Assignment 4a and b

For assignment four we were to chooses a topic and interview about three to four people about it. This was to help us gain experience on interviewing people. From this we were to either choose a topic given or to make our own up. I decided to go with asking people 'How does advertising influence a person's own personal style?'.

Part of this task was to not ask this question directly as they would most likely deny that they are affected by them. We were to instead ask a series of questions that would allow me to see why a person would buy something? Where would they buy etc. I was also studying them, their behaviour and their style. The people I have interviewed signed my permission slips but will not be using their names on this blog.

The people we were interviewing first had to consent to me talking to them and were to be people that we do not know. This to me was a bit nerve racking and wasn't too sure of how to find someone to interview as I felt that I did not have enough time to speak to some random member of the public on the street. In the end when I was speaking to my girlfriend about this assignment she said she would get in touch with one of her friends and her boyfriend I had not met, saying they wouldn't mind at all with helping me out. So we arranged to meet later on when we all finished work and uni up at my girlfriends place. This was a bit awkward for me as I would rather have met them under different circumstances instead of uni work. I found out straight away that they were very willing to help out and came in laughing and joking with me. I first said it was nice to meet them and asked how they were doing and they did the same back.

I did not start the interview straight away as we all got settled first and got to know a little bit about each other first so we could all just sit back and relax without it having to be an awkward time.

Below are the questions I had prepared before to ask them:

• Can I ask you what the last thing you bought was?
• Do you remember where you bought it from?
• Do you often buy something because you saw it in the shop passing by or saw it somewhere and at another time bought it?
• How much do you tend to spend on a shopping spree?
• What sort of shops interest you?
• Do you prefer to actually go to the shops or shop on the Internet?
• What it is you mainly prefer to buy? Clothes, films, ornaments etc?
• What magazines and t.v shows do you normally read and watch?
• Do you watch the adverts between the breaks or do you tend to ignore them?
• If you see something advertised does it make you think I'd like to see that or I'll look good in that?
• Can I ask what make of shoes you're wearing?
• What about your top and trousers?
• Where did you buy them?
• What made you go there to buy them?
• Do you remember hearing about this place through friends or family or was it by anything else?
• What or who would you say influenced you style of clothes you buy or the films you see?

These were the questions I had scripted but did go during the course of the interview asked a few more questions as we all felt a bit more comfortable and relaxed.

The male when I first asked him this questioned joked at how he bought some kinky underwear for her from Ann Summers last week to which she turned round jokingly hitting his shoulder calling him a cheeky sod saying it wasn't true while laughing. He kept on joking about it saying its all true is a very dirty girl. I could tell she was a bit embarrassed about this but is probably used to this sort of thing from him.

I asked them both the questions at the same time to see who would answer first, as it were questions on shopping the female was answering the first mostly, she seemed to be more into it than her boyfriend who was mainly agreeing with some of her answers or saying well it depends if your a guy, if she sees something she'll want to go out and buy it but if i see something then ill buy it. He did say that he looked at sites on the Internet to see what was new and that.

When I asked them what they were wearing they were wearing quite trendy clothing, such as Nike trainers which he had bought from Archive and her top was from TK Max. The reason for her buying it form here was that you get a lot of really good stuff cheaper than what you would get in a bigger name place. From the way she was speaking and reacting I got the indication that she was quite sensible with money and would of wasted it as much, but he said she tends to buy something every week, implying, typical woman which his girlfriend took as a joke. I do have to agree that if you are making a really big bargain from it then why not.

I also asked them about films and music and how they choose to see them. The boyfriend said that he frequently bought Empire magazine and Total film to see the new upcoming movies. From this he would tell what were the best films to see were but would end up making his own judgement on what others would say about the film or depending if the trailer in the cinema or TV spots looked good.

The next interview I did was with another female, she was similar to the previous girl I had interviewed whereas she read magazines such as Cosmopolitan but also read Empire and she made judgements about things from the magazine whereas she said her boyfriend would read FHM and GQ and she would read some of the actual articles in them after he had been through it. When it came to films she said her boyfriend didn't buy film magazines but would see a advert for it then search for reviews of it online and decide from that.

I would say that all three of the people I interviewed were all influenced by advertising in magazines and TV programs but I would say the girl I interviewed on her own wouldn't fully admit to be influenced as much. An example of this was when she said that if her friends didn't want to see a film with a bad review she would want to see it anyway to make up her own mind but when I asked about a film with a good review she said she would go and see it, but on her "own free will".