Imagination of Mobile Media Through Advertising: Thematic Analysis of 4G and 5G Ads in China and the US, Thesis of Computer Networks

Download Imagination of Mobile Media Through Advertising: Thematic Analysis of 4G and 5G Ads in China and the US and more Thesis Computer Networks in PDF only on Docsity! Running head: IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING Imagination of Mobile Media Through Advertising: Thematic Analysis of 4G and 5G Ads in China and the US by Fangwei Zhao A Senior Thesis Submitted to the Department of Communication and Media University of Michigan In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honors) April 2020 Thesis Advisor: Professor Scott Campbell Honors Advisor: Professor Jan Van Den Bulck & Caitlin Lawson IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 1 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without many people who have supported and helped me along the way. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor, Professor Scott Campbell, for being encouraging and inspiring during this entire process. He opened the door of academia for me two years ago when I became a member of his research group. With his guidance, my visions have been widened, and my research skills have been improved. I could not have imagined this project without him. I also want to thank Professor Jan Van Den Bulck and Caitlin Lawson, for their patience and help during this one-year program. I appreciate their detailed instructions and incisive feedbacks for my thesis. They have always been with us and helped us out when we encountered any problems. The weekly meeting with Professor Scott Campbell’s research group is a great place to discuss my concerns and questions. I want to give many thanks to Fan Liang, Edwin Wang, Sage Lee, for teaching me new things and offering their suggestions. Besides, I am indebted to my family, for their unconditional love and understanding, my friends, who always listen to and accompany me. Last but not least, congratulations to my fellow graduates and scholars! It is my pleasure to share this journey with you. Many unexpected things happened this year, and I wish everyone the best of luck forever. Thank you all, for making a meaningful and satisfactory ending of my undergraduate years. IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 4 international perspective on how 4G and 5G wireless infrastructures have been, and presently are, imagined through advertising. The US led China in the global 4G race, although they were a little behind Europe and Japan on 2G and 3G (Recon Analytics, 2018). Now, the US is having a heated competition over 5G with China, who is believed to dominate 5G networks since it is the first country to release 5G technology to consumers (McGregor, 2019). It appears the role of network forerunner that the US held in the 4G era is being replaced by China as we enter the 5G era. Meanwhile, China and the US are contesting with each other over the 5G technologies. Hence, the juxtaposition of China and the US is worthwhile and meaningful, particularly at this moment. Mobile media communication (MMC), infrastructure studies, and domestication theory are traditions offering literature to frame this study. The following section starts by offering highlights from the new and growing field of MMC studies, followed by theoretical framing from infrastructure studies and domestication (Ling, 2004). Following that, the methods next section explains the data collection and analysis, and the results section describes how findings address the study’s research questions. The discussion offers implications, conclusions, and next steps. Literature Review Mobile media and communication have become an increasingly popular topic in both academia and people’s daily lives recently in the last twenty years after the introduction of the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunication technology (3G). Two of the major areas of mobile communication studies are sociality, the connections with other people, and spatiality, the connections with places of social activity (Campbell, 2019). The use of mobile phones and IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 5 social media, emerging over the last ten years, has become a major focus in MMC studies and has led to discussions surrounding sociality and spatiality. Some scholars are interested in political implications, such as how mobile media use contributes to political participation (Martin, 2014). Other scholars explore the associations between mobile media use and public social behaviors, including social involvement (Kraut et al., 1998), social networks (Lee et al., 2015), and social cohesion, or the solidarity among groups in society (Ling, 2008). Entering the 2020s, we are at the point of welcoming a new generation of wireless mobile networks, 5G (Campbell, 2019), in which mobile media is starting to go beyond mobile phones (Frith & Özkul, 2019). Frith and Özkul state that “conceptualization of mobile media is situated at the intersection of mobilities, materialities, and mediation” (p. 295), which enlarges the scope of mobile media, and suggests that mobile and communicative infrastructures should be considered as a type of mobile media. One of the key features of mobile media is hybrid space, referring to the merging of the physical and the digital. To widen the scope of mobile media, Saker and Frith (2019) propose a new term, dislocated space, acknowledging mobile virtual reality’s ability to create a hybrid space that “involves concrete space being temporarily superseded by the digital space” (p. 222). While the vast majority of mobile media communication studies focus on mobile phones, many scholars illustrate the new trend and new dimensions of this field, arguing mobile media is everywhere. 4G networks have dramatically changed people’s lives with digital technologies such as video chatting, real-time navigation, and fast data transmission speed. With 4G networks, the critical advance is mobility that allows mobile phones to access the Internet everywhere. With promises of smart homes, smart factories, and smart cities, the arrival of 5G would be another powerful push to the transition from the mobile to the smart, a new age with wireless IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 6 infrastructure connecting objects, factories, homes, and cities. To capture the narratives of 4G and 5G wireless networks in advertising and acknowledge their social significance, infrastructure studies and domestication studies are used as the theoretical framing of this research project. Infrastructure Studies The term “infrastructure” means the necessary and fundamental facilities, structures, and systems for the operation of a society, such as a country, city, or an enterprise (Infrastructure, 2020). One of the general features of infrastructures is the lack of visibility. Infrastructures are often not noticed by users and only become visible when they break down or fail (Star, 1999). Infrastructure studies focus on the evolution, operation, structure, and maintenance of infrastructures in local and global communities from a technical, social, and organizational perspective (Bowker et al., 2009). Originally, infrastructure referred to basic physical and organizational systems and services, such as railroads, bridges, ports, and electric power grids. Over the past two decades, the concept of “infrastructure” has spread to many different areas of research (Edwards et al., 2009), including journalism, government, and mobile media. For example, cyberinfrastructure refers to the research environments that support advanced data sharing, data management, data mining, and lead to the development of network-based services. It is believed to resemble a genuine infrastructure for its centrality, robustness, and reliability through the shift of information handling from local networks to cloud services and global network, and digital convergence (Edwards et al., 2009). Despite the invisibility of infrastructures, many studies have been conducted to highlight the significance of infrastructures, especially regarding socio-cultural and political aspects. A cultural policy study by Wright (2019) concludes that people’s cultural taste and participation are re-shaped by computational technology, considered as an informational infrastructure, as it IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 9 technologies and consumers. For example, Silverstone and Haddon (1996) believe that designers need to imagine users’ experience at an early stage. The three interrelated activities of design include creating an artefact -- working on the functions and sense of aesthetics, constructing the user -- picturing actual usage by consumers to refine the design, and catching the consumer -- branding and commodifying the technology to cater to the tastes of consumers. This study takes a closer look at the imagination phase in the domestication of 4G and 5G networks. In the stage of imagination, advertising of new technologies is an essential source leading to the next step in the adoption, appropriation (Ling, 2004). For example, before 5G comes into commercial use, people’s visions about how 5G will fit in and alter their lives are determined by the advertising messages. Moreover, advertising remains the same function even after the full adoption of technologies (in this study, the 4G advertising in the late 2010s). As Rich Ling (2004) and Haddon (2003) argue in their books, domestication is not a “one-off” procedure. Instead, it is a non-discrete, non-linear, and non-sequential process. Therefore, this project examines the early domestication process of 4G and 5G networks by analyzing topics, themes, and techniques used in advertising to reveal social and technological narratives that shape how these generations of infrastructure are imagined, both publicly and personally. Wireless network technologies are the infrastructures of mobile media and communications. The advertising of 4G and 5G wireless networks play an essential role in the adoption process as it determines the public’s views and notions formed at the imagination stage. Thus, this current project will trace the trajectory of the evolution of mobile media from 4G, the era of mobile phone, to 5G, the incoming era of the Internet of Things.[1] The following research questions pursue different aspects of the overarching question: How is wireless infrastructure being socially shaped through advertising? More specifically, the study asks: IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 10 RQ1: What are the broad topics and refined themes associated with 4G and 5G in video advertisements? RQ2: What are the implicit messages, such as strategies and appeals, underneath 4G and 5G video advertisements? RQ3: What are the differences and/or similarities in the topics, themes, and implicit messages between 4G and 5G video advertisements? RQ4: What are the differences and/or similarities in the topics, themes, and implicit messages between the advertisements in China and the US? Methods Procedure This study uses textual and visual analysis approaches to examine how the 4G and 5G infrastructures are pictured in advertising, and how the imaginations are different in China and the US. First, two lists of network and telecommunication equipment companies were created by the author. One list contains China and US companies who lead the 4G technologies, and another includes big players of 5G technologies selected from the two countries. Then, from October to November 2019, 4G and 5G video advertisements from those companies were collected from the searching results of two video sharing platforms, YouTube.com from the US, and Bilibili.com from China. The keywords used in searching are company names followed by network generations, such as “Verizon 5G”. When searching for the 4G advertisements, the word “LTE” -- which stands for long-term evolution -- was also used besides “4G”. Data IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 11 The list of 4G companies includes six from the US (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and Broadcom) and three from China (China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom). In the 5G list, seven were selected from the US, including four major network companies (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint) and three telecommunication equipment companies (Qualcomm, Intel, and Cisco System). To be consistent, three main network companies (China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom) and two telecommunication equipment companies (Huawei and ZTE) of 5G were selected from China. This procedure resulted in 91 4G advertisements (China n = 23; US n = 68), and 89 5G advertisements (China n = 32; US n = 57). 4G advertisements on YouTube.com were uploaded by users from April 7, 2009 to October 31, 2017, and 5G advertisements were posted by brand accounts from March 31, 2015 to November 1, 2019. Advertisements on Bilibili.com were uploaded by users, of which 4G advertisements were from December 21, 2013 to November 24, 2019, and 5G advertisements were from February 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019. As regards duration, 4G advertisements have an average of 39 seconds with 40 seconds in the US and 36 seconds in China, and 5G advertisements have an average of 89 seconds with 78 seconds in the US and 108 seconds in China. Analysis This study uses textual, visual analysis, and the framework of Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) to analyze qualitative data and identify the main topics, themes, and other implicit messages in 4G and 5G advertising. The whole process has a characteristic “funnel” structure, meaning that the author needs to get familiar with the data first, and then examine and transform the data until its internal structure is explored. The first step was to carefully watch all the collected video advertisements multiple times. During each time of watching, the author paid IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 14 automation, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, and smart cities. In the 5G era, mobile phones and tablets are not in the spotlight anymore. Instead, it is a revolution of all the digital devices. Compared with 4G advertisements, 5G advertising focuses on interactions and connections among digital devices instead of network accessibility. In other words, the main message that 4G advertisements convey to the audience is mobility, that is, they can carry their phones anywhere without worrying about dead zones. Scenes of emergency are often used to illustrate the importance of 4G signals. A US Cellular 4G advertisement shows two men being chased by a wild boar in the mountains while one of them was using his phone to search “how to escape a wild boar” online (U4-63). Thanks to the US Cellular network coverage, the two men successfully escaped by pretending to be trees. However, in the 5G advertisements, mobility is not emphasized because there is no need to move anything to anywhere when the world is covered by networks and everything is connected. For example, a China Telecom 5G advertisement features a man’s daily routine with advanced 5G technologies from getting up in the early morning, when a clock wakes him up and signals the curtains, kettle and vacuum cleaner to start working, to his outdoor exercise, when an Augmented Reality (AR) 3D hologram map appears in his glasses to provide the information of directions and safety alerts while he is riding a bike (C5-8). In this advertisement, network coverage is assumed to be everywhere, while the ability of digital devices to work with each other, rather than the ability to be mobile, becomes the principal point to be advertised. 2. Technology Feature: Speed vs. Latency Speed has always been what people care most about networks until 5G comes. In the 4G era, speed is the main competing element among network companies -- almost all the companies IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 15 argue they have the fastest network over others. AT&T has a series of advertisements, “It’s Not Complicated”, where a man has conversations with a group of kids sitting around a table by throwing simple questions. In one advertisement, the kids are asked what thing they wish could be faster, and a boy shouts out “turtle!” (U4-22). But when a girl says being a slow turtle is safer, the man implies the threats a “slow turtle” would face by throwing the girl a question, “what happens when a slow turtle is in the middle of the street?”. In the end, this advertisement says, “It’s not complicated. Faster is better.” What this advertisement tries to say is, obviously, that network speed is one of the most important determinants of 4G networks. In the 5G advertisements, the existence of fast speed is taken for granted while low latency comes into the spotlight. These two things have different concepts while they are quite similar in user experience. Network speed refers to bandwidth, the transmission capacity over a specific connection, measured in megabits per second (Mbps). Network latency is measured in milliseconds (ms) and it refers to how much time it takes for a package of data to travel between being sent from a computer and getting back from a website. If speed is the thickness of a tube, latency is the flow rate. Low latency enables real-time actions without delay, which realize many 5G applications because of the requirement of accuracy in certain fields, such as VR surgery and manufacturing automation. A visual demonstration of latency is shown in an AT&T 5G advertisement, where a machine is trying to balance an inverted pendulum placed on its by moving left or right, and a screen behind shows an 8-millisecond “current latency” (U5-25, 00:07). A scientist from AT&T lab resembles this phenomenon to holding and balancing a broomstick in one’s hand to explain the importance of low latency and quick reactions. An Intel advertisement describes how the low latency benefits live streaming at the US Open (U5-57). “What we are looking for is the ability to be wherever we want to be when we need to be there” IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 16 (00:36), the vice president of field operation & engineering at FOX Sports says. The advertising emphasizes that the almost-zero latency allows 5G to do things that are not just faster 4G things but are revolutionary and beyond people’s imaginations. 3. Appeal: Emotional vs. Rational Humor is frequently used in 4G advertising as a technique to present the unexpected fastness of 4G networks, to mock the users of other networks for experiencing lower network speed or poor connections, and to exaggeratedly show people’s desire and craving for 4G networks. In a China Unicom advertisement, a college boy holding a tablet is surrounded by a group of friends who shove each other and eagerly stare at the 2018 World Cup game being streamed on the tablet screen (C4-22). “With the stronger signal and faster speed, you will never miss a goal” (00:07), the slogan says. Another classic example is a T-Mobile advertisement, parodying Apple’s famous “I’m A Mac” commercials, in which a woman represents myTouch, a smartphone with T-Mobile’s 4G network, and a man carrying a middle-aged, bald and overweight man on his back represents an iPhone 4 with AT&T network (U4-48). The woman introduces T-Mobile’s 4G network that enables video chat everywhere, while the middle-aged man disdainfully flaunts his FaceTime video chat function from “anywhere there is Wi-Fi like saying airport” (00:14). It is not hard to see that he indeed “slows” the iPhone man down from the tiredness and disappointment on the iPhone man’s face. T-Mobile uses humor in the metaphor to show the superiority they have over their competitor. Another appeal used very often in 4G advertisements is bandwagon, which persuades people to buy a service or a product by making them feel that everyone else is doing it and they will be left behind if they choose to not join the trend. Many network companies apply the bandwagon appeal to persuade users from other networks to switch to their service. China IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 19 approaches. Advertising in China usually presents 4G applications such as video streaming or video calls, while companies in the US are inclined to symbolize their competencies by using powerful things as metaphors. Verizon, with the slogan of “Rule the Air”, has several advertisements showing men with something sparkling in their hands and throwing it into the thundering sky (U4-1; U4-7). At the end of the commercials, the words, “Verizon 4G LTE” appear on the screen with flashes of lightning behind, creating a sense of intensity and fierceness. Another good example is a motorcycle racing advertisement of T-Mobile, where the speed of four motorcycles is in token of the speed of four major networks in the US (U4-51). In 5G advertising, one major distinction between China and the US is the reference of the government. There is no mention of the government at all on the US side. However, some advertisements in China talk about their collaborations with the Chinese government to show their adherence to the government’s supportive policy on 5G (C5-5; C5-11; C5-26). For example, a China Mobile 5G advertisement says at the beginning: Along with the rapid development of the national economy, the 13th FYP development plan for energy and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have put forward higher requirements for the modern energy system -- let the broad masses of people move from using electricity to making good use of it; continuously reduce blackout time, improve power quality, and create a safe, efficient, and green power grid system. (C5-5, 00:03) This content quotes the proposition of the Chinese government to indicate the significance of an advanced power grid technology, which this advertisement spends four minutes introducing and explaining. Likewise, China Telecom proudly announces they just initiated the 5G pilot network as a result of the Internet Plus strategic cooperation agreement they have signed with the IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 20 Changning (a district of Shanghai, China) government (C5-11). The collaborative relationship with the government who highly supports 5G technology is a unique topic in Chinese 5G advertising. Both China and the US display applications enabled by network services in 4G and 5G advertisements. The scenes used to present those applications, however, reveal some cultural and social differences between the two countries. Among 23 Chinese 4G advertisements that have been collected, about one-third have scenes of video chatting or messaging with families such as young parents calling their toddlers or adults caring for their elderly parents. For instance, a China Unicom 4G advertisement exhibits a mother moving to tears when hearing her baby calling her “mama” for the first time on the other side of the screen (C4-19, 00:08), and a young man asking for his mother’s help on cooking over video chatting as he wants to cook for his pregnant wife (00:53). To promote the 4G mobile phone trade-in program launched in 2015, China Mobile published a commercial showing a young man calling his mother to tell her about the Chinese New Year gift he has prepared for her, a new 4G phone (C4-7). The same motif continues in the 5G advertisements. China Telecom has a 5G commercial showing an engineer using a VR headset to watch his son’s football game from the perspective of a live audience while working outdoors (C5-2, 00:56). It is also shown in a ZTE commercial that a family of four with three generations sitting on a sofa watching videos through 3D holograms (C5-32). Although displaying similar technologies to China, advertisements in the US do not highlight the role of 4G and 5G applications in the family. Instead, US advertising shows a man playing online games by himself using VR technology (U5-43), or a family sitting together while doing their own things with the 4G network (U4-59). Nevertheless, US advertising contains abundant scenes IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 21 of human interactions with digital applications in the workplace, which is also frequently shown in China’s commercials. 2. Strategy: Competition vs. Harmony Attack advertisements are only used by US companies, especially among 4G commercials. All four major network companies in the US, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint, have published attack advertisements aiming to compete with one another. T-Mobile has the most amount of attack advertisements with the other three companies being targets. Different colors are often used to represent different network companies in T-Mobile commercials. For instance, in an advertisement called “See It Again”, a man in blue (AT&T) is riding a motorcycle, while a woman in pink (T-Mobile) passes him with a speed too fast to be seen, which symbolizes T-Mobile’s 4G speed is far beyond AT&T’s (U4-38). T-Mobile also has a Super Bowl commercial more overtly attacking Verizon, in which a male presenter interrupts a broadcast about network speed and impatiently “corrects” that T-Mobile has doubled their LTE coverage and they “have more LTE towers than Verizon” (U4-40, 00:15). Similarly, Verizon has an advertising campaign in the form of focus groups to claim that they have the fastest speed and the largest coverage (U4-5; U4-11; U4-12). In those commercials, participants are asked to choose the best network after being presented with numbers, bar charts, pie charts, and maps that exaggeratedly show the superiority of Verizon on speed and coverage over the other three networks. Although Verizon uses “random” participants and “scientific” charts, their disdain for other networks is easy to see through the highly contrasting statistics, as well as the campaign name, “Easy Choice”. Instead of attacking other brands, Chinese companies try to build friendly and positive images to attract audiences in 4G commercials. China Mobile has an advertising campaign with IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 24 This study analyzes textual and visual contents of 4G and 5G advertising in China and the US to conduct a two-way comparison between (1) 4G and 5G and (2) China and the US, aiming to examine the imagination stage of network infrastructures driven by advertisements in the domestication process. The results show that 4G advertising has an emphasis on network speed and mobile phone applications that strengthen social connections or provide entertainment such as video chatting, video streaming, and online shopping. 5G advertising, assuming a realization of fast network speed, brings the low latency to the front and thus presents applications on digital devices, besides mobile phones, that could be applied in healthcare, manufacturing, education, and other industries. Humor, bandwagon effect, and attacking strategies are frequently used in 4G advertising, while 5G advertising employs the rational appeal to persuade the audience. China and the US share similar topics and themes in both 4G and 5G commercials except the reference of government and family, two prominent topics only appear on the Chinese side. The US has a large number of attack advertisements, whereas Chinese companies are trying to build caring and friendly images through advertising. In addition, compared to the domestic targeting of the US, Chinese 5G advertising expresses a desire to enter the global market. 4G vs. 5G One noteworthy difference between the narratives of 4G and 5G is the subject who benefits from the infrastructures. There is a shifted focus from mobile applications in the 4G era to interactive and intelligent digital devices in the 5G era. In 4G advertising, characters often enjoy the convenience and entertainment brought by the smartphone applications, which sends a straightforward message to the audience -- your life could be just like theirs if you choose us as your carrier. This intent is valid since almost everyone has a smartphone. Nevertheless, 5G IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 25 advertising presents remote surgery, smart agriculture, and manufacturing automation, showing how human’s life will be transformed with the 5G network. Neither Chinese nor US 5G advertising appeals for personal purchase because the main message of 5G is not only about mobile phone networks. It is about the network empowering other advanced technologies that lead to better lives for all mankind. Another finding is the distinct appeals used in 4G and 5G advertising. The 5G commercials seldomly use humor and bandwagon effects since the 5G infrastructure is still at the building stage. It is too early to mock 4G users or users from other companies when 5G is not accessible to everyone, let alone apply bandwagon effects. At such time, promoting new technologies to the public is more essential than competing with others for telecommunication companies. Accordingly, the rational appeal is commonly used in 5G advertising. With different appeals, 4G and 5G advertising are convincing the audience in different ways according to the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). The ELM proposes two distinct routes by which people process information, (1) the central route and (2) the peripheral route. The central route, used in many 5G advertisements, works by presenting careful consideration of the arguments in the message, which contributes to a strong persuasion. For example, 5G advertisements contain a large number of detailed explanations that not only demonstrate how technology can benefit people but also serve as introductions that give people the ability to understand and process the message about the technology. In contrast, the peripheral route functions when simple, superficial cues presented in the message trigger people’s attitude changes. While this attitude change is unlikely to be meaningful or long-lasting, peripheral routes are frequently used in many 4G advertisements because of the decreasing significance of explaining a technology when it is fully adopted. IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 26 Strategies such as using testimonies, ridiculing slow network carriers, competing for the best data plans, and collaborating with other companies only appear in 4G advertisements. One reason could be the timing or the stage of technology adoption. Since the data collection was conducted in November 2019, the 4G advertisements in this study are probably from the mid to late period of the 4G era when 4G networks are widely in use. Yet, it was the beginning of the 5G era since 5G networks had not launched then. Therefore, there are no actual 5G network users to interview for testimonies. Although the data were collected at different stages of 4G and 5G, the assumption of advertising’s role as a major source of imagination stays valid because of the following reason. As many scholars (Ling, 2004; Haddon, 2003) point out, the adoption of new technologies is not a step-by-step process, which means that the steps of domestication, including imagination, are still in the process even though new technologies have been adopted for a while. Even for a product that people are extremely familiar with – iPhone, for example – advertising still serves as a source of imagination in people’s minds because of the updates in functions, appearance, or the added value such as fashion and creativity. That is to say, advertising remains its function of shaping imaginations even in the late 4G era. Nevertheless, each stage does have distinct strategies in commercial promotion according to the development stage of technologies. It seems to be a reasonable prediction that in a couple of years, 5G technologies will be advertised with the similar strategies mentioned above in the 4G commercials. China vs. United States Network companies in the US use lightning at night and high-speed motorcycles not merely to portray their networks as superior and powerful. Those images embody the fierce competition among the four major network companies as well. However, advertising in China IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 29 This study has potential limitations. First, this project might not display a full view of 4G advertising as expected. The data of 4G advertisements were found on online video sharing platforms from October to November in 2019, when many of the 4G advertisements were not available anymore as the telecommunication industry started promoting 5G networks. Since YouTube and Bilibili do not support archiving previous videos, this study might experience an incompleteness of the 4G data. Second, this project is not able to capture all the 5G advertisements since new 5G commercials have been released continuously over the past few months. In spite of the incessant promotions of 5G, the snapshot of 5G advertising this study captures is still meaningful due to the unique timing in the early technology adoption stage. Besides, since videos on Bilibili.com are user-uploaded, biases and subjectivity might be unavoidable. It is also possible that this study leaves out some commercials that are less popular or less accessible among the public as few people are able to see them, let alone upload to a video platform. Finally, advertising sends out perspectives of the industry since it is a marketing tool employed by brands to promote their products and services. Aside from the positive publicity from companies, dissenting voices from other places could also influence a person’s imagination of new technology. Future work should analyze other sources of imagination such as news articles or public discourse shaped by opinion leaders since combining multiple sources could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the early adoption process. Collecting various sources is also critical to adopt a historical view and look back to the 3G era or even earlier when video advertising was not a popular way to get information. Additionally, future directions include investigating the next steps after the imagination stage, for instance, people's perceptions of IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 30 technologies after the exposure of promotion sources, their behaviors of purchase, and the assimilation of technologies into their lives. In sum, this study examines how the infrastructure technologies, 4G and 5G networks, are portrayed in advertising in China and the US as well as how the imaginations, in turn, influence people’s views and understandings about the infrastructures. According to the domestication theory, the imagination stage is crucial in the technology adoption process as people might reflect their predilections and attitudes towards the technology (Haddon, 1996), and consequently decide further stages leading to full adoption. By analyzing the advertising in two leading nations in the 4G and 5G eras, this study lays out an overview of the source of imagination and captures the commons in China and the US, while comparing the inconsistencies between the two countries from different development levels and cultures. The findings also make a step forward to break the invisibility of infrastructure and to bring it to the foreground. IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 31 References Abrams, S. J. (2019, April 24). Family and individualism: A new view of the American Dream. AEIdeas, American Enterprise Institute. https://www.aei.org/politics-and-public- opinion/family-and-individualism-a-new-view-of-the-american-dream/ Bowker, G. 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(2019) Towards a computational cultural policy studies: examining infrastructures of taste and participation, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 25(6), 806-820. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2017.1420789 IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 35 Appendix Ad ID Company Title Link C4-1 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Upgrade your SIM https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76881615? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-2 China Mobile China Mobile 4G "He" Game https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76883142? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-3 China Mobile China Mobile "He 4G" Sharing https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76882351? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-4 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Phone Ad https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76885499? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-5 China Mobile China Mobile "He 4G" Heart to Heart https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76887097? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-6 China Mobile China Mobile "He 4G" Be with You https://www.bilibili.com/video/av75522313? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-7 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Chinese New Year https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76888317? from=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-8 China Mobile China Mobile 4G A New Era https://www.bilibili.com/video/av881080?fro m=search&seid=17687216881816201657 C4-9 China Mobile China Mobile "He 4G" Your Choice https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68831273? from=search&seid=4676579550842966251 C4-10 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Waling the Dog https://www.bilibili.com/video/av971531?fro m=search&seid=4676579550842966251 C4-11 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Technologies https://www.bilibili.com/video/av61301291? from=search&seid=4676579550842966251 C4-12 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Fast Speed_1 https://www.bilibili.com/video/av69748711? from=search&seid=8032620046270371333 C4-13 China Mobile China Mobile 4G Fast Speed_2 https://www.bilibili.com/video/av69748711? p=2 C4-14 China Telecom China Telecom 4G+ Data Plan https://www.bilibili.com/video/av16755197? from=search&seid=782471933382616739 C4-15 China Telecom China Telecom 4G Better and Faster https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76890731? from=search&seid=782471933382616739 C4-16 China Telecom China Telecom 4G A Better Life https://www.bilibili.com/video/av30276554? from=search&seid=782471933382616739 C4-17 China Telecom China Telecom 4G+ Get Lost https://www.bilibili.com/video/av24147132? from=search&seid=6007220250556119675 IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 36 C4-18 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Spaceship https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76874550? from=search&seid=217040457334823848 C4-19 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Not Only Faster https://www.bilibili.com/video/av3989669?fr om=search&seid=217040457334823848 C4-20 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Ice-cream https://www.bilibili.com/video/av22479243? from=search&seid=6007220250556119675 C4-21 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Ping Pong https://www.bilibili.com/video/av21783565? from=search&seid=752104643970986318 C4-22 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Soccer Game https://www.bilibili.com/video/av29827889/ ?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.2 C4-23 China Unicom China Unicom 4G Your Best Choice https://www.bilibili.com/video/av64790170? from=search&seid=752104643970986318 U4-1 Verizon Verizon 4G LTE Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJc_KD kpIU8 U4-2 Verizon Verizon LTE Advanced Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKn1_H 4dQvA U4-3 Verizon Verizon XLTE 4G Coverage - Layers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enwa_9 A5rVA U4-4 Verizon Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9uH7fs BKdE U4-5 Verizon Verizon 4G LTE Coverage Reality Check That's Powerful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04FcXq 4vx7I U4-6 Verizon Verizon 4G LTE Hiking Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_158hO htNL0 U4-7 Verizon Verizon TV Commercial with Star Legends Cameo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HfB- kdP54E&list=PL- DSg9FzFVDh_OWL2xKkKcjmAlWfx5WNj &index=6 U4-8 Verizon Verizon Wireless. America's Fastest 4G Network. Rule the Air. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtf8BwU rOf8&list=PL- DSg9FzFVDh_OWL2xKkKcjmAlWfx5WNj &index=5 U4-9 Verizon Verizon 4G LTE Commercial November 23, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J84R- tPQT0 U4-10 Verizon Verizon Wireless Weight Lifter Commercial- TK McKamy Director Reel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrqrvzH LxdA U4-11 Verizon Verizon 4G LTE Easy Choice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy_E84 IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 39 U4-41 T-Mobile T-Mobile | Towers TV Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTwtKR wlAzw U4-42 T-Mobile T-Mobile’s Two Line Family Plan Offers Unlimited 4G LTE Data Commercial 2015 HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX9OiV KgS58 U4-43 T-Mobile T-Mobile | #WidebandLTE NYC Challenge - Short #2 | T-Mobile commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnZKF wqVjvQ U4-44 T-Mobile MyTouch 4G- New Ride Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDc1I0 1wxME U4-45 T-Mobile T Mobile 4G LTE Network New Leader in Speed Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXmos Y00Eo U4-46 T-Mobile T-Mobile 4G PayDay Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qom7 MTnCk8 U4-47 T-Mobile T-Mobile "No More Mr. Nice Girl" 4G Commercial 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN_zAqz bXkc U4-48 T-Mobile T-Mobile myTouch 4G Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JABV8S ez45s U4-49 T-Mobile TV Commercial - T-Mobile - 4G LTE Data - Unleash! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTL3xhB K8Vw U4-50 T-Mobile T-Mobile 4G Network commercial (2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i- cjEocsPho U4-51 T-Mobile T-Mobile 4G Data Showdown Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po25PZr w8kM U4-52 Sprint Sprint 4g commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdkvg 9Kw-M U4-53 Sprint Sprint - Charts Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaZjiUA 1Uco U4-54 Sprint NEW Sprint Palm Pre 4G Commercial "Breakup" W/ Pandora (Watch In HQ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOMjJii CJcY U4-55 Sprint Sprint's Now 4G Network Featuring Palm Pre & The Most AMAZING Sprint Commercial EVER! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlwBO3 6OeUQ U4-56 Sprint NEW Sprint Commercial - What's happening 4G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTL6rl CPmU U4-57 Sprint Sprint - What Can You Do with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS8- IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 40 4G? vtvM6Qs U4-58 Sprint Sprint Break Up Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vFhBq u50bM U4-59 Sprint Sprint 4G - Overdrive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmDsLl t5HM4 U4-60 Sprint Wireless Network News Sprint 4G LTE Launch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEm_q5 wqGtM U4-61 Sprint Sprint Commercial 2015 Don't Be Too Rich to Care Layover Ads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHsPgU JJsHQ (no longer available) https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7iIE/sprint-dont-be- too-rich-to-care-layover (alternative link) U4-62 U.S. Cellular U.S. Cellular "4G Experience" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fhhpkc BdDI U4-63 U.S. Cellular US Cellular commercial "Running" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29vaN2y K8OE U4-64 U.S. Cellular NETGEAR 4G LTE Router Now Available at U.S. Cellular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1CyG5 ymUwQ U4-65 U.S. Cellular D-Link 4G LTE Router from U.S. Cellular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGVxZ Hnqodk U4-66 U.S. Cellular ZTE 4G LTE Router with Voice from U.S. Cellular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNNjU vpSUA U4-67 U.S. Cellular US Cellular commercial "Unbelievable" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8op99 4riXs U4-68 Broadcom Broadcom Delivers 1000x Bandwidth to 4G Mobile Networks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_X6l4t oRXE C5-1 China Mobile China Mobile 5G Come for You https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54879045? p=1 C5-2 China Mobile 5G Changes Society https://www.bilibili.com/video/av46867456/ ?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.0 C5-3 China Mobile 5G Intelligence Connects Dreams https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54879045/ ?p=3 C5-4 China Mobile 5G Empowers Smart Production https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54879045/ ?p=4 C5-5 China Mobile 5G Empowers Smart Power Grid https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54879045/ ?p=5 IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 41 C5-6 China Mobile 5G Technology for Criminal Detection And Catching https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54544280/ ?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.0 C5-7 China Mobile The Future of Possibilities https://www.bilibili.com/video/av67354640? from=search&seid=4990909441364839002 C5-8 China Telecom 5G Empowers the Future: One Day With 5G https://www.bilibili.com/video/av56831628? from=search&seid=12645618413024176888 C5-9 China Telecom 5G Empowers the Future https://www.bilibili.com/video/av63652449/ ?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.6 C5-10 China Telecom Hello 5G https://www.bilibili.com/video/av74007130? from=search&seid=13931587561739168526 C5-11 China Telecom 5G Is on the Way https://www.bilibili.com/video/av63673760/ C5-12 China Unicom Enjoy 5G with China Unicom https://www.bilibili.com/video/av63199033? from=search&seid=2622678922156175336 C5-13 China Unicom Let the Future Grow_1 https://www.bilibili.com/video/av55349296? from=search&seid=4990909441364839002 C5-14 China Unicom Let the Future Grow_2 https://www.bilibili.com/video/av53940436? from=search&seid=4990909441364839002 C5-15 China Unicom Smart Winter Olympics Connects the Future https://www.bilibili.com/video/av48799688? from=search&seid=4990909441364839002 C5-16 China Unicom 5G Driverless Delivery https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-17 China Unicom 5G Low Latency Communication https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-18 China Unicom 5G Fast Live Broadcasting https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-19 China Unicom 5G Smart Home https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-20 China Unicom 5G Fast Speed https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-21 China Unicom 5G Intelligent Healthcare https://www.bilibili.com/video/av68680530? from=search&seid=14535035751899689445 C5-22 China Unicom 5G^n, Let the Future Grow https://www.bilibili.com/video/av64881982? from=search&seid=2025217601812688219 C5-23 China Unicom Me and My Country https://www.bilibili.com/video/av67946708? from=search&seid=17061409479786477739 C5-24 Huawei Bring Digital to Everyone https://www.bilibili.com/video/av54941906? IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 44 U5-26 T-Mobile T-Mobile | T-Mobile Plans Nationwide 5G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD_u00h xoHk&t=34s U5-27 T-Mobile Natalie Sifferman T-Mobile 5G commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ZG_Y YyliY U5-28 T-Mobile Built 5G Ready | T-Mobile 600 MHz Network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8CaLSf LpqQ U5-29 Two T-Mobile & Sprint: 5G For All https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRpJ02o WU9s U5-30 T-Mobile Our 5G Future | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSK2VR Abho4 U5-31 T-Mobile How 5G Technology Will Benefit the Future of Education | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhfH- tmwprg U5-32 T-Mobile How 5G Will Benefit Your Everyday Life | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM0Di 5b7OK4 U5-33 T-Mobile How Future 5G Networks will Benefit the World | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpBTG qz2owE U5-34 T-Mobile How Will 5G Technology Change Everything? | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW1_kM 3RhOw U5-35 T-Mobile Benefits of 5G: Future Smart Cities - Los Angeles | T-Mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gxJ7E VD26s U5-36 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 1: Transformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFTgXr EOf-g U5-37 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 2: Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVFG1x alXoY U5-38 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 3: The Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xF3Z2 VloyY U5-39 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 4– Spectrum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub8- 5etWceA U5-40 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 5: Massive MIMO Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHsv- 2IS39M U5-41 Sprint Sprint 5G Episode 5: Massive MIMO Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihWXYq styJQ U5-42 Sprint Sprint True Mobile 5G is in Phoenix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRRG- yQdpPI U5-43 Qualcom m Welcome to the Invention Age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0TEX- BNI4 U5-44 Qualcom Now with 5G, you can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwrdM IMAGINATION OF MOBILE MEDIA THROUGH ADVERTISING 45 m QUHClk U5-45 Qualcom m First 5G data connection with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXQO ez3mcg U5-46 Qualcom m The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform is ushering in the 5G era https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmnTgn Jez24 U5-47 Qualcom m Meet Snapdragon X55 – the world’s most advanced commercial 5G modem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjQFLjQ sqAY U5-48 Qualcom m Meet Snapdragon X50 – Qualcomm Technologies' First 5G Modem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqSGyh FxQJs U5-49 Qualcom m Qualcomm’s 5G Vision https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRav7y VqRYc&t=2s U5-50 Cisco System Cisco Ultra Services Platform - 5G Ready, Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEADo _bEmG0 U5-51 Cisco System 5G? Yes. Wi-Fi 6? Yes. And only from Cisco? Yes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH4iaV yURgk U5-52 Cisco System Rakuten and Cisco: Building the Bridge to 5G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=likKx_L 1YkQ U5-53 Intel Network Transformation 5G Video | Intel Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZD2B myETeM&list=PLj- 81kG3zG5Ypq3kDwZNaLlJIZHrlVQqN&in dex=1 U5-54 Intel 5G Wireless Networks | Intel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KOMG b_L1zM U5-55 Intel Transforming the Network For 5G | Intel Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIOi_f IvWc&list=PLj- 81kG3zG5Ypq3kDwZNaLlJIZHrlVQqN&in dex=2 U5-56 Intel What is 5G? | Intel Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwqkbW FNIhU&list=PLj- 81kG3zG5Ypq3kDwZNaLlJIZHrlVQqN&in dex=11 U5-57 Intel Intel 5G Technology at the US Open https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XtQvL ZVGK8