FOA Reflection

I presented my first FOA on possible signs of evolving racism found in the media over the years. I was to Identify the prominent signs of racism that are targeted towards African American minority groups that were found in advertising and social media, by presenting a series of advertisement in which I felt established direct connections towards the topic of racism. I chose to explore my topic by making a presentation consisting of 3 advertisements from 3 different time periods: the late 1800’s, late 1900’s and early 2000’s.

Throughout my presentation, I was able to meet a series of learning outcomes I had set out for myself. For example, being able to clearly identity the link between the audience and purpose of certain advertisements as well as being able to connect text types and language use as a means of communication in order to appeal to a certain community.

The overall feeling of my presentation was well structured and organized as I felt confident in front of my peers, presenting my collected information. By the end of it, I did feel successful, although there were some things that I would have changed If given the chance to do it all over again. For example, I would have shortened the notes that I brought up to the board to read off of as I felt like it was a distraction from my presentation. I knew my content rather well, meaning that I didn’t need to read off my script the entire time, but ideally, I should have brought a smaller script up to present with me.

I believe that everything we do in life is a learning experience not only for us, but for others around us. While completing this activity, I have come to a shocking conclusion that racism is still present in advertising today. Although signs of prominent racism remain subtle, It was still a shock to me and made me question society’s motives and ethical ways of living and thinking.

Overall, I felt confident and pleased with my first FOA next time, and know for sure that preparation and motivation is key to delivering clean and efficient work.