How Real is The Amazing Race?

Reality shows have become popular in the last decade with both basic television channels and cable networks adding shows to the growing list of reality programs.  Reality shows are appealing because they feature regular people, not actors, often competing to win prizes or money.  Other shows focus more on lifestyle and offer makeovers or searches for love.  I am no stranger to reality programs and have followed The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser, Jersey Shore, What Not to Wear, Wipeout, and more.  My favorite show though is CBS' The Amazing Race.  Now in its 20th season, the Race features a cast of around 12 teams racing around the world for a chance to win 1 million dollars.  Each episode features challenges and a team is eliminated almost every week another team is eliminated until they reach the final 3 that compete for the title.

 In the past couple seasons, I have become more aware of product placement in the show.  One popular brand featured is Travelocity.  An online article (read here) talks about how The Amazing Race has the top integration product recall, meaning the people remember the brands they see advertised on the show. This season Ford is a major sponsor.  In many episodes when the teams drive a car to the destinations, the car is a new Ford model.  On tonight's episode, not only did the teams drive a 2012 Ford Focus, but they also used the Focus' active park system to parallel park at an auto museum where they searched for their next clue in a 1916 Ford Model T.  Talk about a lot of advertising.  Often in reality shows, the characters are provoked to say things that will match with the image created for each contestant.  Although the shows are not completely scripted, they also are not natural.  I have always loved The Amazing Race because it seems more real than most shows.  However, on this week's episode I was a little disappointed with all the Ford placement.  When the teams read their clue, each team emphasized that they would be using the active park feature on the Focus.  After parking, several teams exclaimed "Go Ford" or "I gotta get me a Ford Focus".  I am sure the active park feature is neat, but I also think the cameramen prompted more excited reactions from the contestants.  Other viewers are noticing the same things as me.  The website brandspotters.com even has a page dedicated to the show.(http://www.brandspotters.com/movie.aspx?id=618)

Now I am left wondering what other parts of the race aren't as real as I thought.  I like to think that most of what I see on the screen is real, but after tonight's episode I think I will examine each week more carefully for real vs. not real.  What are your favorite reality shows?  How real do you think they are?

Sources:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172872/race-big-bang-top-product-integration-recalls.html
http://www.brandspotters.com/movie.aspx?id=618

To Buy or Not To Buy

According to my textbook for Media Literacy class, close to 4 billion songs were downloaded illegally in a month and this was in 1999! (Potter 2011)  If you search the internet and newsstands alike you are likely to find stories about the great debate on music piracy.  The record labels and artists are right to want royalties for their songs--after all they are the people who put their lives into making the music we love to listen to--however, there are some merits to getting your music fix via the internet.  When listening to music on my computer I either use iTunes, Pandora, YouTube, or Spotify.  All these sites are legal (iTunes because you purchase the songs and the other sites all have advertising that they use to pay the artists for the rights to play the songs), but I often supplement my iTunes purchases with illegally downloaded songs through sites such as listentoyoutube.com.  

I once told my mom that I buy songs and albums for artists that I already know and love, while I download songs from artists I'm not as familiar with or songs I don't really like but want to have for whatever purposes.  Prior to the shutdown of Limewire in October 2010 (for more information click here) I was an avid user of the site.  You could easily search by artist, song, or album and click to download with the files easily added to your iTunes library.  By downloading songs on Limewire, I was introduced to new artists and even a completely new genre--country.  Today I am a huge country fan and will spend close to $200 this summer on tickets to see Lady Antebellum at a music festival and attend a 4-day country festival featuring Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and more. In the past year I bought 5 country albums in hard copies and purchased countless singles on iTunes.  If I hadn't explored the genre through my downloads from Limewire, I may have never discovered some of my current favorite bands that I now support with albums and concert ticket sales.  

I'm not saying that illegal downloading is a good thing, I just think that some good can come out of it especially for up-and-coming artists.  I've heard newer bands thank people for listening and downloading via whatever medium because that generates buzz and bands need buzz to break out.  So is downloading good or bad?  In 2007, a columnist at The Seattle Times said that Limewire itself was legal, but people must use it correctly (Marshall 2007).  I think this is a question that cannot be answered right now--there are many negatives to downloading, but I believe that bands and labels can benefit from it as well--and the great debate of to buy or not to buy will continue on.




Sources: 
Potter, James. Media Literacy. 5th. SAGE Publications, 2011. Print. 
Google images, 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/27/limewire-shut-down, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2003533034_ptmrsh20.html