The Bottom Rung

It is interesting how Ehrenreich did a study like thi, with making sacrifices to drop down to a lower class economic lifestyle. She wanted to feel what poverty was like, and answers the question of can you live on minimum wage (6-7 $'s an hour). Her answer is that low wages will not end poverty, she goes on about applications and what they really wanted of her, no jailtime and legally a resident. I notice she gets alittle sarcastic when she says "I have left behind so much...what i miss most is competence". Implying negative things about her co-workers. The article says that it is hte hardest to succed as compared to being and upper, middles class person or even being on welfare. Then you read Kristof and WuDunn's article about how sweatshop workers live on 1$ a day and if they get 2 then they feel blessed. And that sweatshops actually help the economy. Most Americans get the wrong idea about sweatshops, they overall help the people. Yes some of the conditrions are really bad but it means industrial revolution is now incorporated in that country and living standards will be raised. It is just funny to see the articles aside eachother for how 6-7$ a day won't keep you afloat and in East Asia 1-2$ a day is a great income.

"Pennies, Nickels, Dimes" What Can I Buy?

This is a first, but I actually like the longer reading rather than the long one. this time! I enjoyed reading Nickel-and-Dimed because it really put things into perspective for me. Reading how Barbara Ehrenreich took enough pride in her job to just leave her life to experiment what another life would be like was incredible and very courageous. It seems like a scarey task, but it kind of makes me want to do something like that. I think that if people did that, they would realize what the people living in poverty feel liek and live like. It could be a new way of understanding. That might just be what this world needs. This reading provided a lot of good facts and issues. On the other hand when I read Pennies an Hour and No Way Up, I didn't feel as interested. It basically was showing the hardships people face in sweatshops. I think that things will never change because people just don't understand.

Underpaid and Underprivileged

I found Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America”, an account on living at the poverty level in America, to be disturbing. If anything her writing made me feel kind of guilty about how I take my current financial position and education for granted. The hands on a/step into their shoes approach made this piece slightly more authentic than just throwing out statistics.

Tom Hayden’s sweatshop article, “Pennies an Hour and No Way Up”, further reinforced my feelings against the evils of foreign sweatshop labor for American companies. I find it frustrating that our government hasn’t done much lately in order to prevent such exploitation – but then again we live in George W. Bush’s America and it’s been awhile since anyone’s bashed Kathie Lee Gifford.

America is cheap

After reading the "Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America" by Barbara Ehrenreich, I was able to relate it to myself in a way. I started working at minimum wage and it took me 3 years to actually start making more to live off of. No matter how hard i would work i still couldn't get any more than a few cent raise which wasn't helping me. It was interesting to see how Ehrenreich actually went out into the work force and tried to see if she could live off of minimum wage and live in an up scale place, but she realized she wouldn't be able to afford and upscale place and had to look at places like trailors and such. In Tom Hayden and Charles Kernaghans "Pennies an Hour and No way up" it was interesting to see how lucky some of us are with the way we are paid for the work we do. Someone who spent so much time making a sweater or a type of clothing getting paid only 5cents, to find out that a retail store sells it for 17.99. Its sad to think america has become this. People should get paid right for the amount of time and effort they put in to their work. I really enjoyed reading both pieces as informative to how the american soceity is being ripped off from their work no matter how hard they might work and how much of their time they might put into their work.

Can you Survive?

In Barbara Ehrenreich's article, "Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America," she lives in the place of an article she wants to write about. I very much disagree with her because i think that just because there are low paying jobs out there, she did not find all the ways of getting help to be able to live on a low wage paying job. I feel that she did not live in the way of a low paying job life for long enough to figure out that there is alot of help out there from different programs. I guess the main reason why I have to disagree with her is because I have lived my whole life seeing my parents make low wages on their jobs and they still seemed to get by, with some bumps along the way. In Kernaghan's "Pennies an Hour and No Way Up," he talks about sweat shops and all the conditions that are involved with them. I think that it is good that people write about these issues, but I think that the fact that they exist is just wrong. There is no reason why a country would have to employ their population on such low wages. I think that Barb should take a look around and see that her experience could have been worse in a different place. Sweat shops may be wrong, but all in all, they help out the american economy and that is why many people do not say much about them.

The American Way

I found Nickels and Dimes very interesting. The author Barbara Ehrenreich acts as an anthropologist towards how poverty feels and the struggles of the everyday lives of the individuals. Ehrenreich shows how devastating it would be to live in poverty and how difficult it is to find a good paying job that can support everyday needs. Many of these people living in poverty chose to live how they live. Eventually they realize where they went wrong and want to change their lifestyle. Most of the time it is to late and they are financially out of contact with further ways to make their life better. Kids growing up in poverty today need to realize anything they want to do is possible. Hard work just has to be put forth. That’s why there are so many people living in poverty today because they've failed to put hard work in to encounter success. On the other hand I found Pennies an hour and no way up also intriguing. It is reverse in other countries the way poverty works. The people out of country work extremely hard for nothing except a couple cents an hour. The US should be ashamed of how greatly they profit off of the workers in sweatshops. In the US people living in poverty sit back and rely on welfare. These citizens to other countries work hard everyday of their life and can't rely on anything. That is where our government is going wrong.

Take a look around you lately?

As seen in Lasn's "Hype," there are more advertisements around us then I could have imagined. For there to be over 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio ads, and 200,000 TV commercials in a day. Around three thousand of them are seen by any given person a day. When you think about it, there are more ads everywhere everyday. Something I would disagree with on advertising being put there, eventhough a lot of people would see it, is advertising on the roofs of schools. Yeah, the schools could make money off of it but school is a place to learn, not to drill ads into students. On the other hand, "No Logo" by Naomi Klein talked about brands, not products. She shows that ads, on the most part do not worry about the product itself, that the consumer will buy the product based on the image that is given off by the ad or product. No matter how much the product costs, cheap or expensive, if someone thinks, or does, need it they will buy it. It helps to portray the product, when the advertisement is seen everywhere.

Wait, what's that you ask?

Oh, that’s just the sound of the American Dream being flushed

So much for the American Dream.  The streets aren’t paved with gold and there certainly aren’t any silver platters, except for the Donald Trumps, George Bushs (ugh), and any of the Kennedys.  I think it’s safe to say that, at one point in our lives, each of us were told that if we worked hard, gave it our best and that if we put our mind to it, we could do anything.  In fact, Nas told us to repeat “If I work hard at it, I'll be where I want to be” but as encouraging as it sounds, sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.

Rather than simply interview subjects or replicate statistics, Ehrenreich took the time to submit herself to the conditions that so many in America—land of the free shullbit—live in, live with, and live through.  While this wasn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last article written about the paralleling issues, it’s saddening to think…no…to know that in our lifetime this will never change.  Why would they? As long as companies can pay just enough to allow a person to afford bread and water (just enough to keep one alive and make it to work the next day) and pocket millions of dollars, things are going to remain just as they are.  It’s a dog eat dog world and someone always has to be smarter, quicker, richer and this country wasn’t built for everyone to be wealthy. As we know, money begets power, power begets respect and when you have respect there isn’t much you can’t do.

I'm ashamed to be an American sometimes...

After reading "Nickel-and-Dimed" and "Pennies an Hour and No Way Up", I felt ashamed to call myself an American. I live in the richest c0untry in the world, I have everything and more, but somehow I feel ashamed to say so. It's not morally right to make anyone, black or white, indian or chinese, to work a low-wage job just because they are not doctors, lawyers, or at a higher competency in society. How can our government not take a stand against this rational? I was devasted and shocked to read in "Pennies an Hour..." that two billion people in the world make less than two American dollars a day. Some of these people are grown adults while I'm a young teen bagger at a Genuardi's grocery store making five or more dollars then they are. Moreover, I found it interesting that Barbara Ehrenreich chose to live the life of a low-wage worker in her story," Nickel-and-Dimed." Through her article, I could relate to a lot of the things she was talking about while she was a waitress. My first money-paying job was being a busser and a hostess at a small cafe and deli back home. I remember thinking to myself about how badly the waitresses would be treated, how little they were paid for working so hard, sweating in and out of the kitchens, and especially putting up with sexual harrassment from the cooks. I guess what amazed me the most was how beautiful of a people they were despite the working class they came from. Just because your a waitress or a hotel housekeeper does not mean your personality is poor or that someone else is better than you. However, I still wish like Enrenreich says, for these people to come to know what they're really worth and stand up for themselves, they deserve better, much better.

1.6 cents..WHAT? is that possible?

In "Nickel-and-Dimed: on (Not) Getting by in America" I was amazed about how Erenreich conducted an experiment to see what it is like living on wages paid in most service jobs. She wanted to experience poverty and see how it feels to be a long term low waged worker. She lived in a rundown home, struggling to pay rent. She went on many job searches and realized how hard it was to get a job even getting paid six to seven dollars an hour. She could barely survive herself, and she couldn't possibly imagine how single mothers on welfare managed to survive. She realized she'd never be able to hold two jobs, and she couldn't even live off of one job. In the end she realized the low waged workers she had encountered were far too nice and worthy of something than to be paid such low wages. She hopes that they can realize and take appropriate action. I give her a lot of credit for doing this experiment. She is someone well off and now knows hands on what it is like to live in poverty. I know I would never be able to go through with it, lets face it money is sweet and we all love it and we all want more of it, and when we dont have any, were not happy. Maybe were all just spoiled, or lucky? Maybe theres something very wrong with this world? "Pennies an Hour and No Way up" was just very disturbing. It was information I and I'm sure many others are unaware of. A woman works very hard to sew a shirt and earns her ever so rewarding 5 cents and then America goes and sells it for $17.99! I just find it outrageous. It makes me not want to buy things because you don't know where it has come from, the "background" of the object you would like to purchase. I think it's unbelievable and yea are countries rich, but that's just messed up. Somone should do something.

I've Been Branded

First Off, I need to say good title Scott.
Now, I titled my blog "I've Been Branded" because everyday I walk around wearing the name brand clothes that I spend a lot of money on. For some reason Nike, Timberland, Enyce, and many more companies have gotten my attention and tricked me into spending more money than I need to on clothes even though I could find clothes for much less. I've been branded mentally as well because there are certain brands, like reebok and adidas, that I would never even think about buying, which in Naomi Klein's article "No Logo" shows that the company as reached me in what it is trying to do. The companies don't worry about the product one-fourth as much as they do about their "brand". I don't think I'm a walking advertisement but I've heard people say they would never wear a brand-name for that reason. As Kalle Lasn, talks about the obsurd ways of advertising in "Hype" I had to laugh at the actual things people have done. I couldn't believe that a school kid has a different advertisement shaved into his head for everyone else to see, or how a company is trying to get a advertisement to go into orbit. I personally think that advertising is becoming complete bullshit and has ruined much of our cultural landscape in the country. The only problem is the companies aren't going to change and we the consumers will probably see an advertisement for something we like and go out and buy it.

Advertising Sucks

Advertising is everywhere. What else is new? This is not something new to our generation, we've all grown up on the commercials and the snappy signature lines from our favorite fast food place. "Have you had your break today?" I think it's probable that most of us can identify that one as being the McDonalds logo. "Hype" by Kalle Lasn clearly shows the pent up fustration she has had with these ads consuming our daily lives.
"You reach down to pull your golf ball out of the hole and there, at the bottom of the cup, is an as for a brokerage firm. You fill your car with gas, there's an ad on the nozzle. You wait for your bank machine to spit out money and an as pushing GIC's scrolls by in the little window." (Lasn 200)
It doesn't stop there, Kalle goes on for another page about different advertisments. This article is perfectly acceptable in venting her annoyence with advertisers, however, Naomi Klein's article "No Logo" is just unacceptable. The need for a complete history of advertising and branding or a stunning incidence like "Marlboro friday" is not so stunning. We all know about the dark secrets of brand name companies making our clothes or whatever it is that we buy for under 5 cents, and yeh we buy the stuff anyway for absurd amounts of money. This will never change, the need for brand names is too demanding today. Most kids want to be seen wearing the expensive name brand clothing. Most people will pick Pepsi over Weis Coke. The advertising industry will always come up with new different schemes to making us chose their product. Whether it be from making an inhuman object have a personality to the catchy music behind a coffee commercial, we are stuck in the advertising world and that's it. Short and simple fustration is all we need with the brand name advertising world.

Could you live off of making less than $2.00 a day?

Nickel-and-Dimed:On (Not) Getting By in America- I found this piece interesting that Ehrenreich stopped living her life of wealth and money to see what it was like to live off of wages of most service jobs (about 6 or 7 dollars an hour). It was harder than she thought to even find a job, and when she did it did not pay a lot. Ehrenreich did not understand how people on welfare or single mothers can even survive. Ehrenreich completed her study and noted that the people she met were too nice, funny and caring to make such low wages. People in need to stand up for themselves and do something about it!
Pennies an Hour and No Way Up- "Two billion people in the world make less than two American dollars a day" (Hayden, 385) Could you live off of that? I know there is no way I could. After reading this piece I found it interesting what people in such places like Bangladesh and China earned as their wages. Female workers in Bangladesh made 1.6 cents for each cap they sewed. Is that fair? Chinese woman made as low as 12 cents an hour to make 80% of sport goods and toys sold in the US. Is that fair? Hayden and Kernaghan were right when they said something needs to be done to change these facts. The changes need to happen in the US itself!

F*ck advertising

Now that i've got your attention, the article "No Logo" by Naomi Klein gave an insight into the world of brands as opposed to products and how you aren't selling the actual item but an image that it portrays. The brand has to seem appealing to all and necessary in your life, this is what sells no matter how cheaply made the product should be. Not only that you need the image to be seen everywhere, from the bathroom to the bus, it is disgusting, how many times do i need to see the marlboro man through my daily routine. "Hype" by Kalle Lasn makes these points in her writing about how sick she also is of this cramming of images of miracle products down our throats. She also states that we are so enthralled by this marketing that we don't see how absurd it is, and possibly we are blinded by the hype. In closing i agree that it is annoying until you take a step back and finally look at what is going on around you, but by tomorrow

as i turn on the tv and see a beer commercial with countless model girls i'll forget all about how redundant the commercial is.

Advertising Frenzy!

Advertising controls our TV, radios, roadsides, newspapers, and magazines. Today's world is obsessed with the constant competition of brand names. "Hype" by Kalle Lasn and "No Logo" by Naomi Klein both talk about how advertisements are a huge part of our every day lives. Advertisements are "dumped" into North America's collective unconscious in huge amounts each and every day. Lasn` essay more describes the history of advertising and the evolution of the whole ordeal. Both authors make the same point about the way advertising gets into our heads by the constant repetetivness of each ad. No matter which way your eyes look they will come across at least one or more ads in a matter of minutes. Advertising is about hawking products ( Lasn 246). Ads are seen as a way for poeple to buy thier product but in reality most people find advertising to be an annoyance, I know I feel that way. When paying $35 for a little T-shirt that says, for example, Hollister is a ridiculous price, but along with buying that shirt you are now a free advertisment for their company brand which many people do not realize.

The "Brand Wagon"

The corporations of today’s market, perform their market practices very different from over twenty years ago. Before the mid “1980’s, manufacturer’s only focused on the production of goods. But now, the sellers are aware that consumers don’t really believe there are any differences between the products a company sells and its competitors. With this in mind, companies don’t worry about the quality of their product but rather the marketing strategies and image behind their products. Some company’s like Nike, for example, spend over $250 million dollars annually on marketing. But company’s like Nike don’t even manufacture their products but instead have international contractor’s make all their products for them. So the only thing Nike does is work on what is called its “Brand Name”. It has come to the point, that the corporations who have the fewest on payroll but produce the most powerful images, instead of their products, gain the most wealth and recognition. These corporations have also taking their advertising strategies to a whole new level. Not only are their ads confined to the usual places like the billboards and buses, but Corporate America has found new and creative ways to advertise their products to the general public. They have put up ads anywhere your eyes can possibly come to rest from selling billboards on top of public schools so airliners can see them from above to IBM beaming there logo into the clouds above San Francisco.

HyPe & No LoGo...WhAtS ThE DiFfErEnCe!?

It seemed as though both short stories tied right in with each other. In "Hype" by Kalle Lasn, she expressed deeply how advertisements are the main mental pollutions in this world today. We can thank the radio, billboards, and television for most of that. It's said that corporate advertising is the largest single psychological project. But on the other hand in "No Logo" by Naomi Klein, she talked about how corporations became extremely oversized and owned too much, employed too many people, and became weighed down with too many things. There she stated the obvious. In the world today corporations that are successful have to produce brands, not products. That seems out of touch with the good old traditional way. Klein said, "Corporations dont produce products and advertise them, they buy products and brand them." After reading both stories I understood what's really going on out there and how things have changed over the years. What's going to be next?

Have you advertised anything lately?

So if the answer to my question was no...I'm sorry but you are sadly mistaken. Without being to envasivel, what are you wearing today? Are you wearing a shirt that says Abercrombie, American Eagle, or Aeropostale? Did you have coffee this morning from your local coffee house or gas station for that matter? Did the cup say the name of that coffee house, or the brand of coffee? Are you wearing a pair of shoes? are they nike or addidas? If you answered yes to any of these question, you have been advirtising, and you've probably been doing it since you were little. I know that most people who whatch there favorite television show have said more than once " I hate Commercials" who wouldn't they take up almost 15 minutes of your favorite show that you wait every week for! But how many times has a Taco Bell commercial came on at like 8 O'clock at night and you're like " Boy I'm hungry" " O they have a late night drive through" " I could go for some tacos after this show" you actually gave it thought to go out and spend your money on tacos even though you probably have food in your kitchen cabinets that you can have.
"Hype" was a great story it really showed me how big advirtising is. Really, think about it! Everywhere you go, you see something that says " buy me, try me". Right? You're in the car, on the bus, whatching TV, shopping, or eating. Those advirtising people are always out to get more money! Companies have great ways to get you to buy. How about NIKE and the ever popular SWOOSH. Everyone wanted to swoosh at one time. In the Story Hype, she shows that all this advirtings is really just hype. To quote " There is nowhere to run. N oone is exemt and no one will be spared..." Kalle Lasn HYPE pg. 201.

Adveristment

I found both Hype and No-Logo very interesting. No-Logo was a very informative piece that talked about the advertising market in the mid 80's leading to the 90s and how they dealt with problems such as "marlboro friday". It was interesting to see how with the announcement that marlboro was going to cut their prices 20 %. It showed how the different companies dealt with it and how some suffered and eventually fell apart, but how others are still surviving today. With Hype it was very short and to the point. It was interesting to read about how places such as schools would allow adverisers to place their advertisment on the roof of the school just to get a profit from it. I found it funny when they talked about all the places that have advertisments now like in bathrooms but its the honest truth, advertisers will go to get lengths to get their product out their in the publics eye. If you really think about it advertisment is everywhere and there is no stopping it.

Marketing Strategies

In today's society advertisements and brand names have taken over our culture. Corporations spend billions of dollars a year planning out there advertisement strategies. They spend more time on advertising than developing the product they are actually selling. Businesses such as Coke-a-cola, Nike, and Starbucks truly believe that the product they are selling is not just a piece of merchandise but it is "a way of life, attitude, a set of values, a look, and an idea." ( Logo 247). The billions of dollars spent each year have not gone unnoticed. "Everyday an estimated 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials are dumped into North America's collective pollution flood. " ( Lasn 199) This type of marketing strategies seem to work on America's youth. Working at a retailer myself, I have noticed that its not the quality of the clothing that makes teens buy them, but the brand they are wearing and how well known it is through out society.