Media/Visual Literacy Project: Orbit Gum
Media/Visual literacy Project: Orbit Gum
Orbit gum was launched in 2001 by the Wrigley Gum Company. Orbit’s advertisements are aimed at a variety of different demographics. It relies on funny commercials and original ads, which sets it apart from other gums. Wrigley understands that in today’s world of YouTube and TiVo, advertisements have to stand out and grab the audience’s attention. Not only are the Orbit ads creative and fun, but they’re highly popular and this has led to Orbit’s success. The Orbit logo is “Dirty mouth, clean it up with (flavor type of orbit gum), for a good clean feeling, no matter what.” The commercials feature Vanessa, a perky spokesperson, who is always at “the scene of the grime.” Vanessa is on an eternal quest to prove that Orbit Gum leaves the mouth feeling clean…no matter what. The commercials usually feature a popular celebrity or ordinary individual, who is the victim of a “grime” crime. Orbit advertisements usually end with their signature white smile, which demonstrates how effective their gum cleans and refreshes.
According to Wrigley’s website, the name “Orbit” comes from the sorbitol that sweetens it. The gum contains about 1.32 grams per stick of sorbital. One of the main definitions for the word Orbit is: To revolve around (a center of attraction). If this is one of the definitions that Wrigley’s had in mind, when naming their product, then it would seem fitting that they had intended for this gum to be the center of attention and stand out from other gums. When Orbit gum was launched in 2001 its intended buyer was geared towards younger consumers. Wrigley was developed in 1892, so it’s a world renowned gum company, which has consumers of all ages buying its product. It seems that Orbit was created to engage the younger population because of its eco-friendly and health conscious persona. Since its launch seven years ago, Orbit has become one of the top five chewing gum brands in the United States.
The first ad features a female figure that is center page, with her left arm straight down and her right arm turned up, which is holding a green Orbit’s box. She has a Victorian lampshade for a head, a huge gold necklace, and a light bulb for a face. The ad also incorporates the colors of green and orange. She’s dressed in seventies casual, wearing an orange terrycloth jumper and its texture is a contrast to the retro wallpaper in the background. The colors green and orange are complementary to each other; they’re bold colors and grab the viewer’s attention. Orange is a very pleasing to the eye, it invokes happiness, stimulation, and it’s also a very aggressive color. Green symbolizes growth, nature, well being, and freshness. She’s wearing two gold necklaces and gold represents wealth and prosperity. The smallest necklace is black and gold swirled into an oval. The second necklace is huge, circular, and it gives her otherwise androgynous body, a slight form. The circular necklace could also be symbolic of the Orbit definition. The advertisement implies that the woman is a lamp, possibly standing in a hotel room. So, the woman finds Orbit and the light bulb in her head goes off and she realizes she needs this gum (for whatever reason).
The second ad features a male figure that is center page, with his left arm straight down and his right arm turned up, which is holding a blue Orbit’s box. He’s wearing a seventies looking lampshade, a two-toned leisure suit, and a light bulb for a face. The ad also incorporates two different shades of brown. The color brown tends to blend into the background; it represents convention, stability, wholesomeness, and orderliness. He’s wearing a taupe vest and a brown dress shirt. Like the female, his form is almost androgynous. He seems to be standing in front of shag carpet. Just like the female, the ad seems to imply that the light bulb in his head goes off and he realizes he needs Orbit Gum to clean up the “grime.” It is also possible to look at these two ads in a negative sense because both of these figures have had their heads replaced with lampshades and light bulbs. Are these people thoughtless because they no longer have brains? What is this image attempting to say about the Orbit consumer?
We definitely think these ads are aimed towards young adults. It seems to us that they’re in a hotel/bedroom and something “grimy” just happened and Orbit’s Gum is there to clean it up. The ads are identical in form, except for accessories, but they both have the same hotel/bedroom look about them. The Orbit box in the female ad is green and white. The Orbit box in the male ad is blue and white. There are several circular images on these boxes, the O of Orbit and the white circle around the words. The term white is large and centered across the boxes, which could be an image for their signature white smile or symbolic of the products possible definition. Each ad seems to represent the seventies pop culture, with its clothes, jewelry, and background. Since the ads are themed for the seventies, they project the values, lifestyles, and points of view from that time period. When we think about the seventies, we think about shiny happy people, shag carpet, leisure suits, certain colors (orange/brown), and terrycloth jumpers. These ads are very ambiguous and can be interpreted several different ways. Orbit could be going for a more retro appeal, since being retro is popular these days. This is one of Orbit’s qualities; its campaign is very trendy, intriguing, and it keeps the audience wondering why they chose lampshades for heads.
These ads could be used as a study of semantics. Students could examine the symbols or absence of symbols throughout each advertisement. They could also examine hiding meaning of color usage and how colors are used to invoke emotion. These ads are also departures from the normal Orbit campaign, so teachers could spend time discussing Orbit’s intentions for creating such weird ads. Since, the figures are pretty much androgynous; one could discuss gender stereotypes.
Education 2.0
In the beginning of the presentation, Dr. Tyson said, “Why do we want to stick it on the bulletin board, when we can show it to the world.” This statement really hit home for me. I think its great students are creating meaningful projects and Dr. Tyson is giving them the chance to show their work to the world. Dr. Tyson could have censored their projects, but he had faith in their abilities and they excelled in research and presentation.
I think this type of collaborative work builds an amazing community, with teacher/student relationships and student/student relationships. Dr. Tyson said these projects allow students to be authentically assessed, the student works far beyond an A. I agree, by researching and creating, these students are making it easy to be authentically assessed and I think they deserve to be published. Their hard work is evident and it makes me excited to see how intelligent and compassionate these students are about global issues.
My favorite video was The dark side of chocolate. I had no idea, that children in Africa were being used to harvest coco crops for chocolate companies. Thanks to those students, I will be buying free trade chocolate from now on. I mean, the students are teaching us and that makes me super excited. I also thought this video was exceptional (they all were), but the penny changing into the child’s face was super cool.
“America” By Allen Ginsberg is my most favorite poem. You can locate this poem in the following link:
Building a Blog Community
Richardson makes a valid point, when he states, “Today’s students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy.” Today’s students are techno-savvy; they create MySpace accounts, facebook pages, blogs, etc. I find it interesting that the fastest growing age group for internet usage is 2- to 5- year olds. Students in primary school are learning skills that my generation didn’t have the pleasure of acquiring. I mean when I was in elementary school, I played Frogger on the internet and that was all! I wouldn’t say that I’m not competent in my computing skills, but just to acknowledge the vast gap between now and then. I think as teachers it’s our responsibility to develop curriculum that caters to today’s student.
I really like the concept of students creating blogs for class related discussions. I think blogging is a great way to build class community. Students have a chance to share their opinions and read the opinions of their classmates. Blogging in this context gives students the opportunity to help each other grow in their comprehension of literature or whatever their learning.
I think the Class Portal is a neat concept. I like how it has the potential to build a teacher/parent relationship. Parents can view their child’s improvement, check assignments, etc. This type of blog gives teachers the ability to email parents when they post updates. I’m a big fan of multitasking.
