Media Messages & Critical Pedagogy

In my opinion, the deconstructions of both the Qwest and the Alltel commercials are quite accurate. Both commercials portray mixed methods of persuasion and an abundance of racial stereotypes.

The Alltel commercial seeks to inform listeners that a middle class white family can save money at the expense of degrading other cultures and races. For example, the scene in which the daughter's room is rented out to a latino group and their chicken send the message that the latino group is beneath the white suburban family. While the speaker does give an informative deconstruction, her tone could be misconstrued as being almost aggressive.

From a consumerist standpoint, the Alltel ad is very misleading as they fail to mention the difference in plans and prices. The speaker goes on to explore the cell phone plans which have additional taxes and fees, and could in all honesty end up costing you more than your current cell phone provider.

As for the Qwest commercial, the commercial implies that connectivity is everywhere when you utilize their service, and the company prides themselves on this value. However, their track record speaks for itself when you discover that connectivity in more rural areas is virtually nonexistent.

By providing disenfranchised students with the tools to successfully decode media messages with racial stereotypes, we are enabling them to peacefully fight back against these poor excuses for commercials. All students will benefit from learning how to successfully decode and deconstruct media messages by learning how to distinguish the various social problems that exist within society. Knowledge is Power. By knowing, we can ensure that the future generations do not use persuasive, consumerist media to mock at different cultures and people.


To conclude, I feel that both of these commercials are classic examples of the typical, persuasive media that we are presented with on a daily basis. It's sad to say that seeing these racial stereotypes wasn't the least bit alarming, as we as consumers are numb after seeing countless media that rejects the idea that poking fun at other cultures might be abnormal.

By teaching media deconstruction, we will disrupt current systems of banking education by changing how we educate our youth. Currently, I feel that our education system is designed to churn out graduates to work in a particular sector or industry-students are taught to think how corporations want them to think. Media deconstruction is merely one example of how we can create a generation of independent thinkers that work not for corporations, but for the people.