Black Friday and Cyber Monday... Consumerism at its Finest

You all know what I am talking about.  The days that follow Thanksgiving are supreme shopping days.  The most popular of these days are black Friday and cyber Monday.  While home on break I must have seen 30 commercials for Wal-Mart black Friday sales within an hour time span.  It was absolutely nuts! I understand that we are in a recession and retailers have to make their money, but come on now, do advertisers really need to shove it in our faces?  It kind of makes me want to avoid Wal-mart all together.  Cyber Monday commercials are not much better.  I saw like 10 of them within the hour.  Again, NUTS!  It is almost as if holiday shopping has become a religion.  Some stores have even went  as far as to open their doors on Thanksgiving night.  So much for celebrating the holiday with family.  The most depressing part of the whole thing was the fact that most of the stores that were opening Thanksgiving night were those that targeted children, like Toys R Us and Wal-mart.  What the heck is this teaching kids...for real1

Why is sexual assault still so prevalent in today's society?

In one of my other classes, we were talking about the prevalence of sexual assaults on college campuses nationwide. The stats are absolutely mind- boggling!  According to 2009 stats, 1 in every 5 students is sexually assaulted!  This is just wrong!  After I heard this startling stat, and I wondered why the media does not take a more active roll to bring more of an awareness to this issue.  I know that the media alway reports when a girl has been sexually assault should, but I have to wonder why they do not report on the positivity that some colleges are doing in order to raise awareness.  I feel like of more people know the positive steps some colleges are taking, people would feel as bad or ashamed to talk about it!  The media could help out with this.  Let's say AACC does an event to raise awareness, we could get the media involved in the positivity, because the more that people know about it, the more people could know about how to help victims  who have struggled to talk about what happened.  There would also be less of a stigma attached to sexual assault. It is important to remember that no one is alone.  Help spread the word!!!    

How "real" is "reality" televison?

I was really bored at home the other day, so I decided to watch some T.V.   I was flipping through, and I saw all kinds of reality shows being advertised.  I started to notice that within the genre of "reality T.V.", there are different themes that these different show want to covey.  One of the biggest themes is the theme of finding love and relationships.  There are so many reality shows out there that are all about finding love. For example, The Bachelorette and The Bachelor, take something so personal like dating and make it a spectacle.  Other themes reality shows convey the the theme of survival the attitudes of others.  These shows also put an emphasis on money and power. Another big theme in reality T.V is the theme of the perfect wedding.  There are are no less than 4 different wedding reality shows on T.V. today. From "Bridezilla's" to "Say Yes to the Dress"  After thinking about the wedding piece that we read, this makes total sense!  A wedding is supposed to be the most beautiful day of a bride's life, and these types of reality shows make it certain that brides will.  Especially in the case of "Bridezillas" Brides will do anything to be perfect-- no matter who they piss off in the process!

The Fascination With Celebrity Weddings

After reading the knot article in our textbook, it got me thinking.... Why is the American public so obsessed with celebrity weddings, or even celebrity relationships in general?  Well, that answer is simple celebrity weddings are a spectacle, As Americans we love to see all the money that is put into a rather lavish wedding.  Case in point, the wedding of Kim Kardashian!  I believe it also has to do with the fact that the average American could never afford to have the type of wedding that Kim had, therefore we like to live vicariously through these celebrities.  From the celebrities point of view though, I get what they are trying to prove, but why do they feel they have to go so extravagantly.  It's like, we all know you are a freaking celebrity, no need to rub in in our faces!  The fact that E! News makes a whole special about it, just because Keeping Up With the Kardashians   is on that network is absolutely absurd!  talk about subliminal advertisement!  I believe now a days it is way to easy for celebrities to split up without giving it a second thought, but yet they complain when a tabloid reports a breakup?  Make up your mind people!  What do you want?  Do you want us to view you as a spectacle or leave you alone?

The Price of Beauty

I was thinking about our discussion in class about how other cultures view beauty.  I found it quite interesting that in asian cultures, many people use whitening creams in order to make themselves look more  white.  In contrast, Americans will go to lengths to become more tan.  What is even more interesting though is the role that the media plays in our obsession with weight.  We all the stereotype, the 6' tall blonde who looks emaciated.  I have to wonder why in some countries it is seen as attractive to be fat. Like in Uganda. In this country, It is customary for a bride to go in a "fattening hut"  This is to symbolize riches because food is plentiful.  In Uganda, the motto is "the fatter the better"  I wonder how other countries would feel if they knew about this!  It is definitely a culture shock for me!  In contrast to Uganda, it is customary in Paris for models to be rail thin, almost to the point that they look like a ghost.  In my opinion, there has got to be a happy medium here!

Football Queen

I was watching television the other day, and I saw a news story that was relevant to our class.  It was about a soccer player from Michigan who had played soccer since she was little.  She was on the team at here high school.  She was so good on the soccer field, that even the football coach stood up and took notice!  After that, she was on the high school football team as the kicker!  This is a total reversal of gender roles.  That was not the most interesting part though.  It was the night of her high school's homecoming dance and football game.  During half time of the homecoming game, she was crowed homecoming queen! What made this night even more memorable,was that this girl kicked the winning field goal.  I thought that this was interesting because football is traditionally seen as a "manly" sport.  Also, sometimes the media places the stigma on woman that they are seen as the "prim and proper" ones.  Who says that girls cant play football?!  I believe that this girls story sends a clear message to the media, that is, stop putting such an emphasis on gender roles, it is OK to break out of the box!     

Portrayal of men in commercials

I was flipping through the T.V. the other day, and I saw this commercial.  I thought nothing of it, but my dad over heard and then promptly said to me, "I hate this damn commercial"  (at this point, I had not seen it before)  after watching it I could see why it bothered my dad, it makes men really look like idiots!  In the commercial the woman is on the phone talking about he diet, and she says she has eaten all these desserts. She then tells the woman she is on the phone that she always keeps it in the house.  The husband than goes to look for all the desserts without realizing that she was talking about a yogurt. This is one of the most obvious commercial that makes men look really stupid.  I guess advertisers do this because they want woman to feel that they are actually the dominate people in society, instead of the male being the dominate person in society.  Most men think they are the latter!