal in the text ‘Switch to New Zealand’s #1 allergy brand’.
Here is an example of a bandwagon appeal ad from Nike.
Nike ad: (‘Loving it is easy. That’s why so many people do.‘)
The ‘billions served’ text at the bottom of much of the signage at McDonald’s is also an example of this kind of appeal.
A McDonald’s sign (‘Billions and Billions Served’)
8.3 Scarcity
Ads using the scarcity line of appeal focus on how rare the product is and/or how it is only available for a limited time. The implied message is that the scarcity makes the product more valuable and therefore worth having. This line of appeal also often plays on your fear of possibly missing out on something because you were too late
However, unlike naturally scarce things like diamonds or gold, the products being advertised are usually deliberately made scarce or made to appear scarce by the advertiser.
McDonald’s frequently uses this line of appeal, with some products—like McRibs—only being served a few weeks during the year.
McDonald’s ad
Starbucks uses a similar strategy with seasonal and holiday-related drinks that are only available for a short time.
Starbucks’ ad
Besides limiting the availability of products, companies can also limit the availability of special prices. For example, to encourage shopping, many American stores offer discounts on ‘Black Friday’ (the first Friday after Thanksgiving).
Black Friday ad from Carter’s
Another form of this line of appeal is to say that the stock of something is almost sold out. This combines scarcity appeal (‘There’s almost none left!) with bandwagon appeal (‘It’s so popular!’) and fear appeal (‘If you don’t act now, you might lose out!’).
Boothstock Festival ad (‘Last Tickets; 81% Sold Out!)
8.4 Value for Money
This line of appeal has a straightforward message: ‘If you buy this product, you are getting good quality for the prices.’ The following two ads, for example, explicitly stress ‘value’ in the text of the advertisement.
Subway ad (‘Every Day Value Meal. What can $5.90 get you?’)
Sylvan ad (‘Value for Money; We are always concerned about your hard earned money!)
8.5 Authority (aka expert)
Ads using the authority line of appeal rely on an ‘expert’. The message is: ‘This expert says our product is good; therefore, it must be good.’
This way of thinking is a logical fallacy known as ‘appeal to authority’, ‘appeal from authority or ‘argumentum ab auctoritate’. It is a logical fallacy because the opinion of one person does not mean much. For example, television personality Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz) is regularly used in advertisements for homeopathic cures; however, he has been heavily criticized by scientists and other doctors for his anti-science views (Dr. Oz Shouldn’t Be a Senator—or a Doctor).
Weightloss ad
Statistics are sometimes involved in the authority appeal (e.g., ‘9 out of 10 dentists recommend….’), but the main point is that the people referred to are experts in their field. For example, dentists are considered experts in oral hygiene.
Colgate ad (‘#1 Toothpaste Recommended by Dentists and Hygienists’)
In the past, cigarette ads often featured dentists or doctors recommending various brands. Once people became more aware of the dangers of smoking, they realized that all those ads were incredibly misleading.
Old Viceroy ad
Old Camels ad (‘More doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette’)
Luckies cigarette ad (‘20,679 Physicians say Luckies are less irritating. Your throat protection against irritation against cough.‘)
Nowadays, the most effective use of the authority line of appeal is probably in the use of top athletes to promote sports brands. One would expect that a star basketball player like Michael Jordan, for example, would know a lot about basketball shoes.
Nike ad for Air Jordan shoes
8.6 Statistics
Ads using this line of appeal rely on statistics to persuade you that the product is not just of high quality, but also that this quality can be proven scientifically.
The following advertisement shows the statistics line of appeal being used in a clever way. The company’s products—popchips—and other kinds of potato chips are stacked up to create a bar chart to show that its products are lower in calories (so you can eat more of them!).
Popchips ad
This ad for Burger King implies that the new fries are relatively healthy because they have 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories.
Burger King ad (‘40% Less Fat’ 30% Less Calories’)
However a few things have been left out of the ad:
It doesn’t say if the portions that were compared were the same size
It doesn’t say how much fat or how many calories there are now (just that there has been a decrease)
It doesn’t say what they are comparing it to (40% less fat than what?).
The problem with using statistics in this way is that the statistics may not really reflect reality. Those Burger King fries may still be very high in fat and calories.
In the following ad, there is a claim that 9 out of 10 dentists recommend Sensodyne toothpaste. In the previous section, there is a Colgate ad saying that it is the brand most recommended by dentists. How can both claims be true?
Sensodyne ad (9 out of 10 Dentists Recommend Sensodyne Toothpaste)
The reliability of statistics depends greatly on how the advertiser gather the data. For example, if you ask ten dentists ‘Do you think people should brush their teeth without using toothpaste or should they brush their teeth with Teethwhite toothpaste?’, and you get nine of them to choose the latter option, you can say, ‘9 out of 10 dentists recommend Teethwhite toothpaste.’
Misuse of scientific-looking statistics in advertising has long been a problem. The tobacco industry, for example, for many years paid scientists to produce research that would show that smoking was relatively harmless and even beneficial in some ways (Contesting the Science of Smoking).
8.7 Celebrity endorsement
This is somewhat similar to the authority line of appeal, but the selling point is the famous person that is endorsing the product or brand. For example, here is a skincare ad featuring singer Justin Bieber (early on his career).
Proactive ad
One of the most successful celebrity endorsements is the George Foreman grill. The cooking appliance is even named after the famous retired boxer, and Foreman himself regularly participates in advertising campaigns. The slogan of the George Foreman grill—It’s so good I put my name on it!—basically sums up the implied message of this line of appeal:
George Foreman promoting the George Foreman Grill
When a celebrity like Michael Jordan appears in basketball shoe advertisements, that would be authority appeal combined with celebrity endorsement appeal, but if he appears in an ad for McDonalds, that would mainly be celebrity endorsement appeal (as he is an athlete, not a food expert). The following ad for McDonalds features Michael Jordan and is a combination of celebrity endorsement appeal, social issues appeal, empathy appeal and humor appeal.
McDonald’s ad
8.8 Testimony
A testimonial ad features a seemingly ordinary person describing how good the advertised product or service is. The implied message is: ‘This person is an ordinary person and is someone who is just like you. He/she likes our product, so you should like it, too.’ The main idea is that advertiser is trying to make its product more relatable.
California Closets ad
The following ad for Microsoft Office 2010 is a testimonial from someone who who creates testimonial videos.
Microsoft Office ad
This way of thinking—using one person’s example to prove a point—is a logical fallacy known as argument from anecdote. Just because one person had a good or bad experience, it doesn’t mean that such experiences are common.
Another issue with testimony appeal ads is that quite often the person giving the testimonial is just an actor reading from a script. Do Jennifer (California Closets) and Melissa (Microsoft Office) really exist? Maybe they do and maybe they don’t. If they do exist, are they the people in the photos? Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t.
8.9 Technical (Customer Expertise)
Ads using the technical line of appeal focus on giving technical descriptions of specifications and or functions.
There are two main messages in this line of appeal.
The obvious message is: ‘As you can see from this information, our product is good.’
The implied message is ‘We are similar. We both have expertise and know what we are talking about when it comes to this kind of product. We respect your expertise!’ For people without the technical knowlege to understand the jargon in the ad, that message becomes ‘Hey, we know what we are doing. Trust us!’
Here is a classic ad from Zenith watches with descriptions of each function of one of its watches.
Zenith ad
Here is a more up-to-date example of an ad with this line of appeal.
Steelseries Headphones ad
Detail view
Sportswear ads also sometimes make use of this line of appeal.
Asics ad
8.10 Heritage/tradition
Some ads focus on how long the company has been around or how they still keep doing things the traditional way. The idea behind this line of appeal is that if something has existed for such a long time, it must be good.
This way of thinking is a logical fallacy known as ‘appeal to tradition’ or ‘argumentum ad antiquitatem’. Just because something is a tradition, that doesn’t mean that it MUST be good.
This line of appeal seems to be becoming less common, with few companies going all out in emphasizing how old they are. When advertisers do introduce the heritage line of appeal, it tends to be more subtle. For example, this ad for the men’s fragrance Fougère Royale, a fragrance which was first produced in 1882 by Houbigant, only mentions in very small font the date the year the perfume house was established (1775) and the slogan ‘Be seduced by tradition’.
Houbigant ad (‘Be seduced by tradition’)
In the following ad for Creed’s Bois du Portugal cologne, the product’s label includes the tagline ‘From father to son since 1760’ in English and French. The slogan refers to the company’s long tradition as a family-run business (it was opened by 1760 by James Henry Creed and is now run by Oliver Creed and his son Erwin Creed), but it can also had a second meaning—the product itself is something that can be passed from generation to generation (i.e., the family line of appeal). The tree trunk is used to show the the forest-like scent of the fragrance (i.e., nature line of appeal).
Ad for Creed’s Bois Du Portugal cologne
Detail view
Similarly, the advertisements for Hong Kong sauce manufacturer Lee Kum Kee, don’t play up the company’s long tradition, but their heritage is apparent in many of the designs related to the company’s branding (e.g., web banners and product labels).
Lee Kum Kee web banner (‘Your companion for superb taste and quality through the centuries’)
Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce label (with an old-fashioned graphic and the text ‘since 1888’)
Here is a tourism ad for Italy that emphasizes the country’s historic art and architecture.
Visit Italy ad
Some heritage appeal ads focus on the founders, owners or long-time employees. This can give the appeal a more personal touch. For example, the clothing company Columbia was founded by Paul Lamfrom, and his daughter Gert (featured in the ad below) was president of the company and then chairperson of the board of directors from 1970 to 2019. The text of the following ad explains that Gert ‘transformed Columbia sportswear and the entire outdoor industry’ and even at the age of 93 is still actively involved in the company’s operations—she is a part of the company’s long tradition.
Columbia ad
Ads for Levi’s jeans used to focus on the brands origins manufacturing and supplying durable clothes to cowboys in the American west in the 19th century (as in the 1960s ad shown below), but the company does not seem to use this line of appeal anymore.
1960s Levi’s ad (‘America’s Finest Overall Since 1850’)
8.11 Modern, Novel & Futuristic
Ads using this line of appeal emphasize how new, up-to-date, modern or futuristic the product is.
In the iPhone ad shown below, the graphics emphasize the product’s sleek design. The black background and the planet-like image on the phones’ screens give it a futuristic outer space feel.
iPhone ad
Here is an ad campaign by the Tai Hing restaurant chain in Hong Kong that really goes for the futuristic look. The results are a little odd because some of the imagery is reminiscent of dystopian movies like Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell and also because Tai Hing restaurants are very basic and traditional restaurants. The intended message seems to be: ‘No matter how wildly crazy hi-tech the world becomes, we will always be there for you‘.
Tai Hing ad
Tai Hing video ad
The following ad for Banrisul, a Brazilian bank. also uses dystopian sci-fi imagery (with the terminator-like hand holding a bank credit card).
Banrisul ad
The modern/futuristic appeal has been popular for a long time. For example, here is an ad for the 1952 Oldsmobile automobile.
Oldsmobile ad
8.12 Durability
The durability line of appeal is straightforward. Ads using this line of appeal stress how long-lasting the product it. This implies that the product is of good quality and is good value for the money (so it is related to the value-for-money line of appeal). Duracell and Energizer both use this line of appeal, and both have frequently used bunny toys to demonstrate the durability of their batteries. Here is one of Duracell’s ads:
1979 Duracell ad
9. Nature
In this line of appeal, the advertiser tries to tie the product to nature. There are all kinds of associations that nature imagery can bring: healthy, clean, fresh, environmentally friendly, down to earth, peaceful and, of course, natural. The advertiser is looking to connect the product with some of those associations.
For example, air fresheners ads often feature nature imagery to show how clean and fresh and ‘natural’ they can make your home smell. In the the following ad for Glade air freshener, in which living room furniture is in the middle of a lavender field, the imagery can also represent the scent of the product.
Glade ad
The nature line of appeal can come across as being insincere if it is used in products that aren’t very natural and/or that are bad for the environment. For example, drinking Coca-Cola is not good for the environment (Not all cans and bottles are recycled, and manufacturing and transportation processes cause pollution) and most of its ingredients (caramel color, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavors, caffeine) are heavily processed and/or artificially produced. Therefore, if a Coca-Cola advertisement leans heavily into the nature line of appeal, as in the following example, the ad is not going to fool anyone.
Coca-Cola Life ad (The main difference between Coca-Cola Life and regular Coca-Cola is that instead of using high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, the Life brand uses cane sugar and stevia extract)
10. Other Lines of Appeal: Brand Appeal, Music Appeal, Comparison Appeal, Plain
Here are four additional lines of appeal:
10.1 Brand Appeal
In this line of appeal, the advertiser tries to get a consumer to buy a product or use its services simply because of its brand. For example, in some Apple advertisements the message is simply: ‘Buy this Apple product because it is an Apple product’. However, this kind of strategy is only possible because Apple has already built up its brand identity over decades of advertising using other forms of appeal (e.g., lifestyle appeal, modern appeal, humor appeal etc.).
10.2 Music Appeal
In some ads, the advertiser tries to associate the brand with a specific song. The purpose may be to associate the brand with a musician (celebrity appeal), lifestyle or culture (lifestyle & culture appeals), message (social issue appeal) and/or emotion (personal appeal). A good example of how music can amplify the emotions and messages in an ad is the use of Bob Seger’s song Like a Rock in Chrevrolet commercials (1992 Truck Commercial). The Apple ad featuring Jet’s song ‘Are you gonna be my girl’ (Apple Ad) is another famous use of music in advertising. In this ad, the music is used to give the ad (and brand) a high-energy, youthful feel.
10.3 Comparison
I would argue that ‘comparison’ is a format rather than a line of appeal, but the comparison appeal is mentioned in several lists of lines of appeal, so I will include it here. The comparison approach involves directly comparing a product or brand to its competition. This is a format that uses statistics appeal, authority appeal, technical appeal and/or testimony appeal to make its point. Two famous ad campaigns that make use of the comparison approach are from Pepsi (The Pepsi Challenge) and Apple vs Microsoft ads (Mac or PC?). Here is an example of a comparison ad that focuses on the technical line of appeal.
Samsung Galaxy ad
10.4 Plain (i.e., no appeal)
These are ads that simply show the product (and might include a short description and/or the price). For example, a restaurant owner may display an ad outside the restaurant that merely shows the food without any attempt to attach any sort of personal or rational appeal to it. The ad is simply saying: ‘This is the food you can eat in our restaurant.’
However, there is one kind of personal appeal that can be related to this ‘plain’ approach. Advertisers can use a plain advertisement to try to send the message: ‘Hey, we know that you’re the kind of person that doesn’t like being manipulated. We get it; we’re just like you. And we don’t like manipulating people either, so here is a plain ad for you!’
Even the simplest of ads can have underlying messages!
Summary
Let’s round things up with a few points:
There are many different lines of appeal.
Lines of appeal CAN be abused, with advertisers attempting to manipulate your emotions or mislead you.
A single ad may combine a few different kinds of appeal.
Lines of appeal can go in and out of fashion.
Some lines of appeal naturally go better with certain products, services or situations.
The effectiveness of an advertisement may be affected by the line of appeal used, but other factors are also important. A poorly thought-out, unoriginal and poorly executed ad won’t work well no matter what line is appeal is used.
Did I leave any lines of appeal out? Can you think of an ad campaign that makes great use of a particular line of appeal? Let me know in the comments below.
What makes an event newsworthy? In this article, we will look at why some events make the news while other events are ignored.
A news organization broadcast or magazine or newspaper has a lot of limitations:
The number of pages to fill in a newspaper or magazine
The number of minutes in a broadcast program
The number of staff members available
The amount of time available to put together a story for publication or broadcast.
News broadcast producers and newspaper editors, consequently, need to decide what stories to report on, what stories to put on the front page or lead off the broadcast, what stories to briefly mention and what stories to ignore completely. In other words, they need to decide which events and information are ‘newsworthy’.
Pre-reading Question: What are some of the things that make a story newsworthy?
It is important to note that the idea of ‘newsworthiness’ presented in this article is from the point of view of news producers, editors and reporters. You may think an event is very important or inspiring, and you may be right, but if that event doesn’t align with what producers or editors consider to be ‘newsworthy’, that important event may never appear in the news.
A. The 15 Factors
This list includes more than 15 factors in total, but related factors have been grouped together.
1. Impact
This factor includes things like the consequences of an event, the number of people involved and the relative importance of the story.
1.1 Consequences
How important is the story to the audience? What are the consequences? Will these consequences affect the lives or readers listeners and viewers? Will the story affect their decisions and beliefs? Is the story related to the public good?
1.2 Number of people
How many people are involved or affected? For events like protests, accidents, arrests, disease outbreaks and even things like concerts, the more people involved, the more newsworthy a story is normally perceived to be.
1.3 Relative importance
What else has been happening that day? If it is a slow news day, a relatively unimportant story has a greater chance of getting published.
1.4 Everyday life & niche interests
Is the story related to everyday things like home decoration, dieting, cooking, exercise and handling stress? Although none of these topics may be important to the audience as a whole, each of the topics is of interest to some people.
2. Drama
Is there conflict, scandal and/or controversy? Did a lot of people get killed or injured at the same time? News organizations thrive on negative news; there is even a saying: ‘If it bleeds, it leads’.
A news story with a negative angle (Immigrants are causing increases in unemployment!) is normally considered more newsworthy than a similar story with a positive angle (Immigrants are causing increases in job creation!).
With the rise of social media, a common strategy used by the traditional media is to provide one-sided ‘hot takes’ on a controversial issue in order to drum up views and shares. Supporters of one side will post links to the article on social media to support their views (“See, I’m right!) while outraged supporters of the other side will also share the same article to show their discontent (“Can you believe someone published this garbage?”).
3. Timeliness
This factor involves recency and duration.
3.1 Recency
How recent is the event? If an event happened within the past 24 hours it has a greater chance of being reported, especially when it comes to newspaper reporting. This is because newspapers typically operate on a 24-day cycle (Timing Is Everything in a News Cycle).
3.2 Time of day
Even the time of day can have an effect. You may notice that when a government department has bad news, it may hold a press conference at an inconvenient time like Friday evening. A press conference at that time means that it is too late for the story to be included in the evening and late news television broadcasts that day, and it would be a mad rush for editors to try to include the story in the Saturday edition of a newspaper. By the time the next day rolls around, the story has already become less ‘timely’ and it may be pushed off the front page or even pushed out of the news altogether. Online news and 24-hour news networks limit this news-killing strategy somewhat, but it is still quite effective.
3.2 Duration
How does the event unfold? Is it a single event (like a terrorist attack) or does it take place during a long period of time (like automobile deaths during an entire year)? If something is spread out over a long period of time, that can make it seem less newsworthy although its actual impact may be far greater than the effects of a one-off event.
4. Proximity
Is what happened close (geographically) to the audience? A massive automobile accident in your city might get reported in the local news, but is unlikely to make the national news.
5. Perceived Importance
These factors are related to how prominent the people, places and/or events are perceived to be? This can involve things like celebrity, fame, cultural proximity, race and class. A key word here is ‘perceived’. Is a celebrity’s private struggles really more important than some random person’s? No. but they are PERCEIVED to be more important.
5.1 Fame
Are the people involved celebrities? Is the place famous? For example, the fire at the Notre-Dame de Paris in 2019 (the photo above is by Adam Nossiter and Aurelien Breeden) attracted a lot of attention because the cathedral is a world-famous monument in a world-famous city. If something happens in a well-known city like New York, it is more likely to catch the international media’s attention than if it happens in a smaller city—like Albany or Rochester—in the same state.
5.2 Cultural proximity
Most news organizations in developed countries like the US tend to do very little reporting on news from the Global South (e.g., Africa, South America, Central America, South Asia and Southeast Asia). To many Americans, this huge region is considered not only distant In terms of geography, but also less similar culturally and as being less important. Therefore, a bomb attack in Paris will likely get a lot more coverage in the American media than a similar bomb attack in Nairobi.
5.3 Class, race & social status
Related to the above is the issue of class and race. For example, if a wealthy, white doctor in an American city goes missing, that is much more likely to make the local news than if a homeless black person suffers the same fate. In the Hong Kong news media, something that happens in America or England is much more likely to be reported than a similar event in countries such as the Philippines or Indonesia even though Hong Kong is close geographically to those Southeast Asian countries AND is home to hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from those countries.
6. Convenience
How easy is it to get the information and create the news article or segment? Can the reporter just slightly adapt a report from a press agency like the Associated Press? Is there a press conference that makes it easy to get soundbites? Is there a press release package that has an article basically ready for printing with just a few minor changes? Is there an ‘expert’ on hand to provide information? Has someone provided an eye-witness or do the reporters have to track down potential witnesses?
‘Convenience’ is often left out of lists of factors affecting newsworthiness because it is unrelated to the actual story. However, the ease with which an article or broadcast news segment can be produced can greatly affect whether or not a story gets covered.
7. Human Interest
Does the story appeal to our emotions?
7.1 Heartwarming
Is it heartwarming, touching, cute or amusing?
7.2 Pathos
Does the story make the audience feel sad? Is it particularly heart-wrenching?
7.3. That time of year
Is the story related to an upcoming holidays like Independence Day, Christmas or New Year’s Day?
7.4 The extreme
Is the event especially horrifying, unique, mysterious or odd?
7.5 Visual interest
Are there eye-catching photos or video footage of the event?
8. Rarity
How uncommon is the story? Is the thing featured in the story the biggest, smallest, most dangerous, newest or the first its kind? Something unusual (like a total solar eclipse) or the first of its kind is often considered newsworthy. For example, when Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon, that was a massive news story. Subsequent lunar landings, however, seemed less newsworthy and received less and less media attention as the years went by.
9. Trendiness
Is the story related to something—like the MeToo movement or the Extinction Rebellion—that is receiving widespread media coverage or is creating a buzz on social media?
The effect of trendiness on newsworthiness pre-dates social media. For example, during the early 1980s, there was a period in which stories about supposed Satanic rituals were popular in the American media.
If all the competitors are running with a story, can a news organization afford NOT to report on a story and run the risk of looking out-of-touch?
Will reporting the story keep a news organization ahead of its competitors? If a reporter can provide a ‘scoop’ (i.e., being the first to publish a story), that is a strong incentive to publish the story as quickly as possible. It can help make a news organization seem to be more authoritative—it sets the trends rather than just follows them.
10. Support for the Community
Can the story help the news organization connect with the community, charities and the local arts scene? It is good for business if the media organization is perceived as an integral part of the community. Most local newspapers will support the local arts scene by publishing reviews of movies, concerts, plays and art shows. In some cases, the articles help readers make choices about how they will spend their time, but sometimes (e.g., a review for a one-off performance of a play or concert), the review just lets people know about what is going on in their city and provides support for local culture.
11. Continuity
Does the story follow-up on something that was just published? Is the story one that gets reported from time to time? Can anything be recycled from previous reports? Is the story about something the audience is familiar with?
Familiarity is generally a good thing when it comes to newsworthiness, but if something happens again and again, it can lead to over-familiarity and it will start to get ignored. For example in the US, there are a few hundred mass shootings (in which four or more people are killed) each year. The vast majority of these will not make the national news. Similarly, during the American occupation of Iraq, there were a few hundred terrorist attacks every year in that country. Only the most extreme of these would ever be reported by international media.
Recurring stories are similar stories that get printed or broadcast periodically. For example, every couple of years Hong Kong newspapers will run stories on things like cage homes and teen suicide. The teen suicide rate has been relatively constant for many years (Intuitive guide to alleviating depression and suicides in Hong Kong). Of course, some years it is a little lower and some years a little higher. If it is a year in which the rate is higher, you will likely see a ‘teen suicides are increasing’ story. Similarly cage homes—small apartments in which the rooms are subdivided into tiny cubicles— have been around for many years. They get reported on from time to time, but nothing ever really changes.
12. Unambiguity
Is the story very clear or can it be made to look very clear? The protests in Hong Kong in 2019 were very complex (The Hong Kong Protests of 2019-2020), but were usually presented in a simple way (i.e., youth fighting for freedom). In contrast, the much larger farmers’ protests in India (which may have been the largest protests in history) were largely ignored by the mass media in Western countries at least partly because it was difficult to briefly and clearly explain what the farmers were fighting for. You can try reading this Wikipedia article and see if you can fully understand the farmers complaints: 2020–2021 Indian farmers’ protest. The story of the farmers’ protests also had the added hurdles of taking place in the Global South (Factor 5.2: Cultural Proximity), having strong ties to socialism and communism (Factor 13: Consonance) and being against the government of an American ally (Factor 14: Adversaries and allies).
13. Consonance
Does the narrative of the story match the beliefs that are predominant in that society? Examples for the American mass media would include beliefs like:
Anyone can get rich if they work hard enough (e.g., the rags-to-riches story, the American dream)
An underdog can prevail with enough grit and perseverance
The higher you climb, the further you fall (e.g., the downfall of a celebrity)
Communism is bad and capitalism is good
Our country and its culture and political systems are exceptional and deserve to be emulated (i.e., American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny)
The opposite of consonance is dissonance. If a story is dissonant—that is, it is going against a society’s commonly held beliefs—it may be less likely to make the news.
14. Adversaries & Allies
Does the story make political adversaries, an enemy state or a competitor look bad? If so, that can make the story more ‘newsworthy.’ During the 1980s, the American media had a lot of negative coverage about Japan (a rising economic competitor) and the Soviet Union (a military and geopolitical rival). In the 2000s, that negative focus switched to Islamic countries. For the past few years, the focus has been on China.
If the story makes an ally look bad, that can lead to the story going unreported.
Similarly, if a news story makes an adversary look good; news organizations may just kill the story or try to find a way to put a negative spin on it. For example, the American public broadcasting network PBS produced a documentary on poverty alleviation in China (entitled China’s War on Poverty), but it was quickly pulled from the network. The stated reason for removing the documentary was that there were concerns about editorial independence, but the American producer of the film stated that he had total independence. The more likely reason is that the film presented a geo-political adversary in an overly favorable light.
15. Bias & Influence
Does the news organization have an editorial bias? Does the story fit with the personal biases of the writers, editors and/or owners? Do the advertisers or sponsors have any influence? Is there a danger of getting sued if the story is published? Are the reporters or editors working with members of the intelligence community? This issue of influence is discussed on greater detail in my article The Roles of the News Media.
Which of the above factors are most important when it comes to newsworthiness? The following two kinds of stories would definitely be considered newsworthy: (1) a single incident involving a lot of deaths that very recently occurred in a famous place that is not part of the Global South and (2) the election/selection or death of a head of state of a very influential country. What other events would you consider to be ‘must-print’ stories?
Unfortunately, many of the 15 factors mentioned above can have negative effects such as:
important stories going unreported,
unethical reporting
long terms negative effects on the audience
B. The Ignored Stories
A lot of important events can get unfairly buried in the news because they are not considered newsworthy. In Canada, for example, there is a stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert in the province of British Columbia that is now known as the Highway of Tears (www.highwayoftears.org). Since 1970, it is estimated that over 80 women have been killed or have gone missing there.
Some of the victims of the Highway of Tears
Three serial killers have been convicted as well as a few solo murderers. That has all the makings of a newsworthy story: mass murder! multiple serial killers! However, it wasn’t until 2002, three decades after the first known murders, that the cases made the news in major urban newspapers in western Canada. That was when a young woman named Nicole Hoar was murdered. Why weren’t the other murders and disappearances newsworthy? The following factors were likely at play:
Factor 5.3 (Race, class & social status): More than half of the victims were indigenous women and many were quite poor, which is why many of them were hitchhiking or walking along the highway when they disappeared.
Factor 3 (Timeliness): In many of the cases, the murders were discovered only after human remains were found. Also, it wasn’t a single event; the cases were spread out over decades.
Factor 6 (Convenience): It was not easy to get information and police were not actively seeking media coverage.
Factor 11 (Unambiguity): A missing person’s case has many loose ends.
At the moment, a similar kind of case is playing out in Canada. There are now many news reports of mass graves of hundred of indigenous children being found at Canada’s notorious residential schools (all of which had finally closed by 1997). It is not like parents hadn’t noticed that their, children who had been taken away from them, never returned home. It is not like there were no ‘graduates’ of the school who had witnessed systematic abuse. The media at the time simply wasn’t interested.
Entire continents are also largely ignored. In the US, for example, there is very little in the news about the Global South (e.g., Africa, South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia). And the stories that do get published tend to be to reconfirm existing beliefs (e.g., Western Media use of the Third World Construct: A Framing Analysis of its Validity). For example, Africa is often presented as being all warlords and famines:
Similarly, India is presented as a filthy slum; China is presented as being full of impoverished, brainwashed and oppressed people; and South America is presented as being awash in drugs and corruption.
During early 2022, there were four major international conflicts going on (Russia/Ukraine, Saudi Arabi, Yemen, US/Syria, US/Somalia). In an analysis of the coverage of these conflicts in the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, independent reporter Alan MacLeod found that the five news organizations published 1298 articles about the Ukraine conflict and a total of 3 articles on the other three conflicts (www.mintpressnews.com/ukraine-russia-war-media-bias-study/279847/ )
After Russia invaded Ukraine several, reporters commented on how the war was so shocking because it affected Europeans:
“This isn’t a place, with all due respect, you know like Iraq or Afghanistan, This is a relatively civilized, relatively European—I have to choose those words carefully, too—city where you wouldn’t expect or hope that it’s going to happen.” (Charlie D’Agata, CBS News)
“What is compelling is that just looking at them, the way they’re dressed. These are prosperous, middle-class people. These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the Middle East that are still in a big state of war. These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa; they look like any European family that you would live next door to.” (Peter Dobble, Al-jazeera)
“It’s one thing for sarin gas to be used on people in far away Syria who are Muslim and of a different culture. What is Europe going to do when it is on European soil, done to Europeans?” (Julie Loffe, CNN)
“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed.” (Ukraine’s former Deputy Chief Prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze, in a BBC interview)
“It just occurred to me that this is the first major war between civilized nations in my lifetime.” (Michael Knowles, Daily Wire)
“Just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria. These are refugees from neighboring Ukraine….These are Christians, they’re white.” (Kelly Cobiella NBC News)
“And this is not a developing Third World nation. This is Europe.” (Lucy Watson, ITV news).
In those comments you can see how they view the Russian invasion of the Ukraine as being more important than conflicts in Asian or Africa simply because the people involved are Europeans. You can see video clips of the above quotes in Alan Macleod’s Twitter thread: twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1497981855764824065
Another thing that often gets ignored is what happens to people after the news media has moved on from the main story. Large mass shootings and natural disasters are frequently reported, but in most instances, after a few days, the news media will have moved on and the stories of the victims and survivors are ignored. Here is an amazing and heartwarming video about a woman who survived the Fukushima tsunami. Such new stories are quite rare in the mainstream media.
C. Unethical Reporting
The factors affecting newsworthiness can also lead to unethical reporting if editors and reporters put ‘newsworthiness’ ahead of accuracy.
One obvious example of this is the case in which journalist Janet Cooke won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for her article on an eight-year-old heroine addict; and it was later discovered that the story was completely made-up.
Another case of unethical reporting occurred in Hong Kong in 1998 and involved how the Apple Daily newspaper covered a murder-suicide case in which a woman had thrown her two young children from an apartment building before committing suicide. Apparently not satisfied with the ‘drama’ level of the story, the newspaper paid the widower of the woman, Chan Kin-hong, to pose for pictures with two prostitutes and then ran a front page story about how unremorseful he was. In essence, they simply fabricated a story in order to make the tragedy more sensational and dramatic.
In this section, I will briefly describe three news stories that involved me and explain what made them newsworthy.
1. Child & Santa
Here is my first appearance in the news. What are the factors that made this photo and caption newsworthy?
This photo was likely in the news because:
Factor 7.3 (That time of year): It is just before Christmas, so a ‘kid-with-Santa’ photo is newsworthy
Factor 6 (Convenience): I was visiting my grandmother, who lived near the main offices of the newspaper. It is likely that an editor just told a photographer to ‘go out and get a kid-with-Santa photo’ and that particular Santa was the closest one to the newspaper offices.
Factor 8: (Rarity): The surname ‘Noel‘ literally means ‘Christmas’ (as in the the Christmas carol The First Noel). What an amazing coincidence—a Christmas photo of a kid named Noel! However, that is not my surname. I don’t know if the reporter or editor simply made it up or whether my grandmother did (she was whimsical). In any case, I learned from a very early age (one-and-a-half, not two), that newspapers were careless with facts.
2. Protesting
My second appearance in the news, was on a national television broadcast in Canada. The news story featured footage of me participating in a protest in London, England in 1984. The protest was against plans to have the American military station nuclear missiles on the British Isles. I was filmed carrying a Canadian flag along with another person. That protest—and shot of me—made the news in Canada because
Factor 1.2 (Number of people): It was a very large protest.
Factor 5.1 (Fame): It was in a famous city.
Factor 5.2 (Cultural proximity): England has close ties to Canada.
Factor 1.1 (Consequences): The video footage of the Canadian flag was helpful in creating the feeling that the story was important to the Canadian audience.
3, A Student Project
In 2003, When I was teaching at City University of Hong Kong, one of my duties was to supervise groups of students working on their Final Year Project in an English for Professional Communication Program (Higher Diploma). For their projects, students would work with companies or non-governmental organizations to conduct fundraising or public relations campaigns. One of my student groups ran a highly successful PR campaign for the Chiropractic Doctors’ Association of Hong Kong. The students conducted research on two things that might affect the health of young children: carrying heavy school bags and having poor posture when using the computer.
After completing the research, the students organized a press conference at the university to announce the findings. Their research was reported in the evening new and late news broadcast of all of Hong Kong’s television stations at the time (TVB Pearl, TVB Jade, ATV World, ATV Home), was the lead story on the TVB broadcasts, was featured in more than a dozen newspapers and even was reported by a radio station in Singapore.
Why did that news story—which was a student research project—get so much attention in the media?
Factor 1.3 (Relative Importance): It was a slow news day, and the students deliberately chose to schedule the press conference on Monday, a day of the week when governments and businesses in Hong Kong tend NOT to have press conferences.
Factor 3 (Timeliness): It was newly released research, so it was timely.
Factor 6 (Convenience): The students made it very convenient for reporters. First, there was a press conference at which chiropractic doctors were on hand to explain the data and answer questions. Second, the students included a press release (hard and soft copies) including the original report, a summary that could form the basis of an article and relevant graphics. Third, the time of the press conference was convenient for reporters. The press conference was in the middle of the morning, so members of the press had enough time for to get ready before attending and lots of time afterward to prepare a story for the evening news or the next day’s paper.
Factor 1 (Impact): It was of some concern to many readers—especially those with young children
Factor 2 (Drama): The story was negative in tone, The research findings suggested that around a third of children were at risk of developing spine problems.
Factor 13 (Consonance): The story supported a larger narrative—that children in Hong Kong are overworked and stressed out.
Factor 11 (Continuity): It was a recurring story—every few years in Hong Kong the issue of young children struggling with heavy school bags gets reported in the media.
Factor 12 (Unambiguity): It had an unambiguous message, sort of—children need to carry lighter loads and parents should also consider buying backpacks that are designed to distribute weight more evenly. On the surface, the message was unambiguous, but in fact the story did have a lot of ambiguity. The research was a student project, so there were of course questions about the reliability of the data. However, this was not mentioned in any of the news reports. Instead, the reporters all went with phrases like “Researchers at City University today reported that….” Also not mentioned was the fact that the research was sponsored by a manufacturer of ‘spine-friendly’ backpacks, so there was a potential conflict of interest. There was ambiguity, but it could be easily swept under the rug.
If any one of the above factors were missing, I doubt the story would have received as much media exposure as it did.
On the one hand, I was proud of the hardworking students (they had also developed a teaching program that was introduced to tens of thousands of primary school students). On the other hand, I was disturbed at how the news organizations presented the report as being written by ‘university researchers’.
F. Conclusion
By now, you should have a good understanding of the many reasons that can lead to a news story getting (or not getting) media exposure and how these factors can distort the news and can even distort our perceptions of the world around us.
The subjective nature of ‘newsworthiness’ means that it is important for us, as consumers of the news, to
Question the news that is being presented to us and
Seek out a wide range of different sources of news (from large news companies to local publishers to independent news organizations to social media).
G. Research Questions
Newsworthiness lends itself to quantitative research. If you interested in this topic, you can create a checklist of factors affecting newsworthiness and try to determine which factors occur most frequently in news publications or broadcasts. You can:
Look at one publication or broadcast news program news and examine all the stories published or broadcast within a specific time frame
Compare two different news organizations (e.g., CNN and Fox News)
Compare the newsworthiness factors of a publication in a Western liberal democracy to the newsworthiness factors of a publication (e.g., Pravda, The People’s Daily) in a country where the media is more controlled (see my article: The Roles of the News Media)
Compare the print media to broadcast media
Unfortunately, this kind of approach wouldn’t be able to answer the questions ‘Which stories tend to go unreported and why?’ For that, you would probably need to do qualitative research—interviewing staff members of news organizations and asking them which stories they chose to drop or ignore altogether and why.
This is the fourth song in the free background music series. The instrumental features synthesizer, piano, acoustic bass, guitar, strings, flute, an Asian fiddle, drums and percussion. There are quite a few different sections with slightly different feels to them.
There are two different versions of the song. The short version (4:42) is the video shown above. The longer version (7:21) of the song has an extended intro with a clockwork-like feel and a longer coda at the end. Here is the long version:
Safe Harbor is the 11th song in the Free Background series. This is minimalist. loop-based song with orchestral instrumentation (e.g., piano, cello, acoustic bass, harp, flute, French horn. clarinet, drums). There are two versions. The second version, which is shorter and which is without drums, is shown below.
The answer to this question depends on the society we are talking about. There is no one universal model of the news media. In the article, I will look at five main models:
The Free Press Model
The Propaganda Model
The Commercial Model
The Combined Model
The State Model
1. The Free Press Model
To start with let’s look at the Free Press Model—it is considered the ideal for the news media in western liberal democracies. In this model, the news media typically has five main roles:
Information Provider: To give information to the public so that people know what is going on in their community, their nation and around the world. People can then use this information to make better choices. For example, before an election, people can learn more about the platforms of different politicians, and this can help them vote more wisely.
Information Gatekeeper: To serve as a kind of information gatekeeper. News organizations can filter out false information, gossip and harmful propaganda and instead publish information that is based on fact. With the rise of social media, this gatekeeper role is even more important as news organizations can help people sort through the massive amounts of often contradictory information they receive online.
Advocate for Change: To push for social, economic and political change. The media can shine a light on problems faced by society—like racism or homelessness—and suggest ways to solve those problems. The press may thus have an influence on government policy.
Watchdog: To serve as a watchdog—to keep an eye out for abuses of power. The media can expose unfair business practices or violations of rights, and it can help monitor the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government. In this role, the media serves as part of the system of checks and balances that is considered essential to the western concept of democracy.
Community Platform: To provide a voice to the community. News organizations can give readers, listeners and viewers a platform to actively comment on current affairs. This can be done through things like interviews with members of the public, call-in radio shows, letters to the editor and online comments.
A sixth role that is often mentioned is entertainment, but for this article I will focus on the rive roles listed above.
In order to fulfill the five roles of the press in this model—information provider, information gatekeeper, advocate of change, watchdog and community platform—effectively, the news media must have a few qualities, namely:
The reporting must be accurate and impartial; and information should be confirmed and fact-checked before being presented to the public
There must be editorial independence
There must be a clear distinction between different kinds of content such as fact-based articles, opinion-based editorials and sponsored content.
Opportunities to express ideas should be given to different voices and to people that are representative of society as a whole
2. Influences on the News Media
The Free Press Model, however, is very simplistic. It assumes that the news media is mostly free from outside influence. In reality, there are many forces that can shape and influence the news.
Owners
Advertisers & sponsors
Sources (press agencies, businesses and government departments, intelligence services, other media outlets, think tanks, human rights groups & other non-governmental organizations, eyewitnesses & experts)
Financial & logistical considerations
Flak
Cultural & ideological narratives
Audience expectations
Social media & other competitors
Personal biases
2.1 Owners
First, there is ownership. Media owners can include:
Multinational corporate conglomerates like Warner Brothers or Rupert Murdoch’s News Corps
National media networks like the Sinclair Broadcast Group in America
Media moguls like Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong and Viscount Rothermere in Britain
Even religious sects like the Falun Gong, which publishes the Epoch Times and runs NTD (as well as a host of other outlets)
Many news organizations do have clear editorial biases. Fox News in the US, for example, was founded to provide a voice for American conservatives. MSNBC, on the other hand, appeals more to American liberals.
Media owners have power over things like hiring practices and editorial policies of the news organizations they control. And if they want, they can order a particular story to be published or abandoned. For example, here is a compilation of local news broadcasters in the Sinclair Broadcast Group parroting a political message from the owners:
Governments can also be media owners. For example, the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia are run by the US federal government. The majority of funding for the BBC comes directly from British taxpayers via a television licensing system, but it is the British government that controls the licensing system and appoints the head of the BBC.
2.2 Advertisers and Sponsors
Second, there are the advertisers and sponsors. If a news organization heavily depends on advertising and sponsorship revenue, major advertisers and sponsors can also influence what stories get printed, what stories get buried and how certain issues are reported. Here is one example: In 1997, at the request of one its major advertisers—Monsanto—Fox News pressured two of the reporters at its affiliate station WTVT-13 to change their story on one of Monsanto’s growth hormones and add false information to the planned article. When the two reporters—Jane Akre and Steve Wilson— repeatedly refused, they were fired and the story was killed (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre).
The influence of advertisers on the media can be more subtle. In a study of the news media in Argentina, researchers found that as government spending on advertising in newspapers increased, the amount of front-page space given to coverage of government scandals decreased (www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w15402/w15402.pdf). Similarly, in another study, it was found that news coverage about automobile recalls from given manufacturers decreased when advertising spending from those manufacturers increased (www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/Economics/Seminarsevents/Durante-paper.pdf). In both of these cases, newspapers still covered negative news involving their advertisers; they just did it less frequently or less noticeably.
Another way in which advertisers influence the news is in the form of advertorials. These look like the publication’s articles, but are actually advertisements. Usually, this is acknowledged as an ‘advertorial’ somewhere on the page, but it is not always obvious.
Then there is crowdfunding. Nowadays, there are quite a few crowdfunded media organizations that pride themselves on their independence. However, their financing largely relies on meeting the expectations of their audience. If the Grayzone starts publishing articles in favor of American interventions overseas or if the Hong Kong Free Press starts publishing articles critical of Hong Kong protesters, they will likely see much of their funding disappear.
2.3 Sourcing
A third influence is related to sourcing, that is, where the news actually comes from. Much of the news comes from a variety of sources, including:
Press agencies These companies provide licensed content that can be directly inserted into a publication or that can be combined with information from local reporters. The largest press agencies—United Press International (UPI), the Associated Press (AP), Agence France Press (AFP) and Reuters—provide around 90% of international news in a typical newspaper. Of course, when looking at press agencies, you also need to consider the issues of ownership and bias.
A group called Swiss Propaganda Research investigated how, during a two-week period, nine leading newspapers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria reported on the conflict in Syria. The researchers found that out of 381 articles published during those two weeks, not a single article was the result of direct investigation by any of the newspapers’ reporters. Instead, 78% of articles were based whole or in part from press agency reports (swprs.org/the-propaganda-multiplier/). The researchers also found that the reporting was biased. 82% of all opinion pieces and interviews provided by the press agencies were in favor of US and NATO intervention, and when the negative word ‘propaganda’ was mentioned it was only used to describe information from the opposing side.
The big issue with press agencies is that because their articles are published in thousands of newspapers, any inaccurate and/or biased material produced by press agencies can end up being quickly spread around the world.
Government departments, major corporations and local businesses These sources can provide press briefings and press releases or can just insert their content directly into news publications in the form of sponsored articles known as advertorials. Here is one example from the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong’s leading English newspaper). An opinion piece suggesting Reading, England as a potential destination for Hong Kong holders of the BNO passport is written by Raymond Chong, the managing director of a brokerage, Star Property Agency, that (what a surprise!) just happens to be selling property in Reading to Hong Kong people. This is a case of a company directly inserting favorable content into a news publication.
The headline
The writer’s company website
That is a very small-scale case, though. Governments can spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the media. For example, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill (The Strategic Competition Act of 2021) in which 300 million dollars per year for five years is to be devoted to countering Chinese influence, with 1/3 of that to be devoted largely to spreading negative media coverage about China. Here is a clause from the bill that specifies how a part of the money will be used:
There is authorized to be appropriated, for each of the fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for the United States Agency for Global Media, $100,000,000 for new programs to support local media, build independent media, combat Chinese disinformation inside and outside of China, invest in technology to subvert censorship, and monitor and evaluate these programs.
How would this money be spent? Here is one example: The Herald, a newspaper in Zimbabwe, reported on a program run by Information by Development Trust (IDT) and sponsored by the American Embassy in Harare. Participating journalists were instructed on how to produce negative news stories about Chinese investment in Zimbabwe and were promised 1000 USD for each negative story produced (US Plans to Discredit Chinese Investment Unmasked).
This kind of government propaganda campaign is typically conducted through government-funded media organizations (e.g. Radio Free Asia), intelligence agencies, non-governmental organizations and think tanks.
Intelligence services Spy agencies can supply a mixture of real and false news and can also directly recruit reporters and editors as assets. In a 1977 article in the Rolling Stone, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein stated that at that time, around 400 reporters were doubling as operatives for the CIA. Their investigations confirmed the role of American intelligence agencies in manipulating the media that came to light during the hearings of the Church Committee (AKA the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) in 1975. In this video interview from 1983, former CIA agent John Stockwell describes how he oversaw media campaigns for the CIA. The interview is from ‘Vietnam Reconsidered, Lessons from the War at the University of Southern California, USC’. The part on the media begins at 1:50.
Other media outlets Smaller newspapers often use material from more prestigious papers such as the New York Times or government-run organizations like Radio Free Asia.
Think tanks, human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations These organizations usually claim to be independent, but they are often heavily funded by governments, defense contractors, other major corporations and government-funded organizations like America’s National Endowment for Democracy. For example, the ‘independent’ Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is funded mainly by the Australian Department of Defense with additional funding coming from entities such as the US State Department, the US Department of Defense and NATO as well as weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northropp Grumman, Naval Group Australia and Thales. You can see this thread on Twitter for a look at some of the funding behind NGOs that frequently appear as news sources: twitter.com/catcontentonly/status/1343282499833765890.
Eyewitnesses and experts Some eyewitnesses and experts are credible and impartial, while others and are fake or biased. The most famous example of a fake eyewitness is Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ, who in 1990 tearfully testified that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers in a Kuwaiti hospital stealing incubators and leaving premature babies on the floor to die. Her testimony, which was supported by Amnesty International, was used to encourage support for the American invasion of Iraq. It wasn’t until 1992 that it was discovered that she was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to America and that her testimony was part of a public relations campaign run by the American public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for the Kuwaiti government. There was no evidence that any incidents like that had actually happened and Amnesty International issued a retraction.
By the time Nayriah’s identity had been revealed and her testimony debunked, the First Gulf War had ended.
Another famous case of fake eye-witnesses is Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari, a blogger who went by the username A Gay Girl in Damascus and who advocated for increased civil and political freedom for Syrians. She was interviewed by media outlets such as CNN for her insights as a young openly gay woman living in an Islamic country. In 2011, someone claiming be her cousin reported that she had been kidnapped by government agents. Her kidnapping prompted an international outcry; however, it turned out that the blogger was, in reality, Tom McMaster, a middle-aged, straight American man living in England.
Then there is the case of the Uyghur activist, Rushan Abbas, who is a completely real person. However, she has worked for the American military as a consultant at the notorious Guantanamo Bay site as well as working for various other American government departments and intelligence agencies. Can she really be considered an impartial and credible source? (www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/e9ad4n/i_am_rushan_abbas_uyghur_activist_and_survivor_of/)?
Eyewitness evidence and expert testimony can be very compelling, but it is clear that news organizations are often not very careful when it comes to confirming the identities, backgrounds, motivations and stories of their experts and eyewitnesses.
All these different kinds of news sources can be linked together like a kind of chain. For example, a small local newspaper in Cleveland might run an article that is mainly based on an Associated Press report of a Radio Free Asia interview with a representative of a think tank that is primarily funded by the American government, with the interview being set up at an event organized by the US State Department.
This use of regurgitated content from third-party sources can help make the news gathering process more cost effective, but it can also lead to a lot of propaganda and false information getting published.
The use of chains of third-party sources also means that potential conflicts of interest often go undeclared and unnoticed. For example, in the article ‘Rappler: Philippines orders shutdown of Maria Ressa’s critical news site’ (www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61976456), the BBC reports that a newspaper in the Philippines was ordered to close because its funding from the Omidyar Network (a company set up by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar) was alleged to be in violation of the country’s media laws. In the article, the BBC cites two sources to highlight how ‘unfree’ the Filipino news media is. The two sources are Reporters Without Borders (RWB), which is partially funded by . . . Pierre Omidyar, and Humans Right Watch (HRW), which receives regular donations from . . . Pierre Omidyar. Nowhere in the article are the links to Omidyar and RWB and HRW mentioned. There are no other sources (besides Rappler staff) included in the article.
2.4 Financial & Logistical Considerations
One important factor that should not be overlooked when discussing the news media is the financial pressure involved with running a news organization. Any measure that can save time and money has to be considered, and this can have a great effect on sourcing. For example, if you take a government press release about a new policy and edit it slightly, you can produce a news story in a few minutes. If the government then holds a press conference, you can send a small news crew there to get a quick soundbite. A national newspaper or TV network will have staff in the nation’s capital, so everything can be done in a few hours. However, verifying all those pesky details in the press release might take days or even weeks or months. And interviewing people who would be affected by that new policy—people who might be several hundreds of kilometers away in a remote town—can be time-consuming and expensive. As a result, in this case, when the story is finally put together and published, it will likely favor the government’s point of view simply because of how much easier it was to get information from the government.
Similarly, many local newspapers have a reporter that focuses on local crime. The reporters on the crime beat will have established relationships with police officers and police spokespersons, so they will normally get information from these sources first, and then it is up to the reporters and their editors to decide how much time and effort will go into doing things like tracking down and interviewing eye-witnesses. In many cases, the decision will simply be to save time and money and go with the version of events presented by police. In this way, the basic logistics of running a news organization can affect what stories get told and who gets to tell them.
Financial considerations and logistics can therefore also affect sourcing. It is often more cost-effective for news organizations to simply run what they get from their usual sources and press agencies without having their own reporters fully investigate the story.
2.5 Flak
A fifth influence is ‘flak’. If any individual or group is powerful enough to cause problems for the media organization by suing it, removing its license or organizing boycotts, editors may think twice before publishing anything negative about that person or group. Noam Chomsky calls this kind of threat ‘flak.’ One good example of this is the pressure from tobacco company Brown & Williamson (B&W) on television network CBS to kill off a planned story on the company’s use of ammonia to increase the addictive effects of nicotine in its cigarettes (www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1996/05/wigand199605). CBS did kill the story at first, but the story was eventually published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and then by CBS itself. B&W’s efforts to kill the story formed the basis of the film The Insider. One important thing to note in this case is that B&W did not actually threaten to sue CBS. CBS killed the story simply because its legal team feared that there COULD be a lawsuit if the story was broadcast.
Flak can also come in the form of fear of legal persecution. For example, in 2022. Alina Lipp, a German reporter covering crimes by Ukrainian forces against citizens in the Donbass, a region consisting of two republics that broke away from Ukraine in 2014, was notified by German authorities that she would be subject to up to three years imprisonment if she returned to Germany. The punishment is for ‘supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ and she would not be allowed to state her case in court proceedings (www.indiatoday.in/world/story/-german-journalist-detention-ukrainian-crimes-donbass-1973896-2022-07-10).
2.6 Cultural & Ideological Narratives
A sixth kind of influence concerns the beliefs and narratives that are predominant in a society. For example, in America, there is a strong emphasis on the importance of individualism and personal rights, and there is also a strong antipathy towards communism, socialism and authoritarianism. There is a strong belief that the freedoms offered in America allow anyone to succeed in life through hard work alone (a belief called the American Dream). These kinds of ideological beliefs can color the news published by American new organizations. In the 1980s, there was a strong bias in the American mass media against Japan, which at the time was beginning to threaten America’s economic dominance, and against the Soviet Union, which was a solcialist superpower. Today, there is a strong bias against China. The following magazine covers are representative of the mainstream media’s mainly negative portrayal of China:
A typical magazine cover depicting China
Negative media coverage
The above headlines and illustrations tend to combine elements of both ‘Red Scare’ (a fear of communism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare) and ‘Yellow Peril’ (a perception that devious Asians threaten the Western world: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril). At times, the designs used in the media’s depiction of China is reminiscent of Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda (see below), but with a LOT more red in the design.
Anti-Jewish Propaganda
Let’s look at one obvious example of a simple news story being affected by an Anti-communist ideological filter. In the summer of 2020, a Chinese businessman suggested that people use a method to prevent food waste when eating out. He suggested that the number of dishes ordered should be one fewer than the number of diners in the group. Chinese government officials heard about this suggestion and then stated that they thought it was a good idea. They suggested that people should consider adopting it and should think of even more ways to reduce food waste.
The article was full of words carrying negative connotations that play on the West’s image of China as an Orwellian dystopia:
drasticmeasures
threatened food bloggers
one intrusion too far into into citizens’ increasingly surveilled personal lives
fear of an official backlash
yet another political limitation on their everyday lives
censoring political discussion
20 million surveillance cameras
China’s authoritarian system
local governments have expanded their surveillance
encouraging citizens to report each other
China’s agriculture sector is reeling from a series of natural disasters
threw the country’s agricultural sector into chaos
according to the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily
It is only at the end of the article that the following quote appears to provide some semblance of balance, with one expert saying, “The truth is, the implementation won’t be very strict.” Aside from that one interviewee, ALL the other interviewees pointed out various problems with the waste-reduction schemes.
At no point in the article are the possible benefits of reducing food waste—like environmental protection or cost savings—mentioned.
In reality, there was no government directive. There were no food shortages. There was no chaos. There was no famine. The media twisted something positive—a suggestion that people think of and implement ways to reduce food waste—into something dark and foreboding.
This kind of ideological filter has two main purposes.
The first is to get the general public to approve of military action and/or economic sanctions against those countries considered enemies.
The second purpose is to deflect attention from the failings of one’s own government and to present the existing political and economic systems as being the best ones possible. An American reading the CNN article about food waste in China, for example, is being encouraged to think something along the lines of ‘Wow, things aren’t perfect here in the US, but at least the government isn’t trying to control how much food I eat and the government isn’t watching me all day with cameras. And I don’t need to worry about starving to death in a famine. Thank God I live in America and not China.’
Earlier this year, I was wondering if there was ever a golden age of the media, an era in which the press was free from this kind of ideological filter. I decided to randomly look at stories from the past. This article, from the Seattle Times in 1911, was the first one I read:
It seems that ideological filters have always been in the media. The short article above is about how white men (‘Scandinavians, Germans and straight Yankees’) were being pushed out of doing business at the local city market by Italians (who do not appear to have been considered ‘white’ at the time) and ‘Asiatics’. There is a clear bias against the darker-skinned immigrant ‘others’.
2.7 Audience Expectations
A news organization’s audience can also influence the kinds of stories it publishes. If more people buy your newspaper or watch your news broadcast, you can earn more money, not only from sales, but also from advertising. Thus, there is pressure on news media organizations to publish news that sells well—for example, news that is shocking or entertaining or news that fits nicely with what the readers and viewers already believe. A story about a spat in Britain’s royal family, for example, isn’t very important, but it might help sell newspapers.
2.8 Social Media & Other Competitors
Another influence is social media, particularly in its role as a competitor to the traditional news media. If a story is hugely popular on social media, can the traditional news media afford to ignore it? And if an unverified story is already circulating online, can the traditional news media really waste time to confirm all the details before running the story? Wouldn’t it be easier to just run the story as soon as possible and then issue corrections afterwards if necessary?
This race-against-the-competition has always been there, but the pressure to deliver news stories quickly has been exacerbated by the rise of social media and 24-hour news networks.
Another issue is that people are increasingly getting their news via social media, so there is pressure on news organizations to create content that will appeal to the algorithms of social media giant like Meta (Facebook) and Twitter. A wordy and carefully balanced article is unlikely to be shared as much as a short controversial and opinionated article.
2.9 Personal Biases
Lastly, sometimes reporters and editors are simply biased, and their views affect the way they present their stories. Let’s look at one example of inaccurate and biased reporting from Hong Kong. In this article, reporters of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and RTHK criticized the Hong Kong government by claiming that the free food being provided to residents during a COVID-19 lockdown could not be opened as not everyone had can openers (www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3119031/hong-kong-lockdown-residents-given-food-they). Their reports included eyewitness statements (see below) and photos. However, there was something wrong with the cover photo for the article. Can you spot the problem?
The SCMP’s Photo
Congratulations if you found the problem.
All the cans had been turned upside down so that readers could not see the ring pulls that would allow anyone to easily open the cans.
Photo of a government relief package showing the tops of the cans (uploaded by an online commenter)
After getting mocked on social media, the SCMP later removed the photo and issued a statement on its Facebook and Twitter threads for the article. In the apology, the SCMP attempted to shift the blame to a local anti-establishment politician, Frank Ho, who had supplied the photos. However, in the apology the SCMP editors seemed to ignore the obviously fake eye-witness statement that was also included in the article, and they also wrote that only ‘some of the cans’ had been placed upside down (when in reality, it was ALL of the cans). Did the ‘eye-witness’ quotes also come from Frank Ho? Does the eyewitness, Mohammad, even exist? In any case, either the reporters knew they were creating a fake story or they were happy to sign their names to an article cooked up by someone else. In either scenario, it was dishonest and biased reporting.
Examples of comments on the Facebook page of the article
The SCMP’s correction on social media
Of course, this is just a relatively minor news story, but when such inaccurate and biased reporting is repeated over a long period, it can affect the views and attitudes of readers, listeners and viewers.
2.10 Summary
To sum up, those five main roles of a free press—keep the public well-informed, act as a gatekeeper, encourage social change, serve as a watchdog and provide a platform for citizens to express their opinions—can be undermined and distorted by the influences mentioned in this section—ownership, advertising & sponsorship, sourcing, flak, ideological narratives, the audience, competitors (including social media) and personal biases.
These influences can affect:
What stories are selected
What stories are omitted
Whose voices are given a platform
What pictures and video footage are published
What captions are given to the pictures
What words are used in the article (e.g., ‘protester’ vs ‘rioter’ vs ‘activist’ vs ‘terrorist’)
And even what grammar structures are used (e.g., ‘protesters set a store on fire’ vs ‘a store was set on fire’ vs ‘a store burst into flames’)
Examples of these different kinds of biases will be presented in another article.
3. The Propaganda Model
This more complex look at the news media and its many influences is beginning to resemble what Noam Chomsky calls the Propaganda Model of the mass media. In the Propaganda Model, the main role of the mass media is to get the general public to go along with with the economic, social and political systems that benefit those with power. In other words, the media is used to gain the consent of the general public for economic, social and political policies (both domestic and foreign) that will ultimately benefit the ruling class. In this model, Chomsky describes five ‘filters’ that influence the mass media:
Ownership (see Section 2.1)
Advertising (see 2.2)
Sourcing (see 2.3)
Flak (see 2.5)
Anti-communism (this is related to the influence of cultural and ideological narratives mentioned in Section 2.6)
Even if we set aside Chomsky’s hypothesis that the main purpose of the media is to promote the interests of the ruling class, there is no denying the existence of the five filters of the Propaganda Model as well as the other influences mentioned in Section 2.
4. The Commercial Model
This model, which I am calling the Commercial Model, is slightly less cynical than the Propaganda Model. In this model, the primary role of a news organization is simply to make money for the owners. A news organization is a business, and like any other business, earning a profit is its main goal. In the Commercial Model, the press still has the five main roles of the Free Press Model but the reporting is susceptible to being influenced by the business demands of running a news organization, including:
The need to attract readers/viewers (see 2.7)
The need to attract advertisers and sponsors and keep them satisfied (see 2.2)
The need to keep owners satisfied (see 2.1)
The logistics involved with getting source material and independently verifying it (see 2.4)
Time constraints and the need to stay ahead of the competition (see 2.8)
5. The Combined Model
Regarding the news media in America and other western countries, I would argue that these three models—the Free Press Model, the Propaganda Model and the Commercial Model—exist at the same time. A news organization may have complete editorial independence and unbiased, accurate reporting on one issue but very biased and deliberately deceptive reporting on another issue. And on yet another issue, economic and logistical constraints may lead the newspaper’s editors and reporters to unconsciously allow their story to be become distorted by biases.
Therefore, it might make more sense to think of the five roles of the Free Press model, the filters of the Propaganda Model, the influences of the Commercial Model and the additional influence of personal bias as being on a continuum, with the ideal of totally unbiased and honest reporting on one end and false and deliberately misleading propaganda on the other. Let’s call this model the Combined Model.
The big problem with this model, however is that the roles of the news media that make up the Combined Model—the Free Press Model, the Propaganda Model and Commercial Model—are very often at odds with one another.
6. A Case Study: Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction
One obvious example of the mass media failing to do its job properly (according to the Free Press model) was during the lead up to America’s second war with Iraq, the one that started in 2003. Before the war, the American government claimed that its intelligence services had found ironclad evidence that Iraq was developing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) such as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The US government used this claim as justification to start a war with Iraq. After America invaded Iraq, however, it soon became clear that Iraq did not have an active program involving WMDs (www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/magazine/iraq-weapons-mass-destruction.html).
In the several months leading up the war, most American newspapers and magazines supported the WMD myth and in their articles and editorials pushed for war. News organizations, including influential publications like the New York Times, the New Yorker and the Washington Post, reported the government’s claims and rationales without questioning or investigating them. Thus, the media—on the left AND the right—with the exception of a few organizations like Knight-Ridder, helped the government justify the war to its citizens.
Here is a front page story by Michael Gordon and Judith Miller from the New York Times reporting, without question, US government claims that Iraq was purchasing parts to build nuclear weapons. Note how the large graphic beside the article features two children in front of an American flag and a message commemorating the victims of the 9/11 attack. The implied message of the combined graphic and article is clear—to prevent another terrorist attack and protect our country and our children, we need to take action against Iraq (even though Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks).
In an editorial in the New Yorker entitled Making a Case, David Remick wrote:
“History will not easily excuse us if, by deciding not to decide, we defer a reckoning with an aggressive totalitarian leader who intends not only to develop weapons of mass destruction but also to use them.”
In an editorial entitled Irrefutable, the Washington Post opened with this sentence:
“AFTER SECRETARY OF STATE Colin L. Powell’s presentation to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, it is hard to imagine how anyone could doubt that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.”
Soon after the war started, it became clear there were no active WMD programs in Iraq. The reason for going to war had been a lie, a lie that had been enthusiastically supported by most of the American mass media (limacharlienews.com/op-ed/how-media-sold-iraq-war/).
In a study by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), researchers looked at the 393 interviews about the potential for war with Iraq that had been broadcast on four influential news programmes (ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) during a two week period in 2003. The researchers found that 199 of the interviewees were either current or former American government or military officials and that 198 of these officials supported the war. Only 1 expressed skepticism or opposition. Other interviewees included Iraqi officials and former or current representatives of other governments. These interviewees provided more balanced opinions, but still tended to be supportive of the war. As FAIR reports:
‘’Yet, at a time when 61 percent of respondents in a CBS poll (2/5–6/03) were saying that they felt the U.S. should ‘wait and give the United Nations and weapons inspectors more time,’’ only 16 of the 68 U.S. guests (24 percent) who were not officials represented such views.”
However, nearly two decades later, the effects of the war are still causing huge problems for Iraq, which is still occupied by American forces. It is unknown exactly how many Iraqi civilians died in the war or in the conflicts that followed, but most estimates are at least in the hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died at least in part because the press failed to carry out its ‘free press’ roles properly:
The reporting was heavily biased in favor of war (thus failing in its role as information provider)
The media reported false information as irrefutable fact (thus failing in its role as a gatekeeper)
The media did not try to soften America’s aggressive foreign policy (thus failing in its role as an agent of social change)
The media did not investigate the veracity of government claims (thus failing in its role as a watchdog)
When selecting interviewees, the media did not give a voice to a representative sample of Americans—it favored those who supported the war (thus failing in its role as a platform for the community)
However, if we assume the news media is following the Propaganda Model, the American media’s coverage of the war could be considered a success. In a gallup poll conducted in May 2003, after military action had already begun, 79% of the Americans polled thought the Iraq War was justified, even without conclusive evidence of WMDs (web.archive.org/web/20180922202051/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1155-2003May16/). In a 2015 poll, conducted over a decade AFTER the WMD claims had been discredited, 42% of the Americans (and over half of Republicans) surveyed believed Iraq did have an active WMD program leading up to the war (www.politico.com/story/2015/01/poll-republicans-wmds-iraq-114016).
If we assume the news media is following the Commercial Model, the American media’s coverage of the war was also a success. Due to the novelty of many of the televised elements—satellite images of missile strikes, real-time footage of battles and footage from journalists embedded with US troops—the war became something like a hit TV show, especially on cable news networks. According to the American Journalism Review:
“Tens of millions of viewers tuned to war coverage on the major networks, according to Nielsen Media Research. Cable, with its 24/7 coverage, was a big ratings winner. A Los Angeles Times national poll in early April showed that nearly 70 percent of Americans were getting most of their news about the war from cable. The Nielsen data showed that the number of average daily viewers for MSNBC and CNN increased more than 300 percent, while those for Fox rose more than 288 percent during the first two weeks of the war. Fox was the most-viewed cable news channel, averaging 3.3 million viewers per day. The highest-rated news program was “NBC Nightly News,” with more than 11.3 million viewers.
In the end, the media’s push for war greatly benefited news organizations financially.
If we assume the news media is following the Combined Model, the American media’s WMD reporting show us how thoroughly a news story can get stage-managed by those in power. In this case, the free press roles were overwhelmed by the propaganda role (gain consent for war) and commercial role (make a profit).
The WMD reporting debacle highlights the importance of the news media in the US and also its shortcomings.
7. Lack of Trust in the News Media
At present, the mainstream press does not seem to be effectively fulfilling the five roles—information provider, gate keeper, advocate for change, watchdog and community platform—of the Free Press model. Consequently, trust in the news media in countries like America is extremely low.
If trust in the media falls further, what will happen? Will the traditional news media become redundant?
8. The State Model
Let’s look at one more mass media model. In a country like China, which has a socialist and authoritarian government, the mass media follows a completely different model—I will call it the State Model—and in this model, the news media has two main functions that do not exist in the Free Press Model.
First, the news media serves as a channel for the government to directly communicate its philosophies, plans and policies to its citizens.
Second, the news media serves to promote unity, social stability, desired social values and social harmony
The other five roles—keep the public well-informed, act as a gatekeeper, promote social change, serve as a watchdog and provide a platform for citizens to express their opinions—are still there, but they are subservient to and cannot be separated from the above two main functions. For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, when the Chinese government was trying to pull the entire nation together, you wouldn’t find newspaper articles questioning government-mandated measures such as wearing masks and locking down entire cities of millions of people.
In this news media model, the watchdog role is limited. The media in China can report on corruption, but only up to a point—and definitely not if the central government thinks that the reporting might lead to social unrest.
The ‘shining a light’ role is also different from that in the Free Press model. Generally, the government in China finds out about problems via social media and through the various channels in which it collects direct feedback from its citizens. The government then decides how to address those issues, and then the media reports on what the government is doing or plans to do to solve the problem (and how citizens can help).
If you look at the news media in China and evaluate how well it functions according to the Free Press Model, you will see that it fails spectacularly. For example in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders (rsf.org/en/index), China ranked 175th out of 180 countries. However, you need to bear in mind that it is a completely different model. If you ranked the American news media on how well it promoted unity, social stability and social harmony, it would also rank very poorly indeed (It is also important to bear in mind that although Reporters without Borders claims to be independent it is largely funded by European governments and organizations like NED (the National Endowment for Democracy) and George Soro’s Open Society Foundation).
This State Model is not unique to China. For example, Singapore, which is a democracy, also has a tightly-controlled news media with a lot of emphasis placed on maintaining harmony between the country’s many different racial and religious groups. In addition, in the State Model, news publications are less uniform than one may think, with some publications leaning more towards political propaganda and others leaning more towards infotainment.
As the Chinese government has a lot of control over the media, does that mean the Chinese people are brainwashed? No. This is where a lot of observers get things wrong. The main point is that people in China understand that their media is following a different kind of model—and they are fully aware that some topics may be censored, that some information may be suppressed and that the information that is reported in the news is the information that the government wants reported. As a consequence, readers and viewers in China tend to be skeptical of the mass media. Chinese writer Ren Yi states:
“The truth is, people who live in a somewhat sophisticated authoritarian society, like China or the Soviet Union of the recent past, are more likely to have developed a cognitive condition better understood as cynicism – a proclivity for denial, rejection, doubt and non-belief, unless such information is checked and somehow verifiable. This actually makes them much more suspicious to one-way information, especially when it’s backed by the government.”
Ren Yi goes on to point out that to find out about what is going on, instead of relying only on official state media, Chinese citizens will access different sources of information, such as:
Internet chat rooms and other social media platforms
Western news sites that are not blocked by China’s ‘great firewall’
Western news sites and social media platforms that are blocked in China (but that are still accessible using VPNs—Virtual Private Networks—which are used by many people in Mainland China)
However, if Chinese netizens visit a site like CNN or the BBC, they also tend to carry that skepticism and suspicion with them, and they will not automatically assume that whatever CNN and the BBC is reporting is the complete, unbiased truth. To them, the official mainland China news organizations have their preferred narratives, and news organizations like CNN or the BBC also have their own preferred narratives.
You might be wondering about the differences between the State Model and the Propaganda Model. In the State Model:
Major corporations, wealthy media moguls, advertisers, sponsors and religious sects don’t have much, if any, influence.
The fact that the government controls the media is explicit and well known. There is no pretense of having a completely free and independent press.
There is much more emphasis on social harmony (with the avoidance of anything that might sow discord).
Deliberate misinformation appears to be very uncommon. This is likely because if fake news is discovered, as it almost certainly will at some point, such a discovery will damage the government’s credibility. In the State Model, information may be withheld or presented in an overly positive light, but it is not normally completely fabricated.
Consequently, though people in China recognize that the official media is biased, they still tend have trust in it. In the previously mentioned Edelman Trust Barometer 2022, the figure for trust in government reported by Chinese respondents—80%—was the highest among all the countries surveyed (see the following charts).
There is a joke amongst Chinese netizens that goes along the lines of:
Chinese person: I’ve come to the US to learn how to do propaganda. American person: But we don’t have propaganda in America. Chinese person: Exactly! That’s what I want to learn!
The State Model of the news media would likely be incompatible with a liberal democracy as it would be at odds with the principle of free speech and it would severely weaken one of the checks and balances that are important in western democracies. However, it may suit societies that place more emphasis on social harmony and unity.
8. Conclusion
Which model is better? Personally I prefer the Free Press model as it allows for a wide variety of different views to reach the general public. However, how well do news organizations in countries like the US, Britain and Australia, actually follow the Free Press Model? Does the Free Press Model really exist or is it just an unobtainable ideal?
Another important question is whether some models work better in some societies. Is it possible that the Free Press Model is preferable in some societies while the State Model may be preferable in other societies? Therefore, rather than asking which model is the best, we may need to ask which model works best for that society.
Even if we go for the Free Press Model as an ideal system, we need to understand that media organizations do not always perform their roles effectively and responsibly. They often fall far short of the ideal. Thus, as news consumers, we have to be more skeptical of the information being presented to us by the mass media. We need to become wiser consumers of the news, we need to seek information from as wide a range of sources as possible and we need to push news organizations to better live up to the ideals of a free press.
If we accept that the Combined Model to be the norm—where everything in the news is on a continuum somewhere between objective truth and absolute dishonesty—how do we know what news to believe? How can we expect people to trust the media? And how do we give young people the skills necessary to identify bias and misinformation in the news media? These are three important questions for us to consider.
Photos
I took the black-and-white photos during protests in Hong Kong. You can see more photos and read about the protests in my articles:
Feel free to leave a comment below. Did I leave any points out? Do you have any examples of obvious bias? Which model best represents the press in your country?
This video features the two piano songs in the Free Short Instrumental Themes series. They are both by featured guest artist Jessica Yip: Untitled (Track 26), which 62 seconds long and The Mercury Tale Track 15), which is 53-seconds long. These piano instrumental are suitable for opening sequences and end credits.
Intro 26. Untitled by Jessica Yip (62 seconds)
Intro 15. The Mercury Tale by Jessica Yip (53 seconds)
As I will be explaining the ending of Weathering with You (天気の子, Tenki no ko)—the 2019 anime directed by Makoto Shinkai—there are SPOILERS EVERYWHERE.
The movie is a romantic fantasy about a runaway teenage boy, Hodaka , who meets a girl who has the power to control the weather. The girl, Hina, has a chosen-one role. She is meant to save Tokyo from a non-stop deluge of rain by using her powers and sacrificing herself, thereby restoring balance to the world. Hina chooses to accept this destiny, but after she disappears from our world, Hodaka finds her and brings her back, dooming Tokyo in the process. At the end of the movie, Hodaka and Hina meet up again after three years, but much of Tokyo is now beneath the sea and there is no end in sight to the freakish non-stop rain.
In many of the reviews I have read, the writers stated that they found the decisions of the characters to be selfish and even immoral.
I disagree, and this article explains why
Though Weathering With You also has themes related to love and the environment, in this article, I focus on ‘choice’. Towards the end of the movie, the three main characters Hodaka Morishima, Hina Amano and Keisuke Suga all face tough choices that end up not only altering their lives but also changing the world. In my opinion, the movie is mainly about the choices we make and how those choices affect us (and the people around us).
How does the Weather Maiden magic work in Weathering With You?
The movie Weathering With You employs a soft-magic system (i.e., one with vague, non-defined rules). It is not clear how Hina’s sunshine-making powers work. However, it seems that there are greater forces at work—a god, gods or beings with technology so advanced that to humans it appears to be magic.
Let’s call them the External Forces.
There are quite a few clues about the nature of the magic system in Weathering With You.
Weather maidens can change the weather in a limited area for a short period of time. Hina uses her power via prayer.
Weather maidens appear when there are extreme imbalances in the weather, and their purpose is to restore balance by sacrificing themselves. Due to the ‘fuzzy’ legends about weather maidens that are mentioned in the film, we can assume that weather-maiden interventions happen from time to time but are rare.
Weather maidens acquire their weather-changing ability by visiting another realm (let’s call it the Sky Realm). Hina first enters this realm by stepping through a red torii gate on the rooftop shrine of an abandoned building. The torii acts as a kind of portal, and getting to the other realm seems to require faith and determination.
It is not clear if weather maidens are GIFTED their abilities or if they have innate abilities that are ACTIVATED.
The External Forces can manipulate the actions of people. Hina was drawn to the rooftop shrine (i.e., the portal) when clouds parted and a ray of sunlight illuminated the rooftop of a single derelict building—the building with the rooftop shrine—in the middle of Tokyo. Even though her mother was dying, Hina appeared to be compelled to leave her mother’s bedside and track down the destination of the ray of light.
This ray-of-light scene also shows that the External Forces have at least limited power to control the weather. It would have taken a while for Hina to walk to that building, yet the single ray of sunlight remained perfectly in place.
Although the External Forces have some control over the weather, they are either unable or unwilling to fix extreme imbalances in the weather. A weather maiden is required for that.
The psychic interviewed by Hodaka and Natsumi divides weather maidens into two categories: those that can bring sunshine and those that can bring rain. Hina has the power to control sunshine, but she is also shown to be able to summon lightning. Therefore, it is possible that she can control other types of weather phenomena. Therefore, the dichotomy (sunshine girls vs rain girls) mentioned by the psychic may be a false one.
Weather maidens are ill-fated. Through using their weather-changing ability, they will eventually be consumed by their power and will disappear into the Sky Realm, with the sacrifice of their physical body serving to ultimately restore balance to the weather.
The weather maiden’s sacrifice is not an appease-the-gods kind of blood sacrifice. Hina’s sacrifice is more of a transformation, and her spirit, essence or energy, which enters and then resides in the Sky Realm, magically restores balance.
As a weather maiden uses her power, her body slowly becomes translucent. The weather maiden, even after seeing the effect the magic use is having on her body, would need to still be willing to continue to use her powers in order for her to complete the transformation. . This implies that the self-sacrifice must be done willingly.
It seems that weather maidens gradually come to an instinctual understanding of what is going to happen to them (and Hina also receives direct confirmation of her fate from Suga’s niece, Natsumi). This implies that the self-sacrifice must be done knowingly.
When weather maidens finally disappear into the Sky Realm, this is shown to many people in their dreams, perhaps as a way of acknowledging the sacrifice made.
When Hina follows Hodaka back to Earth, thus reneging on her ‘chosen one’ self-sacrifice, there is non-stop rain for three years with no end in sight but no further appearances of any ‘Sunshine Girls’. This implies that a weather maiden is a one-of-a-kind, one-at-a-time role.
When did Hina get her powers?
Interestingly, Hina was given her gift (or had it activated) almost a full year before the weird non-stop rain really got out of hand. At various points in the anime, news broadcasts mention the exceptionally rainy weather of the summer when Hina and Hodaka meet, but the broadcasts don’t say anything about abnormal rainfall during the previous summer—when Hina gained her powers—or the fall, winter or spring leading up to the super-rainy summer. This implies that the External Forces somehow knew that a weather maiden would be needed in the near future and that it was time to find and prepare one.
Destiny vs. free will
The role of the weather maiden involves destiny (in that a chosen one is selected to be sacrificed) AND free will (in that the chosen one needs to knowingly and willingly accept that role).
What is causing the extreme weather?
The cause of the extreme weather is never made clear. At times during the movie, the rain is completely unnatural, first appearing as a mass of water suspended in the air before suddenly crashing down to earth. Thus, there seems to be a supernatural cause (or co-cause).
One of the minor characters references global warming and climate change when she states how it is unfortunate that kids nowadays can no longer enjoy a comfortable spring and summer in Tokyo. Therefore, global warming may be a contributing factor but is definitely not the only cause.
Is it possible that Hodaka is responsible for the weird weather? Even the scenes set on his home island feature rain, with the establishing shot of his hometown school near the end of the movie showing a flooded campus. Hodaka could be an ‘ameotoko’, a man cursed to have rain follow him around. However, during the three-years-of non-stop rain in Tokyo, he is back in his hometown. If he were an ameotoko, wouldn’t the epicenter of the rainstorm follow him back to his hometown? Thus, to me, the possibility that Hodaka is a ‘Rain Boy’ remains just that—a possibility.
The Tokyo weather is at its worst when Hodaka and Hina are most distressed—after Hodaka gets kicked out by Suga and after Hina and her brother face getting picked up by the Japanese equivalent of Child Protective Services. There are four possibilities here:
It is pure coincidence. Snow with lightning in August, though? That seems to be too much of a coincidence.
The ‘emotions’ of the natural world are mirroring the emotions of the protagonists. This is an ‘it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-night’ kind of literary device. This device is often used for dramatic effect in stories, but the technique doesn’t suit a story in which one of the characters can actually control the weather.
The severity of the bad weather is directly caused by Hodaka and/or Hina’s emotional state. This is possible, but we don’t really see this cause-effect relationship in other scenes where the characters are distressed.
The severity of the weather is influenced by the External Forces, who are seeking to raise the stakes and push Hina towards allowing herself to be sacrificed.
I would argue that the fourth possibility is the most likely explanation. This is because we have already seen the External Forces manipulate the weather in order to draw Hina to the portal/torii. This possibility raises an important question (one that I will come back to later in this article): to what extent are the External Forces manipulating events and people?
Hodaka’s Choices
About Hodaka: Hodaka Morishima is a 16-year-old runway from a small island town. He never reveals exactly why he ran away other than he wants nothing more to do with his hometown or his family. When we first see him, he has three bandages on his face. At first, I thought that he may have been the victim of bullying, but the dislike and disregard he feels for his family suggest that the bruises may have been the result of child abuse. For the first part of the movie, Hodaka is mainly concerned with survival as he is forced to live in the streets. However, after he establishes a business and close friendship with Hina and her brother Nagi, the thing he wants most is to just maintain that. He prays to the gods that the three of them be allowed to keep what they have—nothing more, nothing less.
As a decision-maker, Hodaka is sometimes full of doubt and sometimes impulsive.
He can be very indecisive when it comes to little things. When he is trying to decide what to buy for Hina for her birthday, he asks for advice from Yahoo Help, Suga’s niece Natsumi and Nagi. Even after spending a few hours at a department store jewelry counter picking out a ring (following Nagi’s advice), he is still unsure if he made the right choice.
However, he makes big, life-altering decisions without much thought about the possible consequences. It is only after he arrives in Tokyo as a runaway, for example, that he asks (via Yahoo Help) where a 16-year-old runaway might be able to find work.
Towards the climax of the movie, when Hodaka wakes up after Hina’s disappearance and realizes what has happened, he makes a world-altering decision to try to save her without considering:
Whether it is even possible to change anything
Whether it would better to respect Hina’s decision to allow herself to be sacrificed
Whether it would be better for the world if Hina be allowed to sacrifice herself to prevent a natural disaster
When he rushes off to save Hina, he is just acting on instinct and is not considering the consequences. It is only through his sheer determination (and disregard for his own safety) that he gains access to the Sky Realm and brings Hina back to Earth.
He manages to save Hina, but heavy rain returns to Tokyo and never stops, leaving much of the city underwater after three years. During that time, millions of people would have lost their homes. It is not mentioned in the movie, but there would have been trillions of dollars of damages and there likely would have been deaths due to flash floods and landslides.
Wouldn’t it have been better to sacrifice one girl to save a city of over 9 million people from disaster? Wasn’t his decision selfish? Is a teenage crush really that important?
However, if he had accepted Hina’s sacrifice, would he have been able to live with himself? When Nagi urges Hodaka to save Hina, he accuses Hodaka of being responsible for her disappearance. Nagi isn’t entirely wrong.
Hodaka was responsible for hastening Hina’s sacrifice/disappearance by starting the 100% Sunshine Girl business that made her frequently use her weather-changing ability.
When Natsumi brought Hodaka to the first interview with the psychic (before Hodaka and Hina had established their friendship), the psychic told them that weather maidens risked being consumed by their powers if they used their abilities too much. It is not clear whether Hodaka forgot about that warning or whether he played down the risk. In any case, he mostly ignored the warning. Although he was the one who eventually stopped the sunshine-bringing service, it was too late.
The night she disappeared, Hina asked Hodaka if he wanted the rain to stop. Not fully understanding what Hina was asking, he replied that he did, an answer that only served to push Hina a little further toward accepting her sacrifice.
In a best case scenario, if Hodaka had decided to let Hina go, he would have ended up like Suga (i.e., the version of Suga that was presented for much of the movie)— broken-down and barely functioning. There are a couple of times in the movie when Natsumi compares Hodaka to a younger Suga and says how similar they are. The broken-down version of Suga represents a potential future version of Hodaka
In a worst case scenario, Hodaka literally wouldn’t have been able to live with himself. Tokyo would have survived unscathed, but he wouldn’t have.
In the drowned Tokyo at the end of the movie, Hodaka meets Suga, who, seemingly sensing Hodaka’s discomfort, tells him not to worry because the world has always been crazy. Similarly an elderly woman tells him that much of what is underwater now was underwater two centuries earlier.
However, at the end of the movie, Hodaka finally understands that he instinctively made the right choice—not because the consequences weren’t severe— but because it was his choice to save Hina and in doing so, he kept to his wish for the three of them—himself, Hina and her brother—to keep what they had, nothing-more, nothing less. That was the only choice that would have allowed him to live with himself afterwards.
Suga’s Choices
About Keisuke Suga: Suga has a certain amount of rough charm that disguises the fact that his life is a mess. After the death of his wife, he not only lost custody of his daughter, but he has to beg just to be able to visit her on rare occasions. It appears that he doesn’t even have visitation rights. It is never revealed what happened to him, but the situation implies that he became such a wreck after his wife died in an automobile accident that he could not be trusted to take care of his daughter. He drinks heavily, his home-office is a mess and he barely works. The thing he wants most is to regain custody of his daughter. He is willing to make some changes to his life—such as giving up smoking (as keeping the habit would be harmful to his asthmatic daughter)—to accomplish this, but he is clearly struggling.
Suga helps Hodaka quite a lot, but when the police come to his home and tell him that they are trying to find Hodaka and that they may consider him a suspect in his kidnapping, he decides to cut ties with the teenager. He gives Hodaka a wad of cash and tells him to leave. This is incredibly bad timing, as at that moment everything is falling apart for Hodaka, Hina and Nagi. The police are closing in on Hodaka while Hina and Nagi are about to be taken in by the Japanese equivalent of Child Protective Services. Suga—the one person who might be able to help them—turns his back on them.
Suga’s decision is reasonable. The thing he wants most in life is custody of his daughter. Harboring a sixteen-year-old runaway (who is also wanted on a firearms offence) would bury that dream.
He does what he thinks is best—cutting himself off from Hodaka—and then immediately tries to drown his regret in alcohol and he starts smoking again.
The next morning, he is chastised by Natsumi, and when the police inform him of Hodaka’s escape and Hina’s disappearance (and he sees that sunshine has finally returned to Tokyo), he realizes the gravity of the situation and can’t hold back his tears.
He changes his mind and decides to help Hodaka, intercepting him at the building with the rooftop shrine. His main concern here seems to be to get Hodaka return to his parents (not for him to rescue Hina).
However, after seeing Hodaka’s single-minded determination and then seeing the teenager getting manhandled by the police, Suga tackles the officers, allowing Hodaka to make his way to the rooftop. Suga will face a ton of trouble for doing that. This is a strange about-face as it seems that Suga himself is throwing away his chances of gaining custody of his daughter.
So was it the wrong decision?
By standing by Hodaka, Suga is deciding that rather than focusing solely on trying to win custody of his daughter, he should focus instead on trying to be the kind of man deserving of winning back custody.
At the film’s close, three years later, he is much more ‘together’. His business is doing well and he appears to have more access to his daughter (if not outright custody).
Had Suga stuck with the original plan—abandoning the three kids to their respective fates—would he have been able to live with that decision? Would he have gotten his life back together?
He eventually made the only choice that would have allowed him to live with himself and that would help some of the people he cared about, though it took him some time to get there.
Hina’s Choices
About Hina Amano: When Hodaka meets Hina, she is a 15-year-old pretending to be 18. After the death of her mother a year earlier, and with her father not in the picture at all, Hina’s main goal is to take care of her younger brother—to keep what little is remaining of their family together. She will do whatever it takes. She is fired from McDonald’s (possibly for lying about her age) and needs money to raise her brother, so when a sleazy man tries to recruit her to become a nightclub worker, she doesn’t resist very strongly. Without Hodaka’s intervention, who knows what would have happened?
Hina initially chooses to accept her fate as a weather maiden—to disappear from the world in return for the weather to return to normal.
After every prayer for sunshine, part of her body becomes translucent (something not fully revealed until quite late in the movie), yet she persists with her 100%-Sunshine-Girl job as she can see the happiness she brings to others.
She keeps her deteriorating physical condition a secret from Hodaka and Nagi—likely to spare them from worry and to also ensure they wouldn’t interfere. She would have known they would have strongly opposed her and would have stopped their 100% Sunshine Girl service immediately if they had known about her condition. She also lies to Hodaka about her age—saying she is nearly eighteen—two years older than he is—when really she is only fifteen. This likely had the effect of making Hodaka less protective of her.
She seems to know instinctively that she will eventually disappear and she later gets confirmation of this from Natsumi. In her last conversation with Hodaka before she disappears, it is clear that she is resigned to fulfilling her destiny. She even asks Hodaka to take care of Nagi once she is gone. However, it is clear from her sadness that her self-sacrifice is something she is willing to do but is not something that she really wants to do.
Her initial choice was not wrong. After all, she would have saved Tokyo. However, it would have come not only at the expense of her own life, but also would have deprived Nagi of her care and also of any good that would come from her own future life (and those of her potential descendants).
Sure, If the weather had returned to normal after months of non-stop rain, everyone in Tokyo would have been ecstatic…for a day or two.
Sure, she could have prevented the flooding of Tokyo’s flooding problem, but Tokyo wouldn’t suddenly turn into a paradise of never-ending happiness.
At the end of the movie, the city is largely underwater, but life somehow still goes on for its residents.
And it still goes on for Hina, who kept to what was her main goal all along—to raise her brother and keep whatever little was left of their family together.
Coincidence or Intervention?
Was it really Hina’s own choice to sacrifice herself or had she been manipulated by the External Forces into believing her sacrifice would solve everything?
If I were a god and looking to recruit a weather maiden to help return balance to the world, she would be an ideal candidate for the job—naïve, relatively easy to influence, selfless, motivated to make others happy, willing to make sacrifices, secretive, soon to be without a parent or guardian to turn to for advice and emotionally fragile due to the impending death of her only parent. With the right incentives and a little push here and there, this is the kind of person who would be willing to make the sacrifice that I required.
In this movie, it is unclear what is coincidence and what is guided by the External Forces. However, a lot of events seem to lead directly to Hina choice to sacrifice herself:
Hina seeing the shaft of light while she was at her mother’s deathbed–a light which seemed to draw her towards it.
Her transformation into a weather maiden a year before a weather maiden was actually required.
Hina finding someone—Hodaka—that knows about weather maidens and who might encourage her to use her powers and experience the happiness she could bring to others.
Hina coming to understand and accept the tragic fate of weather maidens.
Hina suddenly facing the prospect of losing Hodaka (who was thrown out of Suga’s home and was being hunted by police) AND losing her brother (about to be taken in by Child Protective Services) AND losing her freedom AND losing her home.
The sudden intensifying of the storm, making the self-sacrifice appear all the more urgent.
It is almost as if the External Forces are saying “Here are your powers! Doesn’t it feel great to help others! You have the power to help everyone! Doesn’t that make you happy? Doesn’t that bring you satisfaction? Just let go. There isn’t anything left here for you anyway! Your mother has passed away. Your brother will be taken away! Hodaka will be taken way! Your home is gone! Look how bad things are getting now! People are suffering! You have the power to help everyone! You can save them! Use your power! Save them!”
Spoilers for Donny Darko
The above situation is similar to what happens in the film Donnie Darko. In that movie, a teen is given powers that he must use to restore balance to the universe. However, it will require his sacrifice. Throughout the movie, external forces work to (1) encourage him to learn how to use those powers, (2) make him understand the need to make that sacrifice and (3) weaken his emotional ties to the world by doing things like having the girl he loves get killed.
End of spoilers for Donny Darko
In Weathering With You, there are lots of incredible coincidences:
For example, Hodaka just happens to be saved from A SUDDEN EXTREME WEATHER event by Suga, who publishes OCCULT articles (despite having no belief in the supernatural) and who sends Hodaka and Natsumi (for his first job) to a psychic who informs the pair about WEATHER MAIDENS just before Hodaka finds out that Hina (the girl who gave him a Big Mac earlier and whom he recognizes when he SEES HER AGAIN, this time being dragged towards a nightclub by the SAME GUY who had pushed him out of a doorway, an act that led Hodaka to finding the revolver, which he then uses when rescuing Hina) is a WEATHER MAIDEN.
You can interpret the events of the movie as a string of amazing coincidences. However, you can also view the events as at least partially the machinations of External Forces influencing things in order to come up with the required voluntary sacrifice of a weather maiden.
In this second interpretation, Hina’s initial choice to sacrifice herself is largely the result of manipulation. Her decision to return to Earth would reflect her true desire to live her own life, take care of her brother and be with people who care for her (her original goals)—a decision which the External Forces appear to respect by allowing her to return.
Thus, she makes the choice she feels is best for herself and the people around her and which is a choice that she can live with.
In this interpretation, Hodaka isn’t disrespecting Hina’s wishes; he is helping her rediscover her own true will.
The Main Theme
To sum up, when it comes to the main characters’ final choices in Weathering With You, it is not a question of selfish desires versus the greater good. It is more about the individual characters making decisions:
that help those around them, those they care about
that they can live with in good conscience
that reflect their true goals.
I would argue that this is the best that we can expect of anyone and of ourselves.
In Weathering With You:
Suga chooses to become a man worthy of regaining custody over his daughter
Hodaka chooses to make up for his mistakes and preserve the life of the one he loves
Hina decides to live her life and continue to take care of her brother and keep what remains of their family together.
Thus, I would say one of the the main theme of Weathering with You is:
If we can care about the people around us and act according to our conscience, the world will be a better place and we will be better people. We might not fix this crazy world, but it will become a better place little by little.
And that is good enough.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about thoughts about their decisions? What are your thoughts on the film in general? Leave a comment below.
Longzijun 