Kick Start

The sole purpose of any commercial is to some how appeal to the "Consumer". They must some how convince the consumer to buy what ever product or service the "Producer" is supplying.  In this commercial Mtn Dew tells the consumer "That to start a good time you need to have a Kick Start".
In order to draw the consumer in to the 2min moment the producer uses various types of subliminal messages to quickly get their message across. With this commercial we see the use of various inanimate objects that come to life and start dancing to show the consumer a good time, also the use of music helps to get your heart rate up from excitement as if you your self are in the commercial. There is a science behind making these types of commercials, they must be appealing to consumer and get your point across quickly. Has Mtn Dew made their point, you will have to be the judge of that. Never the less it also helps that this commercial was one of the more memorable Super Bowl commercials (terrible year for Super Bowl commercial).

Supersize

Watching Supersize Me really showed me how much of a problem our country has. Although it was truly disgusting, Morgan actually showed a diet that is somewhat common amongst the United States population. There are some people out there that cannot afford expensive healthy meals and the only thing they can afford is the dollar menu from McDonald's. To try and shrink the obesity problem that our country has, I believe it is necessary to start providing less expensive healthy meals for consumers. A great point that Morgan brought up in the documentary is the difference in the amount of money fast food companies spend on advertising versus the amount that healthy food related companies spend. I think a key role in the fight against obesity is that they healthy concerned companies start to get their brand out there and let the people know that they should be trying their products. Hopefully the people that watch documentaries like Supersize Me will actually gain knowledge and realize that it is not okay to treat your body like that.

Supersize Me Reply

In Morgan Spurlock's documentary Supersize Me, He takes on the challenge of eating McDonald's for 30 days straight without eating anything else. In doing this he tries to identify the problem of American obesity and show a way to eat healthier than the average American who eats McDonald's at least once a week. Spurlock shows all the negative affects of eating McDonald's every day by seeing a doctor before, during, and after taking multiple tests to show what fast food does to your body. Eating McDonald's every day can cause liver failure, diabetes, blood pressure changes, and depression as well as so much else. 

I feel that Morgan's argument is valid and that he does treat the issue fairly. Morgan takes on the life of an average American. He works out all the math to see if it will truly represent the average American. For example Morgan calculates how many steps the average person in America takes and follows that everyday. I feel that in this documentary what got your attention the most is the interviews of other people and the footage you watch of everyone walking around. It really opens your eyes to see the amount of obese people in the United States but it opens your eyes even more when you get professional opinion as well as an everyday person's opinion.

Although every person's opinion is different Spurlock and Moore are very different no matter what your opinion is. The difference between Spurlock and Moore is that Spurlock wants to open your eyes to an important issue rather than to bash someone and make the look bad. Spurlock has more humility than Moore and it is proven in the documentary.

Supersize

Watching Morgan eat this food was honestly disgusting because it was making him so sick and he just kept doing it. I understand that he was doing this because it was for research but once he's health really started getting involved in it he should have stopped. Also, the fact that he started getting depressed and just wanted to eat more of McDonalds food was a good indicator that he should stop. Even his girfriend was telling him and Doctors that they were worried about his liver and his over all well being if he kept eating the way he was eating. Watching this made a great point though for showing how eating this unhealthy food can be addicting and no maybe not the that extent breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday for your life but eating that 3 to 4 times a week can really increase your chances for health problems in the future. I don't think it's a crime to treat yourself to a cheat day or even if you are crunched for time to get to a fast food place but to what extent is too much? I think watching the parts mostly with showing the kids who only had 45 mins in a gym once a week and the lunches kids ate was a good way to show why this nation is gaining weight fast and younger generations are becoming fatter sooner than they use to. I think that kids can eat what they want during lunch because you can't force anyone to eat food that they don't want to eat but I do think that you should make kids workout and be active because it is so important for kids and teens to get that exercise for their growth and their mental stability becasue if they are couch potatos at home where are they supposed to get there exercise from? This was a very valuable show to watch because it shows how the doctors weren't expecting this much to happen to Morgans' body but it did and their prodictions were way off, which tells us that even Doctors didn't know how truly bad fast food was for your body and how important it is for you to exercise.

Nationwide Commerical

I choose to analyse the Nationwide commerical.  This commercial shows a boy stuck at the same age going through life saying how he can't do certain things because he died in an accident.  Yes, this commerical was a good commerical to show because it shed light on a situation that is a big issues but it also stirred a lot of controversy.  People thought the Nationwide commercial was too serious for a Super Bowl commerical since they are all suppose to be happy and make you want to party but then again why wouldn't they show it at the Super Bowl when everyone is watching and it will draw the attention of so many people.  Yes, it was a sad commerical and may have been a buzz kill but it was a well educated video to show.

AD from Superbowl "All Powerful"

I picked the Mophie ad from the Superbowl that occurred this last Sunday. The advertisement tried to sell their wireless chargers for your cellphones so that your phone doesn't die. But in the one minute ad it showed that everything is flipped upside down and everything became crazy when a man dressed in white's (Supposed to be God) phone dies. Although trying to sell their wireless charger in a humorous way, I believe that Mophie was pushing our reptilian hot buttons that we can't live without our phones and the idea that our phones run our world. If our phone died everything would go haywire. Although this is the hidden idea, I think we all know it. We are all addicted to our cellphones in a way. We feel the need to have our phones constantly charged or we will miss something and even when it is dead, we still hold it in our hands (or even still check it although you know it is dead). In our American culture, our phones are a huge part of our life and if everyone's phone died the world would go crazy. Although this advertisement is quite humorous, it has a very serious aspect to it. Mophie used the idea of what would happen if everyone's phone died? The answer is everything would go insane; therefore, do not let your phone die! Buy a Mophie!

Doritos Commercial

I chose to analyze the new Doritos commercial "when pigs fly". The commercial shows a boy asking a man for some Doritos and the man shrugs him off saying that he can have some when pigs fly. Once the boy hears that he comes up with the idea of building a rocket attached to the pig and shows the man that the pig is flying. What the marketers want the viewers to believe is that Doritos are so good that people will do anything for them. In other words, people will go through the most difficult challenges just to get their hands on some Doritos. Doritos is also trying to persuade the viewers by expressing humor. I think that Doritos did a great job with this advertisement and will definitely catch the attention of its consumers.

Sexual Advertising

A lot of ads now of days has to do with targeting the sexual side of your emotions.  Some advertising that shouldn't even be sexual at all turn into some sort of sexual commercial.  People love sexual things and feeling "sexy" so when a commercial says "feel  sexier than ever wearing these clothes" of course people are going to buy it.  You see these in Axe and Old Spice Commercials too they make you think that if you buy this product all the girls will want you even more because you will smell so great they wont be able to resist.  Also, for girls you see Victoria's Secret commercials and they show all these half naked girls with size A boobs wearing bras that make them look 2 or 3 sizes bigger than they actually are.  Of course girls with smaller breast are going to buy those because guys will find them more "attractive".  In other commercials such as condoms they talk about if you buy this super thin condom it will make the experience between you and your lover 10 times better than with any other brand of condom on the market.  I am interested to see how much more sexual advertising will get in the future since it has already escalated so much since they first started using this technique of advertising.

Comeback of Detroit

After watching the documentary about the fall of Detroit I wanted to talk more about the comeback the city is making and keep things positive. Thanks to many wealthy entrepreneurs, more and more companies are starting to move their buildings to Detroit. A Michigan born billionaire named Dan Gilbert brought all of his Quicken Loans buildings to Detroit and now owns 60 properties in the area. He has put in over $1.3 Billion into the city to help bring more people into the downtown area. Another positive thing coming to Detroit is the new facility that Mike Illitch is building downtown for the Red Wings. Along with the new arena, 184 new apartments will be built and many new restaurant and shopping areas. This will play a huge role in getting more people in the city and many new small businesses. Detroit took a huge blow and considering the tough demeanor that the city has, I am predicting a very impressive comeback in the near future.

The Racial Prism Response

Racial Issues are a difficult concept to talk about. When discussing these issues I feel that your views are dependent on what you've been exposed to and how your parents raised you. All of these issues root to slavery but I believe that whats still "festering" is the issues that were raised when African Americans received their  first "rights" directly after slavery ended. It's all segregation that still affects us today. Some say its over but, it is clear that it's not. Today, things aren't legally segregated but that doesn't change the fact that we segregate our fellow community members. It doesn't change that whites are still prejudiced towards African Americans.

Here at Groves I do not see much racial tension or bias I feel that we are pretty accepting here except a few misguided people. We are lucky enough to be raised in such a diverse community unlike others who will go out into the real world and wonder what just hit them. Sadly, it wasn't always this way just a few years ago Groves had huge race problems and we have learned to cope with it and solve the issue; if only the rest of the world could do the same. Although we may self segregate it isn't on purpose. I may be naive but I feel that Groves is a safe place for everyone. We can mingle with other races and not have problems like other schools may. Groves is diverse and we are all lucky enough to be a part of it.

Doll Influences on Gender

I do believe that dolls have a huge impact on how we feel we need to look or act. At a very young age images were put into our heads of how a "typical" boy should look and act or how a "typical" girl should look and act. The truth is that none of these images that were implanted in us our right. We should be more concerned with what makes us feel comfortable and how we want to project ourselves in our society instead of believing that we must look and act a certain way. Dolls are not the only thing that encourages us to fit in with the crowd but they were the first things that we put in our heads. When I was young, I remember playing with muscular action figures that I felt I needed to look like when I was older. If I saw a perfectly aligned six pack on my action figure I told myself that I needed to have those abs too. As a society, we need to change with the times and start allowing ourselves to become who we are naturally instead of trying to model ourselves after images in our heads. 

This graph makes the most sense out of all of the graphs on this website. This graph shows the years that the NFL has had and the streaks in the seasons. This graph has everything in alphabetical order so that it is a proper graph. You can notice in the graph that when the salary cap was introduced that the win streaks went down.

Mean Girls Review

In the film Mean Girls gender roles did not exist as much as stereo types did. In the movie it shows how catty and rude girls are together because they just want to make it to the top of the high school social rank. It shows that girls think they are loved even when they are truly hated by everyone around them which isn't always the case of popularity. Popularity is being liked by many people and in this film it shows popularity as the opposite. Girls thinking they're loved even though they are hated.

But, Mean Girls wasn't only about the girls; it was also about male stereotypes too. It portrays most of the men in the movie as pigs just always thinking about sex. The only male that wasn't about sex the whole time was the "prince charming" who actually cared and had feelings, a good guy. Although the movie was all stereotypes that's what it was meant in order to be to prove a point about gender stereotypes. I feel this movie was a great movie for the gender roles and stereotypes we are learning about in this class.

In the movie Mean Girls I didn't see much about gender roles at all.  It was more about how girls in high school are complete A** holes to each other.  I'v seen this movie a thousand times and gender roles never came to mind when I saw it.  Mean Girls is more about the social rank of girls and how if you are higher up you are basically worshiped even though that isn't how it works in any normal school.  This movie also shows how rumors really affect how girls act and treat each other.  When rumors are spread it can really ruin someones life but in the end it shows that if you be the bigger person then you will gain more respect then if you pretend to be all high an mighty when you actually aren't.  Gender role reminds me of how men have more power than women and are usually touch and strong.  Then girls are weak and fragile but in this movie the girls are touch and basically just have it out for each other.  Men play a very minimal role in this movie to begin with.  Other than that Mean Girls is an amazing movie!

Representation in Police Force

  I find this chart very interesting because of everything that has been happening in the news lately. With Ferguson as well as the shooting of Trayvon Martin white police have been getting beat down on (not literally) because of the actions of others. This graph shows a possibility of why there has been many problems. White police brutality has been a huge headline in our current news and the question is why is it just coming up as well as why is information on white over representation in police just making big news? We can change this but it will take time. I believe that police need to be reevaluated  for the safety of everyone.

This graph shows over representation and under representation in a way that numbers can't. This makes information more appealing with colors and the visual. In order to get this information with numbers and words you'd have to read paragraphs of statistics instead of having a easy, eye appealing chart.

The Lions Are a Joke

After watching the Lions play their wild card playoff game, it is safe to say that the franchise as a whole does not have the balls to win a meaningful game. Time and time again us loyal fans support our football team in the hopes that they can return the favor with a championship. As much as I hate to say it, I can guarantee that the Detroit Lions will not bring us a championship for a very long time. Sure, some people might disagree and say that the team is on the uprising and they now have the talent to be one of the top teams in the league but that only proves my point even more. The fact that the team has abundance of talent shows that it is not a personnel issue, it is an issue within the culture of the franchise. Why do teams like the Green Bay Packers continue to win every year? It is due to the fact that they do not accept losing as a franchise and the culture within the locker room is all based on winning. The Lions do not have this type of culture. Instead of playing every year like it is their last, our same old lions play each year with the attitude of "well there's always next year". Just like any business, it starts at the top and maybe the current ownership isn't suited to bring us our championship.


 The Lions should model themselves after the Eagles:

If you look at the graph you can see how with age of how old the females are the names are outdated.  Dorothy, Carol, Ruth and a lot f the bottom names are names that are grandparents would have of older relatives.  You don't see many women these days walking around with the name Barbara or Frances.  When you look at the top of the chart you see names that we hear more than once a day and we have multiple friends with that name such as Sarah and Emily which are more youthful names.  You don't hear of many older people with the name Ashley now do you?  I just find it interesting how as the years go on we try to have more youthful sounding names.  I'm interested and a little worried to see what names people will come up with next because you are already hearing people naming their kids after fruits and colors.  Hopefully generations to come wont go to crazy with the creativity they use to name their children.