Unwanted Solitude

Relating Social Theories to Changes in Behavior You’ve Made in Your Life.

Lena — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:37:13 +0000

I have made a few major, everlasting changes in my life the past few years. After my aunt passed away this past April from cancer, I felt it crucial that I start taking my life and health to a completely new level. My aunts not the first in my family to be taken by this incurable disease, my grandparents and another one of my aunts fell victim to this as well. I had to put my foot down. I refuse to potential get infected by something like this. Life is too short, for an individual to not try to prevent this. My awareness to the severity of cancer had been with me since I was a child. I knew that many older people had it. However, what I did not find out until I was older (thanks to the Breast Cancer Awareness ads) was that young people got cancer too, cancer is curable and you could prevent it. So I took it upon myself as a young adult to get examined and make sure my diet was steady, my emotional state balanced, and my mind was filled with positive things. I see so many people fight this disease and it is encouraging. The message my family and these ads sent out was that there is hope and a way to get better and live a long and healthy life. I have kept this mentality about my health, diet and lifestyle for 4 years now. I go to the gym on a daily basis and I eat many organic and rich foods. I donate money to the American Breast Cancer associations and I must admit I have purchased pink tennis balls from “Wilson” to help contribute in the fight against Cancer. So I guess I succeeded in the five steps in the behavior change process: awareness, knowledge and beliefs, behavioral skills, self-efficiency and supports for sustaining the changes. It takes a lot of time and effort to really change your self and influence the lives of those around you.

Old Blog *”Riders on the Storm” & “Perception of Doors”

Lena — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:31:39 +0000

The two articles basically frowned upon corporate use of music for commercial use. Perception of doors was more negative in terms of song usage in ads. I felt “Riders” had more of an unbiased approach in getting their point across.

Dangerous Beauty

Lena — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:26:16 +0000

My trip to the Chelsea Art Museum was enlightening. I went there believing I would be bombarded with stereotypical criticisms about beauty and the media but instead i found myself in the epicenter of creative expression. I enjoyed the exhibit and all the art work. I felt it was a powerful presentation that was moving. My favorite part of the exhibit was the woman drinking water . After watching it for about 5 minutes, I found myself intrigued. I walked across the room to see the same image of the woman, only she was trapped inside a fish net. The symbolism behind that,” Ideal beauty is saturated in the media” , was a very innovative way of going about this issue of “Beauty and Consumerism”. Although there were many disturbing images decorating the walls of the exhibit, I found truth in the art and displays. One image that really got me itching was the deflated and inflated breast implants. I just kept thinking ” You go through all that pain to look acceptable and something like this happens..” It got me questioning my stand on beauty. The images on the second floor weren’t sugarcoated either. There was alot of plastic surgery pictures, before and after pictures. I guess I was really effected because I was looking into having a few things done after school. After seeing the images, I was so disgusted I didn’t know what to think and I still don’t know what to think . The media presents these cosmetic surgeries as a simple nip/tuck procedures. There are so many unpredictable side effects that could really damage a persons esteem and confidence level. The “Dangerous Beauty ” exhibit just got me thinking ” Is it worth it all ?” and ” What is real beauty to me ?” Subject matters that have always been around me, but I always took lightly.

College Binge drinking

Lena — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:12:41 +0000

There has been an increase in severity regarding college binge drinking. It is important for the media not to label alcohol as a past time. Millions of students nation wide join fraternities, sororities, go to bars, clubs, and other places where the prominent activity is drinking. In my opinion, the idea of drinking does not satisfy any internal desire. the problem is most evident on campuses and dormitories all over the US . People use alcohol as a means to fit in , socialize, be accepted and/or cope. Majority of my friends who attend CUNY’s and private universities say they were pushed into drinking by peers who said ” beer doesn’t taste good, but youll get used to it ” (anonymous). College binge drinking has been addressed in many media outlets including magazines, television and film. On lifetime, a movie aired called ” The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker”. Lifetime’s showing of this movie was a great idea because the demographies of this network is predominantly women, many of whom are married with children. This will encourage mroe women to be more aware and alert about the environment in which some of their kids might be exposed to . This related to the idea discussed in previous classes ” Does society mirror the media or does the media mirror society?”. Is college binge drinking being accurately portrayed in the media? Or is it not revealign enough? In the reading for College binge drinking, it discusses the new laws and regulations that have been placed in many university towns and schools. Some include zero tolerance for bingers, a ban or decrease in the amount of advertisments related to college and drinking and even some regulations prohibit kegs. These are all great steps to help decrease college binge drinking, but I don’t think these are the catalyst to the change. I believe that society and the community must be the informants of these messages. Families and schools at a younger age must propagate the dangers of too much alcohol consumption. I think this image of college as being a place to party and get wasted every night is strongly supported by former grads, society and the media. In recent years, the dangers of college binge drinking have increasely taken a toll on students and the community. Fortunately, more and more awareness is being brought to this issue. Organizations like ” Mothers Against Drunk Driving” help push a movement to promote the general wellfare of the people and make the people more aware of the fatality in drinking under the influence.

expression of individuality- commercial

Lena — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:30:40 +0000

I found this Chanel ad featuring Nicole Kidman.At first, I wasn’t sure if it applied to this assignment but when I took a closer look, I felt it was a prime example of expression of individuality. I felt the message here was Chanel liberates a woman. She is an individual with distinct, memorable qualities that people around here won’t forget. ” I love to dance” comment in the commercial, to me , implied that this product made a woman feel like she can be and do anything. I think this commercial represented the repressed individual from society. The perfume was a catalyst to her liberation from the pressure she had felt from the media, society and everyone around her. This Chanel perfume made her feel alive, fall in love and it created an identity. Every woman who wears Chanel should find themselves in Chanel.



Hey I responded to 2 of my classmates blogs ;)
Lena — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:50:52 +0000
 Sophia Kim and Jennifer Miller… really interesting Blogs .. sorry its late .. i couldnt figure out how to get my classmates blog pages..but now i do   …
-lena

         


The Century of the Self
Lena — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:33:47 +0000
After watching the episodes about Freud , Bernays and Reiche I felt very enlightened. I found it interesting how acceptance in society was and still is a huge issue. I liked Anna Freud’s bias in conforming was her motive to in her research and study,how she felt that conforming the inner self and changing the outside environment would help the ego. I think that is an ideal situation but it obvious wasn’t enough to help the masses out like Reiche’s movement ( if you can call it that ). The idea that conformity was bad works in our diverse society. This country has many cultures for social conformity to work. I like how sociologist after Rieche really propagated this idea of not conforming and standing up and being an individual. Individualism was what post-industrial societies were moving toward on a professional state level. This is wear people became individualized and specialized in their profession. Socialogist like Marx and Durkheim held close this idea of social unity. Like Freud , conformity made is easier to interact with other people, be happier and fulfill your state duties. In Europe we see this today with a number amount of unions that work together to benefit the masses and change laws. The individualistic ideology came to play in the 60′s -70′s where people had enough conformity. sociologist began looking into this and found the results outstanding. Living in a very work orientated society , the idea of social  individualism only makes sense. People can’t be conformed in this type of diverse society. The idea of conformity was looked down upon in a political light because of the scare of communism. Even President Reagen preached individualism. This seemed to work in the masses in the US. And with this new kind of self-liberation, corporations began to market people in categories that helped sell products to different types of people. Maybe this is where labeling and stereotyping began ? I think the a combination of Freud’s idea of conformity and later socialist like Reiche with the idea of “Self-liberation” is a healthy way of living. I found these episodes very interesting and educational. There was so much more I did not touch upon that was present in the episodes but this is the basic idea of the film.
P.S. I like how corporations need sociologist and an immense understanding of the people to really prosper. Very interesting how Bernays used his uncle Freud’s advice to really aid in the selling of products for corporations by changing society ( liberty girls/lucky strikes).

         


Sexism and Sexuality in Advertising
Lena — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:01:10 +0000
So here I am reading this article and I find it quite pessimistic. I understand “Sex Sells” and both men and women alike are being misconstrude as sex-crazed individuals with perfect 10 bodies. In my opinion, i think that the advertising industry has created a new genre of art and design, the human body. I think that the 120lbs , 5’10 women that are ont he covers of high fashion magazine should be seen as art. Think about it only 5 % of americans are born naturally thin. That to me is a rarity and rarity equals beauty and intrigue. Now its not to say i am encouraging eating disorders or am saying that should be the standard that we measure beauty. I am simply stating that our society ( maybe feminist more then any other group) have taken it upon themselves to criticize an industry that’s main goal is to make more money thru consumerism. The problem is not the influence of the advertisers on our society because that, to me, gives these advertisers to much social control which they have no right interfering in. I think the problem is our societies ideologies. We are not a group of incompetent individuals who can’t appreciate the human body and sex. We are a group of people that immigrated from other countries to gain prosperity and grow socially. Now you might be thinking ” what does this have to do with advertising and sexism and sexuality in advertising ? ” I’ll tell you with one word “Culture” . You go around the world and you will see “healthier”, full figured women in advertisements, with no plastic surgery done. Why is that ? Because people understand that the womans body is beautiful. I think is goes back in history to this idea that the richest people of the old ages were easily noticed by their excessive amount of weight they carried to represent their status in society. The US is still relatively old and always coming up with innovative ideas from social to political standards. I think because the US is a free market economy and millions of immigrants reside  here, people have can freely express and create controversial art, design, theories , philosophies etc. without getting penalized. This idea comes to play when pornography was introduced to scoeity and strip clubs and peep shows. I think pornography is a head turner, regardless of if its seen in a good or bad light. I think the more controversy pornography made the more it become intrigated into different mediums , like advertising. And i think thats’ where it derives from. Because this country prides itself with the capability to do more and  make more money, regardless of how ( although some restrictions apply) is something that can help understand why our society is so sex driven and image obsessed. Now int he article , it states that “One effect of such ads is to give women unrealistic notions of what they should look like. After instilling anxiety and insecurity in women, the ads imply that buying consumer products can correct practically any defect, real or imagined. “  the author puts fault at advertisers for womens insecurities. I dont think this is accurate. Our society has become to fragile and delicate i think. If women and men alike , are going to react to ads in an insecure manner, then yes of course they will be more prone to take notice to ads and perhaps be more willing to try new things to becoem more accepted in society. I think it is a travasity in our society that the people are not solidified enough to distinguish the entertainment industry from realy life. a girl that is 110lbs and is 5’10 is not the reason for eating disorders and self inflicting pain women and men put themselves through because they aren’t perfect. Society is to blame. We need to start changing our views on real vs. unreal and accept the unreal for what it is, a work of art. People complain about havign perfect, attractive people on the covers of magazines and ads, but if they put a normal face on the magazine, a face filled with blemishes, people would be repulsed. People pick up a magaziene and watch tv for leisurely purposes.They don’t flip pages of Vogue or watch cable to be hard on themselves. They view them because its a form of entertainment and people fial to realize how important to keep a reality check. For the girls that claim that barbie caused their eating disorder, i blame the community, school and parents for not building up a childs esteem.


         


Some International Product Placement -Commercials
Lena — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:02:12 +0000
Since the class is about advertising and today we watched a film about Bernay’s  impact on our society and the world.. here are a few american companies advertising in the middle east where any western product is a hit there..
PEPSI:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/170305/pepsi_haifa/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/334694/mahmoudismaeel/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/278055/amr_diab_commercial/
Western fairytales (small snip it) and other form of advertising
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/401664/hayfa/

         


Wants, Needs and Luxury: Pro-Barbie
Lena — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:46:09 +0000
In the last class we viewed a series of truck and beauty/fashion commercials. We discussed what are needs, desires and our luxuries are. I know that my list came up pretty balanced.  I think a good portions of the things i consume are luxury things and needs. But i think when i was younger, i used to watch so many soaps with m y mom and that lifestyle they were promoting and all the ads, made luxury into a goal to become my need.  Now this can be a good or bad thing because from a young age, i have ad the media embed an image into my head of what i needed , wanted and wanted to be when i get older. I would filter in things that weren’t ” pretty” or posh and i would constantly be intrigued by the advertisements and commercials . I remember when i was younger Mattel’s Barbie and how i wanted to emulate her style, poise and her beauty. To me, she didn’t make me feel insecure or hate myself for not being blue-eyed, blond hair. To me, she was a role model, a kind of person i wanted to grow up to be : confident, full of self-esteem, positive and kind. Now you probably thinking ” How the hell did you come up with that conclusion from a plastic figure?” The answer, the advertisements for a wide array of Mattel’s Barbie line. The commercials always had a narrator or Barbie in her highest spirits, learning a new language, promoting cultural unity, promoting education and other professions like “Business Barbie ” etc. I am trying to be brief because this topic is so huge it will take pages to really prove argument. But all i know is , advertising had a huge impact on my life and the kind of lifestyle i wish to have someday soon. I am not a consumer crazed individual needing fad items. Contrary to that, I love the environment and the simple things in life. I am not wasteful in the things that i buy but am smart. I’d rather invest money into alternate means of energy resources then buy the latest Escalade. I would rather walk then drive but i would rather buy Jimmy Chow then pay-less shoes lol… My point is advertising sells you an image ( of your wants, needs and luxuries ) and I think an individual can either take that image and build from it or create his own image and let the advertising industry and media appeal to that image.