Password Journal
Who Created the Message Janese Swanson was the inventor and creator of the company Girl Tech in 1995. Her goal for the company was to integrate technology into the world of girls and encourage girl involvement in the developing age of technology. Her inventions in Girl Tech were specifically geared toward girls, as I’m sure you could’ve guessed by the name.
What creative techniques are used to attract my attention? As a young girl in the 2000s, there are many aspects of the commercial that attracted my attention. First, the actress looked like she was similar in age to me. This made her feel relatable and made the item seem like something I needed to have. It also starts out with a girl with her two best friends and they all are smiling and happy - how does that not attract your attention? I wanted to be smiling and happy with my friends, too. She also had a pesky brother that she was trying to avoid - I had that, too! Overall, it was incredibly relatable to my life, which made the whole commercial catch my attention.
Thinking about the time frame, technology was beginning its prime of integration into our everyday lives. It was a wild thought to have technology included in some of our toys. It made the item feel hi-tech for the time frame. The early 2000s were also a time of lots of color and bright colors especially. The commercial is chock-full of bright colors and cutesy designs.
How might different people interpret this message differently than me? I remember clearly that my mom was not thrilled about the idea of me keeping secrets from her in a place only I could access. So parents might interpret this commercial differently because they don’t want their children to hide things from them. The commercial is also highly geared toward girls. Boys might be turned off by the item because it is called the brother pesky and one of the things she writes in her notebook is that a boy is cute. I could also imagine some people thinking a technologically advanced notebook would be frivolous when I regular notebook could do the same job, or that technology doesn’t need to be involved in all the toys we had growing up.
What viewpoints of world views are included or left out of this message? There are only white girls featured in the commercial. There are many people left out of the conversation in this media, including parents, boys, and other ethnicities and backgrounds.
Why is this message being sent? The purpose of this message is to convince kids to want to buy their product. It focuses on all the positives of having a password-locked journal.