Ads, Ads, Ads.

In my communication class, my professor spoke about how much the average person remembers based on listening to a lecture. The statistics are amazing: sixty-five percent of what is heard is not retained during the first day of hearing a lecture or speech. After twenty-four hours, a person loses another fifteen percent of what he or she heard.

Although the lecture on YouTube was a fairly short one, I feel as though it was very engaging. I watched it last night; after twenty-four hours, I remember most of it (surprisingly enough!). As stated in the chapter we read in our book, chapter fifteen, eye contact is an important part of connecting with the audience during an oral presentation. Even though I was not in the speaker’s direct audience, I found myself engrossed by her continual eye contact and also her conversational tone.

Along with these, the speaker was casually dressed and used her hands as though she were in a personal conversation with someone. I felt that this was fitting, as it seemed her audience was college-age (a more informal people group as a whole). Occasionally, she would make an amusing comment or joke. This also added to the appeal of a topic that would otherwise be blasé and mostly uninteresting in a different setting.

The visuals of this lecture were what really sold the package for me. Not only were they appalling--some even slightly offensive to some people--they were real evidence of the information the speaker was verbalizing. The visuals went well with her speech. They did not distracting from but rather adding to what she was saying. Perhaps it is because I am a visual learner, these are really what sticks in my mind when I recall her lecture.

Personally, I found this presentation to be extremely effective. However, I fit into a category that would find a majority of it very interesting: I am a woman. The advertising industry as a whole probably targets women more than men. As was stated in the lecture, women learn from a young age that they are supposed to look and act a certain way. Advertisements are supposed to tell women who they are and what they should buy to look that way. I am no exception; I am preyed on every day.

Overall, I found the statistics to be home run, if you will. Meaning that for all demographics, the statistics presented about how much we are bombarded with advertisement was astonishing yet believably true. I felt that without these statistics, the presentation would have failed to inform many people on just how much advertisement is part of our society.

Now, even more well-informed on the advertising industry, I find myself on Facebook… noticing all the ads on the side of my screen.