Assignment 2-1 Icon

Icons seem to change from generation to generation and they are constantly evolving.  They are not always something that is physical but, with the new generation of technology driven individuals, they can even be based solely online.  The three icons that I have chosen are the Mac Computer, Facebook and the automobile manufacturer BMW.  These three icons were chosen not only because they all have a connection to me but because with our current generation these are the icons that we seem to hold closest to ourselves.

Before these things were never really held to the standard that they are today and one was simply created recently but expanded to great importance.  Facebook has seemingly taken over the world and has become an obsession for many people for many years now, and people can choose who they share information with which makes it a great icon.  The second icon that I chose is the Mac book personal computer.  Over the past couple of years this item has become very trendy and is very expensive and since few people can afford one it has become a status symbol among many.  The last icon is the BMW automobile line.  Before people could have nice Japanese makes and they were exclusive but now the times again are changing.  BMW’s are the new standard in cars and what it means to be successful in the current culture of today.

The Mac book and Facebook both mean a great deal to me while the BMW icon has little to do with me, personally I just do not care for them.  Facebook is a great way for people to stay connected with one another and to find new friends.  It boarder line obsession for many people and they seemingly live on that social network.  MacBook also means a lot to me as well because it is what took my music production and live performances to the next level.  The technologies offered are far better than PC and the Mac is setup to run all music programs flawlessly.  Finally the icon of the BMW is not for me but something that I have noticed with many people.  They only respect a BMW while I actually prefer Mercedes Benz or Audi over BMW and since I couldn’t choose all European makes I had to choose BMW.

Assignment 1-2

What is popular culture, and what does it mean to you? 

 Popular culture or "pop culture" is anything that grabs the attention of the masses at that time even if only for a brief period of time. Many people relate Popular culture to trends within our modern society, and show the correlations between them. Fashion and music are thew easiest examples of Popular Culture and how they can easily be influenced into changing. With fashion we all know the fashion's of the 80's and how now we laugh at what was worn. Back then though this was the popular culture when today if you wore the same things people would think  you are being ironic.  Furthermore with music, just a few years ago people hated and disliked the electronic genre of Dubstep, but now everyone seems to be producing it and even Taylor Swift has a song with a dubstep beat in the background.

Why is an understanding of popular culture relevant to you in a business environment and in your present and future career?

Having an understanding of popular culture is very important for one main reason, and that is communication.  Communication is key when it comes to business and understanding how people are communicating and sharing information can give a person an upper hand when it comes to business.  For instance it was not very important for people to be on Facebook and twitter a few years ago, but now CEO's and key business figures are all over these mediums because they recognize that this is how the public is communicating now.

What would you consider to be an example of a pop culture artifact? And why would you choose it?

I think the Google symbol is a great popular culture artifact for many different reasons.  First off Google completely changed the way that people found information on the internet.  Before the internet was full of directories that were confusing and impossible for the average person to navigate.  When Google came along it completely changed people of all generations.  Also it changed the way that people built their websites and advertised on the internet.  People could no longer have information on their website that did not pertain to their business.  Google also created many other companies as a result of people needing to know how to optimize their websites for Google and get their sites ranked much higher.