Media Meditation #4: The Hype of the Cow and the Cream

(photo cred: blogs.citypages.com)

On Family Weekend, my parents, sister, and I took a trip up to Waterbury to see a tour of the Ben and Jerry's Factory. While on the tour, we viewed a short film of the history of Ben, Jerry, and their adventures leading to today's multi-million dollar company. I learned interesting facts about both the company and how it came about, including things about the original owners which I never would have known without going to the factory.

Throughout the seven minute long film, the repetition of the cows throughout the film popped up randomly everywhere in order for the viewer to better understand the incorporation of the cow in the company. The cow is a symbol known world wide, helping to make a connection between the ice cream company and its mascot. Another consistant aspect of the film was the multiple uses of humor which were randomly thrown at you in order to be entertained, but at the same time learning something too.

The productional techniques varied from bright colors in the film that were catchy to the eye, fun, and interesting to look at. This balanced out with the pacing of the film, which consisted of slow motion frames to let the viewer tune in and have ease in paying attention. I believe they did to the show because of the large amounts of young children which tend the tour, they want the entire audience to be able to pay attention, and enjoy the show as well.

the above video is an example of B&J's humor, portrayed in a TV ad (youtube.com)

From watching this short film, I learned about the economic shift which has recently occurred within the company, Ben and Jerry both sold the rights of the company to a larger corporation in order to produce bigger quantities of ice cream and spread the company world-wide. With the help of this new corporation, the company has been able to expand and therefore benefited tremendously.

We ended our tour with the viewing of some of the factory workers favorite Ben & Jerry's commercials, and we got to taste a new flavor, Milk and Cookies! Peace, Love, and Ice cream! Here's another commercial:

(youtube.com)