I Hate Advertisments

Advertisment today is more obnoxious then decades ago, when a cute and fuzzy polar bear carried a coke in his hand with a cute fuzzy smile on his face. Today on tv, I feel like all I see is a half-naked girl on the screen singing a terrible song about a new soda called "Fanta." What has gone wrong in corporate societies? I can give you a few answers to this question. Many people are attracted to expensive, rich, and popular materials of society because the stars advocate for these "special" produts. And most people want to be like the stars, so they will go to any extent to be more attractive as them, so they buy these products. I however, cannot tell the different between an "American Eagle" sweater or a "Kmart" sweater or J-lo earings from Ann Klein earrings. Corporations today are making so much money by the brand name. People are attracted to brand names. Unlike myself, many people that I know are dressed head to toe in Holllister, J-Crew, or carrying imitation purses. What is the difference between Hollister, or Target, or even Fashion Bug? I have no idea, to be quite honest. What I do know is that advertising is contagious and it's everywhere. In particular, I could be eating a delicious candy bar, and on the back of the candy bar is an advertisement for a theme park or a sweepstake. I mean c'mon, just let me eat my candy bar. I don't think while I'm dreaming of eating this chocolate at the moment, I'm thinking about riding down a water slide at a theme park at the same time, however I begin to think about that. This is the main idea of advertising, to get people to think about their products or adds to the point where they become attracted to that product or idea. For example, on tv, I watch more commercials then an actual show. From hair products to the best alketzer tabs for your toilets, I end up watching it somehow. These commercials in the end have me mesmorized because of how pointless some of them really are. Furthermore, today you see more stars in commercials on television, such as Jessica Simpson supporting the use of Pro-Active for "amazing" new skin or pro football players and campbell soup. Advertising is everywhere, you just can't escape it! And quite frankly I hate it! I'm sorry!

hype was appropriately titled

Kalle Lasn's highly opinionated piece is just that, hype, with a good amount of paranoia as well. Kalle suggests that advertising is a massive and psychologically damaging expirement. He seems offended that ads are appearing in new creative places, his apocalyptic messege at the end (nowhere to run... now i hear the oscar meyer song) is absurd, get a grip.

I didnt have a problem with the "No Logo" piece it seemed mostly informative, if there was an opinion in there i missed it. That means its probly in this book to make sure I sparked my own opinion on the subject, and my opinion was, and still is, as follows. "If a corporation is big and makes billions of dollars, somebody had to be pretty smart and hard working to get it that way, if they can make money without manufacturing anything and/or by minimizing there production cost, good for them, really they deserve it.

So What Advertisements have you seen today?

Ideas have deveopled in the mid 1980's that have influenced the growth of wealth in multinational corporations. They have strongly impacted the "product" into becomming a "Brand Name." This innocuous idea has made people buy products not because of their good quality but because of it's "Brand Name." It has come to the point in corporations that the ones that have the fewest employees on the payroll but produce the most powerful images instead of products, gain more wealth and recognition. Whatever happened to buying a product because it is high quality? It amazes me for example that a ripped "abercrombie & fitch" pair of jeans costs like $85.00 as opposed to a regular pair of jeans at lets say Khols cost 20 to $30.00. And you know more people are likely to buy the "ripped" ones by abercrombie. I admit the style is trendy but I have never been caught buying them at that price. Why not buy a cheap pair of jeans and rip them yourselves? It's a lot cheaper. Okay well I'm getting off the topic. A lot of these companies are gaining wealth because of the amount of advertisements you see everyday. Everywhere you go there are advertisements, and I haven't really realized that until now. I find it somewhat sad that that's what our world is made up of. Notice that all the male models for Abercrombie & Fitch are somewhat delicious looking, that in a way persuades some males to buy those clothes because ya know maybe they might make you good looking too. But anyway, it's crazy how much advertising there is, like even in the bathrooms, shaved into people's heads, stuck on banana's, dyed logos on eggs, and even in the clouds! Corporations tend to put advertisements everywhere that is viewable for us to see, and that's a lot of places!

Advertisement in America

The Astronomical wealth has grown greatly since with mid-1980s. Industrial economies have increased greatly by producing materials later known as "Name Brand." Rather than buying the better products, people chose to go for the name brand material. Advertising logos has taken all the store keeper material off the shelf while the name brand products are gaining more recognition. These brands have attributed to early cultures and slowly but surely became a great part of what we buy today. Do you know how much money these company's make? It's unreal thinking about how much profit they get off of our stupidity. Major reasons for these brands to be advertised so heavily are the amount of advertisement that’s in are world today. Corporate advertising is the is the largest psychological problem ever undertaken by the human race. 200,000 commercials are displayed in North America daily. That is a great number and part of the reason we learn so much about what is being advertised. Everywhere we go advertisements are around. Corporate American puts advertisements anywhere our eyes are going to be.

Hype vs. No Logo

I first wanted to say I found both articles interesting...
No Logo- This article shows that companies are trying to "win the race" of owning the least, having fewest employees and producing the most powerful images opposed to products. Advertising changed a lot from delivering product news to now a specific brand name. I never really thought about how much consumers go for their favorite brands instead of really thinking about the product. It use to be about designing products but in today's society it is about selling the brand of the product. Crazy to think that we buy something because of the brand it is instead of actually finding the product we like the best!
Hype- "12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials..." (Lasn, 199) That is crazy! I never thought about how much advertising is in our everyday lives. I found this piece very interesting because it is something that most people don't even think about. It shows advertising is actually a huge part of our everyday lives. I think the best example given was the boy who shaved his hair for different advertisement every few weeks!

Hype & No Logo

Hype i found interesting, It talked about mental pllution, wich i took to mean how we read advertisements every day, the seller puts into our head what they want to think about there product. Lasn talks about all the places that there are bilboards, driving to work, walking down the street, and now even in the bathroom's. It makes you think about how many places there really are bilboards, i never thought about it before i read this article but they really are all over the place.

No Logo, was more drawn out talking about how brand's started, rumors about brand's that were not true got spread around, how advertisement changed, they used to build an image about a product now they build an image around a particular brand name. It talks about how products may go down, then the brands come back. Klein also talks about marlboro Friday , where Marlboro announced they would cut tehre prices 20%.

"Hype" and "No Logo" Response

I'm pretty sure this is due today...

I found the shorter article "Hype" to be very interesting since it had several ties to my “Literacies” paper. I find the whole issue of the psychology behind advertisement to be rather intriguing.

The article "No Logo" seemed to be a giant slap in the face to corporate marketing from the mid-80's to the present. I think Klein's article was a very well thought out analysis of what happened as a result of Marlboro Friday. Her theory of the two different types of brand corporations (the Wal-Marts vs. the Nikes) made a lot of sense. Of course the whole thing is entirely biased since Naomi Klein is renowned for being anti-corporate, but it is hard to ignore the several nuggets of truth presented in her article.

Abstract

My thesis going to be on why children have struggle with language in school and how educators are trying to help them. I came across this topic when I was reading Lisa Delpit's "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" compared to when I previously read Min-Zhan Lu's, "From Silence To Words: Writing as Struggle". I decided to do this topic because when comparing the two I thought Lu as a child learned Chinese and Standard English eventhough she rarely spoke it while in Delpit's the black kids were having trouble writing and reading in Standard English even though they had to speak it almost all the time.

Abstract

As a main argument for this paper, I would like to talk about the issues of education in today’s society. I will use the stories “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” by Min-Zhan Lu and “Skills and other Dilemmas of a Progressive black Educator”. In Lu’s story she grows up and attends school during the communist revolution in china, but under Lu’s household she gets taught a western education by her parents. Her western education almost turns out bad for her because the government bans English from the country and becomes enemies with England and the U.S. In Delpit’s story she struggles with her teaching style because when she’s teaches in an open classroom her black students don’t do well while her white students excel. In her traditional setting her black students do decent but her white students still excel. I will also talk about how the similarities and differences between Lu’s and Delpit’s pieces and any way I can relate the two pieces to each other.

Abstract

I would have to say my argument is basically to stress that society and other factors in your life effect your education and your way of thinking. I will point out Lu's gov't situation as a main force as well as Jordan's issue wiht the death of Willie Jordans brother and it's impact. The argument of these things is very important because ifr not for these events then it is a completely different situation with a completely different outcome.

an abstract or something like it...

i'm not very good at writing abstracts so any advice would be appreciated!

this paper will address the topic of interest, dialects within in the English language, by using arguments from essays by June Jordan and Lisa Delpit, as well as examples from Black and Redneck English. the arguments will be delievered point by point, followed by a summary of the points given and a generalized conclusion that encompasses the two standpoints given. the questions raised by the authors of the essays, as well as myself, are the following: should other dialects of English be taught and why and how this should be approached, what impact would this have on the students and our culture as a whole, and is this debasing Standard English?

Abstract

My paper is about the very idea of culture and how Raymond Williams and Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen define the culture we live in today. Raymond Williams used his personal story to try and give a sense of what culture is which gave me the idea of using "In the shadow of the Image" to try and compare the authors ideas of culture. The authors are both correct because Williams lays down the aspects of a single culture while the Ewens try and give ideas about popular culture and the effects of commercial images. Raymond Williams does not use any ideas of popular culture in his story, his story was about defining the culture he lived in and how eventually over time the new ideas around his culture affected his community and made for change. I feel between the two stories that in the end I will be able to develop my idea of culture as I know from living and dealing with commercial images.

Abstract.

I think that my thesis for this paper would be focused on the fact that sometimes people need to accomadate there literacy skills to anothers in different social situations. The two stories i'm basing my paper around is Min-Zha Lu's " From silence to words: Writing as stuggles" and Gloria Anzalua's piece " How to tame a wild tounge". I"m compairing the fact that both auothers needed to adapt to different situations and how they use different languages in those situations. In Gloria's piece she tells us how difficult it was to adapt to using different forms of her chicano spanish language. In Lu's piece she disscusses how she tried to deal with all the simialar words in english and chineese. She also shows us how hard it was to go back and forth. Although these works are simialr they also have thier differences. Although Lu had to speak three languages she really only had to speak one, her family is the one who made her speak english. Gloria on the other hand had to learn different languages or dialects to make it through different situations in her story.


Hope this is right...wasn't in class last wednesday!

Abstract

My paper is based on individuality. I believe that Jordan and Delpit show strength in what they believe in. Both authors tried to pursue something they felt strongly about. Jordan and Delpit were treated like they had no place in the world for what they wanted the most. All they wanted was to succeed, for others and themselves. The world can sometimes be opened or closed more so to a certain group of people than another. I feel that they should be recognized for their great efforts. I think this argument is significant because its based around morals and common sense.

Abstract

Did we even get into a discussion of how to write abstracts last Wednesday?

My main arguement of my paper was that anyone can be literate and get over obstacles that come in the way of being literate. I realize it's not much of an arguement but still, I tried using Rose and Lu's essays to point out how the people in there stories were literate, because literate, became better at literacy even though they may have had trouble along the way. I guess my arguement is significant because I don't believe most people have a reason for being illiterate when they've been given the opportunity to go to public school. At least in America, nearly everyone is given the opportunity. These people got through there difficulties.

Abstract

I am thinking that a thesis for this paper would focus on the language barriers that one my face which leads to motivate one to either go back to school or to further their education past the normal requirement. I will be focusing on two litterary pieces, Mike Rose "Crossing Boundaries" and Min Zhan-Lu "From Silence to Words: Writing As Struggle" to help prove my argument. Mike Rose, talks about adults who are returning to school after being out in the society. These adults have realized that life without literacy is hard and that they can acheive much more with a better education. His students are extemely motivated and are willing to come back to school to learn the basics of the American language. Min Zahn-Lu talks about her own struggles with language and how by knowing two languages between two spilt cultures is difficult and confusing. She descirbes being consistently frustrated while trying to decide which language she should be using at what time. Both authors are discussing barriers but Rose is referring to the lack of knowledge towards literacy among adults and Lu is discussing how too much language can be just as confusing.

Abstract

It is my intent with this essay to demonstrate the influence of external social pressures on literacy. By paralleling Min-Zhan Lu’s “From Silence to Words: Writing as a Struggle” with Stuart and Elizabeth Ewens’ “In the Shadow of the Image” I will elaborate on the impact of continuous exposure to propaganda and peer pressure have not only on a person’s literacy, but also a person’s own identity. Lu’s essay illustrates her internal struggle with literacy and identity while trying to please both her Western cultured family and Chinese communist society. Her difficulty trying to decide her position on various issues under the constant bombarding ideas from her family and her school is similar to the struggle the typical consumers face in the Ewens’ article. The idea that these pressures from our environment can become ingrained into our subconscious is a very applicable concept to everyday life that deserves to be examined more thoroughly.

Abstract

Ok i'm never good at writing abstracts but here goes nothing:

In my paper I am going to talk about "Note-passing" and "In the shadow of the image". My thesis is going to show that whether its one perticular group of a school or a entire society of a school, similarities and differences will always arise causing the stress in any teenagers life. Both Finders and Ewens stories can relate to the lives of teenagers. Differences that they both have are Finders only decides to talk about one group of girls in a typical school, Ewens story of images can relate to teenagers but on a larger scale. Similar elements that they both have that can be brought up are how teenage lives can be affected by both note-passing and by the advertisment in todays society.

Hope i did this right

In my paper, I am going to dissect "The Shadow of the Image," and "Notepassing:Struggles for Status," by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewens and Margaret Finders. The thesis or argument of my paper will focus on how both these writers unique writing styles demonstrate how society today, especially cultured is highly influenced by language. Moreover, language today has changed in the last decade among adolescents and adults throughout the world. To add a creative twist to my paper, I decided to provide readers with concrete images and examples of how the Ewens and Margaret Finders describe literacy today. Furthermore, like the Ewens, I will wrote short paragraphs depicting stories of colorful images such as "The morning sun shines on the red-tan forehead of Billy O-Conner," (Ewens, 182) Also, I created a "note" of how teenagers express themselves today in their own language, such as Margaret Finders discussed in her essay, "yo! what's up?" (Finders, 131). Lastly, examples such as these, and explanations of these authors stories will tie into the core of my paper and how images and language effect society and culture as a whole today.

Abstract

My main argument for this paper is going to be that there should not be standards of languages in any society. The two articles I will be using for this show examples in which two different scinarios brought up problems of using different languages. The two articles are June Jordan's "Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan" and Min-Zhan Lu's "From Silence to Words: Writing as a struggle." In Jordan's text, she explains how her class used black English. Her students were reading a story in black english called "The Color Purple." While they were reading this, Willie Jordan, a student in the class, his brother was killed by the Brooklyn police. June Jordan thought it was appropriate that they write a letter to the police station using Black english. Through it all, the community, overall, rejected the use of the language and the reasons that were presented in the letter. In Lu's article, she tells about herself and how she went through some hard times as a youth using two languages. She lived in China and was taught to only use Chinese in school. Her parents then taught her the "western language," or simply English. SHe had a hard time not using English once and awhile in school and was punished for it. Lu did not see why this was happening and felt that it was okay for her to be using it. Lu later on became an English teacher. There is not a real big significance surrounding my argument, other than the fact that there should be no language barriers or standards in any society.