reflective blog

For this class, I have to say I did not always do all of the work. We were supposed to write blogs multiple times a week and i only wrote a few of these. We were also supposed to be responding a lot to other classmate's blogs and I only did this at the beginning of the semester. I should have managed my time better for this class. However, I did get all of the major writing projects done for this class.

Overall, I would say I did my best in this class. To be honest, writing is my least favorite subject. For some reason, it takes me a lot longer to come up with good ideas to write about. If I have any homework due, I will usually do everything else first and writing last. So, writing was not always at the top of my concerns.There were a few times where I probably should have been writing blogs and revising drafts while I chose to relax instead. So, if I were to restart, I would make sure I spent more of my free time writing early and revising often.

Going forward I have taken away a lot of things from this class. I have realized that it is not always important to make sure your paper is perfect. There is really no perfect way to write a paper. It all depends on the assignment prompt and the way it is written. In high school, I was taught to write a paper a certain way and not to vary too much between each paper. But, from this class I have learned that writing is a process and needs to be creative. The writer must get away from the usual and make it unique if he/she wants it to stand out. I still have a lot to improve in my writing. From this class, I have learned a lot about my writing. I am good with citing my sources, but I need to use more rhetorical analysis to be effective. I still have a lot to work on. I know that being good at writing is such a good tool to have for your future, and I am glad I was able to learn about the things I need to work on to become a more effective writer.

Memo 3

Introduction
This memo will first present the research that I have completed thus far. Then it will discuss the remaining research. It will also discuss problems that I have encountered and how I plan on staying up to date with my work.

Completed Research
Since my last memo, I have done some more research. I have stuck with the three sources I originally had but just pulled out more information from these sources. I have stuck with the same topic I had originally. It is on how sex advertising can be complicated and unethical, but is actually very effective. I have found more information on how advertisers should advertise when targeting women and also a few guidelines to follow as well for both genders.

Remaining Research
So far, I feel like I have a good enough amount of support for my paper. What I mostly need to work on is organization and flow of the paper. I feel like my paper needs to flow smoother from point to point. I also need to organize it so that I introduce one point at a time.

Conclusion
I am glad I wrote this report. I now know exactly where I am at with my assignment. I still have a good amount of work to do. I feel like I have good support for my paper. I just have some tidying up to do now.

Sex Sells

Sex appeal in advertising has become an increasingly popular form of advertising in America over the years. This kind of advertising “is based around the appearance of nudity and the use of sexual attractiveness or suggestiveness”. Sex appeal advertising has been widely used ever since the 1960’s to promote brand awareness of certain products. There are a few important advantages to using sex appeal in advertising. First off, using sexiness attracts attention. Advertisements that do not use this do not get as much initial attention. Additionally, sex appeal can help viewers remember the ad better. This is due to the concept that “sex content is often easy to relate to and memorable”. Third, using sexiness in ads creates “emotional responses, such as arousal, excitement or even lust, which in turn can create stimulation and desire for the product” The final benefit for using sex appeal in advertisements, Slater notes, is that some researchers think sex appeal ads are more persuasive that ads that don’t use sex appeal. Due to these reasons, it is not surprising that numerous companies use this form of advertising.

Although it is popular, sex appeal used in advertising is very stereotypical. In "Sex Role Portrayals in Advertising", William J. Lundstrom points out that there are a few major stereotypes for this kind of advertising. To begin with, when women are depicted in advertisements, they are usually seen in traditional house-hold roles and are dependent on men. Usually it is only men that are seen with occupational roles outside the house. Additionally, women are generally seen as sex objects in the eyes of men (74). Lundstrom passionately argues that this is unjust. It is now the 21st century where many women go to college for very similar careers to that of men. Classifying them as inferior to women is unfair (74).

The role portrayal of gender is a big problem in these advertisements. Women tend to view this type of advertising the most negatively. Particularly, the "influential, younger, better educated, upper status women" tend to be the most critical of this advertising (Lundstrom 78). As the number of working women increases and as the actual role of women in society changes, so must the ways of advertising. This is due to the fact that products which would have traditionally been purchased by men are now being purchased by women (Lundstrom 78).

Women are being used over and over in sex advertisements. However, it is important to realize that women are targeted in these ads as well. Victoria's Secret is a good example of this. This company uses gorgeous models who wear this brand of underwear. They want the women viewers to think that they will look that good if they were to wear the product (Blair 1).

It's important to understand men and women's attitudes regarding sex to properly advertise to each sex. There is an important reason why women and men react differently to sexual images in advertising. Women tend to be less interested in sex alone as men. They are actually more interested in "relationship commitment" (Dahl 1). Men have a different standpoint. Generally, men are more interested in a recreational attitude on sex without commitment than women. This is because females "must invest far greater resources to produce offspring than men" (Dahl 2).

This is beneficial to know when companies are using sex appeal to target women. They will be much more successful when they target more than the sex act itself. If the advertisement can be understood in promoting a committed relationship rather than appealing to a one-night stand it will most likely be more successful (Dahl 2).

progress report

Memo 2

Introduction 

This memo will first present the research that I have completed thus far. Then it will discuss the remaining research. It will also discuss problems that I have encountered and how I plan on staying up to date with my work.

Completed Research

            I have done a significant amount of research since my last memo. Over the last two days I found a lot of information on sex appeal in advertising. I have decided to shift my focus slightly. At first, I was writing about the drawbacks to this type of advertising and how women negatively react to it. However, after researching and finding numerous articles I have realized that most of them talk about how it actually is very effective. They do say that it tends to stereotype a lot though. So, my focus is now on how sex advertising can be complicated and ethical, but is actually very effective. It’s important that commercials are careful with this when they are advertising to women. Women usually only react positively when the sex appeal advertisement deals with relationship commitment. This differs from men, because men don’t react more positively when the commercials deal with relationship commitment.

Remaining Research

            So far, I am a little bit behind where I want to be at. I should have had another page drafted by now, but it took me a long time to figure out my topic and focus. I need to find more support from articles to back up my main points. I need to specifically find more information on how sex advertising can be unethical and complicated. I also need to organize my information better and make it flow properly. So far, it seems like I have been just writing down important information but it does not seem organized.

Conclusion

            I am glad I wrote this report. I now know exactly where I am at with my assignment. I still have a lot of work to do. I know the main parts that I need to focus on. All in all, I have found good information. I just need to organize it in a way that flows smoothly and I will most likely have a decent paper.

academic sources

There definitely are pleasures and challenges that I dealt with when working with more conventional academic sources. I know that these sources are actually credible. When I use these in my writing I feel more confident because I know the information has been verified to be correct. But, there are definitely some challenges to using these sources. It can be pretty hard to find what you're looking for when using these. The information is limited since all of it needs to be verified. However, when you are using a google search, there is so much information but it's hard to be certain that it's accurate. Wikipedia is a good example of this. There is so much information but anyone can change it.

When I was watching television I stumbled across an Axe commercial that was pretty sexual. I found it to be pretty interesting so afterwords I pulled up this picture online since I figured it would be a cool topic to talk about. The idea on this type of advertising is that using this brand gives straight men confidence that they will attract more sexy women. This is actually pretty stupid. I mean how many people actually believe that the scent of this product actually attracts women and turns them on? To me, it seems pretty dumb that people would believe this. But I know Axe is a very successful brand, and they are continuing to advertise this way. Therefore, this type of advertising must be working for them. Nowadays in the 21st century it seems that sex sells. I even see this quite a bit for Super Bowl commercials. Some of them show sexy women to get the viewers' attention even when their product has nothing to do with that. I was glad I saw this commercial because I never really thought this much into it before.

Article

http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=1828&issue_id=62009

Rant Reflection

The article I chose related to my problematic issue did shift my thinking. My original rant was about a time where I didn't respect the power of someone in charge. I felt like I shouldn't have been stopped for breaking a rule because I was an exception. However, after reading this article, I decided to write about how police officers should be appreciated more. Studies were tested which concluded that most police officers felt distrusted by the public. I found this to be very interesting, yet disturbing. It's ironic that police officers are there to protect the public, but most of them don't even feel like they are wanted in society. This study actually wasn't surprising to me. As I stated in my rant, the news usually doesn't talk about how police officers are arresting criminals and risking their safety for the rest of the world. Instead, we hear about the very few officers who commit crimes. This ultimately leads to more viewers and more revenue. It's sad that this is what it has come down to.

This gave me the idea to post on twitter. Twitter users generate 340 million tweets per day. It's a really good idea to use twitter to send an important message since there are so many people using it. It's very simple to use as well. Only being allowed to use 140 words can actually be a good thing in some situations. I was able to get directly to the point, which makes it easier for others to understand.

Revised Rant

In today's world, many people don't appreciate the authority of those in charge. I am guilty of this myself sometimes. My original rant was about a time I was in Colorado when I was pissed off with someone in charge. A ski safety worker stopped me for skiing too fast in a slow zone. I was mad that he was not able to make an exception since there was no one else around me.

After some thinking, I realized I had no right to expect the ski safety worker to not stop me. It is his job to stop people who are skiing too fast for the safety of other skiers. If he had made an exception for me then it would only be fair that he makes exceptions for others.

Incidents like this happen all the time with drivers. People are constantly getting pulled over for driving too fast and have to pay speeding tickets.This creates a bad perception on the way cops are viewed since they usually only talk to people when they break laws. Police officers are only doing their job to keep all of the other drivers safe.

This leads to my main point. Nowadays, it seems like the only time we hear about cops in the news is if they commit crimes. What about the vast majority of the cops who put their lives in danger to protect us? I suppose we don't hear of any courageous acts of officers on the news anymore because it doesn't stir up as much of a reaction.

It frustrates me that many times police officers are portrayed as people who are power hungry. People take for granted what police officers do to keep the rest of us safe. A lot of this stems from the media. Lately, it seems like the only time a police officer is brought up on the news is if he or she possibly committed a racist crime. I really hope this perception changes eventually.

I decided that the best way for me to share my rant would be through twitter. There are many advantages to using twitter. Twitter allows people to network efficiently and with large groups of people. People can communicate with their target audience immediately. It’s not as time consuming as creating a website to get a point across. I am able to send a post immediately to a mass group of people and also receive instant feedback. However, there are also some drawbacks. I have to limit my posts to 140 words or less since that is all that is allowed. Additionally, I need to constantly be posting on twitter for people to see my posts.  Because of all the interaction on twitter, if I only post one or two times a day, my posts will quickly be buried in my followers' news feeds.

Rant

This rant probably doesn't relate to other people but it's something that pissed me off pretty recently. So I went to Colorado over the super bowl weekend to go snowboarding. On Monday I was riding down the mountain minding my own business when a ski patrol guy stopped me at the bottom of the mountain. He told me the reason he stopped me was because I was going too fast in a slow zone. He explained to me that I was a danger to the other skiers. He let me off with a warning but he said the next time it happens I will lose my lift ticket. There were a couple reasons this pissed me off. First off, I know how to steer and have never even came close to hitting anyone. And secondly, it was empty since it was a Monday and there was no one even near me. It just didn't make any sense to me. Not to mention the guy was pretty rude to me and acted like I knew I was doing something wrong. It would be hilarious if I had to explain the reason I got kicked out for this to someone. "Oh, I got my lift ticket pulled because I was riding too fast."I thought the purpose of skiing and snowboarding was to have fun and not have to follow a speed limit.

Works cited for documentary

"The Cove Documentary Film." Cosmos Documentaries. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2015. 
     <http://cosmos-documentaries.blogspot.com/2013/07/ 
     the-cove-documentary-film.html>. 

Favorite Questions

5)            There are a several problematic concepts that I see in the film. The main problem I see is the mass killings and capturing of the dolphins. The film notes that there are approximately 23,000 dolphins killed in Japan every year by the country’s whaling industry. Another problem is that the Japanese government knows that what it’s doing is cruel and inhumane because barbed wire and “keep out” signs are put up to keep the public away from seeing the killings. Anyone who is found trespassing will be under arrest.

            A few more problematic concepts can be seen throughout the film.  It’s said that studies have shown the dolphin meat being sold to the public contains a high amount of mercury, which is hazardous to the human body. Not only that, but the dolphin meat is being disguised as healthy meat. So, even if the public in Taiji knew about the mercury in dolphins, they would have no way of knowing for sure if they are actually buying whale meat. Additionally, Japan has allegedly been giving smaller countries financial aid so that they vote for Japan in the International Whaling Commission in return. These countries include Cambodia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Laos, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

6)            There was one specific scene that stayed with me and made me shocked, sad and angry. During this scene, the main crew was taking pictures of the dolphins that were being escorted to the secret lagoon where they would be slaughtered. Even though the crew couldn’t see the actual killings of the dolphins in this part, there was one baby dolphin that managed to make it over the nets as it was trying to escape. You could see the dolphin coming up from the water and all of the blood from its wounds right behind it. I felt helpless as I watched it take its last few breaths before it finally sank to the bottom and never came up again. I also felt very angry that the fishermen have no remorse for slaughtering the dolphins and making them suffer until their last breaths. The forbidden footage obtained by the camera crew shows the fisherman continuously stabbing these mammals. This scene was very disturbing and I couldn’t believe that the Japanese government would allow this to happen.