Listicle #1 - Diversity in Media around TCU

For this listicle, I found two very intriguing artifacts around campus to focus on. One artifact related to sexual innuendo in advertisements and the other related to insensitivity and stereotyping in magazine publications. I then found other items in which related to the topics the artifacts found here at TCU reflected.

Sexual Innuendo in Advertisements for Unrelated Products and Services:

The first artifact was located in the first floor bathroom of Milton Daniel Hall. I was overall surprised how an inanimate object such as a light switch could be sexualized, especially in a educational setting. Although the light switch graphic does not have a specific gender, it was located in the women's bathroom, suggesting that we should be disappointed when men reject us. Although it is just an analogy to save energy and it isn't overtly sexualized, the sexualized nature within a women's bathroom is unnecessary. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/sex-sells-ads-should-have-thought-twice_n_4653226.html

This particular email promotional material for Spirit Airlines, they use terms such as "shaving" and "go down on us" with the image of a woman's bikini line to intrigue the audience to take their flights to the Caribbean or other locations. Although airlines have nothing to do with sexual behavior or shaving, they suggest that by travelling on their airline, you can go to the Caribbean where women have shaved and therefore are inept to sexual behavior. Overall, it has nothing to do with the actual service itself and ridiculously sexualizes women through both the text and imagery.

http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-blog/blogs/radioshack_hot_dog.jpg

This image is taken from the video commercial for the Beats Pill speaker which features Robin Thicke's extremely sexualized song "Blurred Lines". In this case, it uses scantily dressed women holding the speaker and moving about in sexually suggestive ways. This advertisement also takes inanimate object of a speaker and utilizes the shape to be sexualize women. Overall, similarly to the examples above, it uses women in an overtly sexualized way even when sex has nothing to do with the product itself. 

Link to the commercial segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbtewxfcptw

http://sutton26.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/carlsjr1.jpg?w=490

This advertisement is full of sexual innuendo towards women within the text. By using the pronoun "she", it stereotypes all women in a sexual way. The text at the bottom "It's gonna get messy", connects sexual action with the product which overall has nothing to do with sexual acts.

Insensitivity and Stereotyping in Magazine Covers:

I found this artifact in a magazine rack in Kroger right next to campus and found the title very alarming. Overall, it is reflecting on the deaths of Joan Rivers in an extremely insensitive and stereotypical way. The title "Who'll Die Next?" stereotypes the other celebrities on the cover to be in poor health and close to death due to plastic surgery or other health conditions. First of all, this is insensitive in the fact that the deaths of Robin Williams and Joan Rivers are completely unrelated to each other and other celebrities. Also, by relating these celebrities to recently deceased Joan Rivers and Robin Williams, it stereotypes them as ill, weak and old. In general, it is disrespectful towards both the deceased and the living people featured on the cover.

http://www.bohomoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/National-Enquirer2.jpg

This publication of the National Enquirer stereotypes a large amount of women with children for being "out of control". This is insensitive towards the private issues they may be going through and is also insensitive towards how this type of media coverage of mothers could affect their children and overall the relationship between these mothers and their children. By referring to them as "out of control", they also suggest that they have poor parenting skills when in truth, the social or public actions of individuals often differ in private settings, such as settings with their children. Therefore, it is unethical and insensitive to stereotype their parenting based on public portrayal. 

http://img004.lazyboys.info/people/tom_cruise/tom_cruise_tom_cruise_people_magazine_united_states_19_february_2001_magazine_cover_photo_4sDovbuu.sized.jpg

This edition of People discussed Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's breakup. Overall, it stereotypes happy marriages with being together for a long time, having children and living in luxury. However, often times children and luxury can put strains on relationships. The main title "Unhappy Ending" even stereotyped their relationship as being like a fairytale that did not end "happily ever after". Overall, it inaccurately stereotypes relationships for being good when they are long-lasting, involve children and involve luxury. 

Week 6 Blog Post - Latino Misconceptions in the Media

As Americans, the majority of us are immigrants. Most people have ancestors from all over the place. Personally, my ancestors came from Germany, France, Scotland and Ireland. America is called the "Melting Pot" for a reason. Being an American doesn't mean you have a particular skin tone or hair color, it means you most likely came from another country in hope of greater opportunities. This week, the articles we read focused on how Latinos are misconceived and stereotyped in the media. The misconception that I believe is most interesting is the misconception that Latinos are a culturally homogeneous group. This could not be farther from the truth. Yes, there are some Latinos that are more traditional but that doesn't mean every Latino is accustomed to that traditional culture. We as a society need to begin to recognize that everyone was in there position at some point, that is how American culture was formed and it is not fair for them to be clustered and stereotyped homogeneously because just like I originate from many cultures, so do Latino people and they deserve equal media coverage.

Week 5 Blog Post

As a consumer, we often do not think too much about the content of an advertisement. However, when we do analyze advertisements in more depth, there may be a variety of interpretations. This week, we examined a study in which the researchers invited college-aged male participants to examine gay-vague advertisements and explain the context of the situation displayed in the advertisement. The results were very creative stories. Most of the participants were confused about what exactly they were observing and others introduced characters, such as girlfriends, who were not in the photo. Overall, the results of the study were extremely intriguing. The research states in the conclusion that "advertisers and audiences create meaning together, that neither group controls that meaning, and that these interpretations are not stable even within the narratives of the same participant". I think that this is an important idea to understand, not only in gay-vague advertising, but in all advertising, especially when dealing with diversity. Advertisers may think of an idea and believe that the audience will view it a certain way, however, that is not always the case. Therefore, it is important for us as strategic communications specialists to see a wider perspective and make sure we accounting for the diversity within the target audience in order to effectively communicate the message. However, the thing that makes gay-vague advertising different is that their strategy is to make advertisements that have gay innuendo but could be interpreted differently and therefore expands the audience of the product. This strategy can be effective but can also promote confusion and sometimes distrust towards the brand and what are the standards and values the brand 
upholds. 

Bibliography:

J. Lambiase, G. Griffin, and K. Pashupati. (2013). “Symbolic interactions in sexual scripts: Improvisation and male consumer responses to gay-vague advertising.” In N. Tindall and R. Waters’ (Eds.) Coming Out of the Closet: Exploring LGBT Issues in Strategic Communication with Theory and Research, pp. 108-121. New York: Peter Lang.

Week 4 Blog Post

Being a person without a disability, it is hard to put myself in the position of a disabled person and truly know what hardships they face every single day. Often times, when we do not understand things or a situation we either ignore it, or stereotype it. I read the articles "Breaking the Spiral of Silence: Altering Media Portrayals of the Disabled" and "How the Media Portray the Disabled". In the first article, they discussed the various types of media that can stereotype, which is something we have been discussing in class. In this case, the disabled are stereotyped in a wide variety of platforms and in a wide variety of ways. Disability stereotypes can be found in television shows such as the FOX network's Glee and AMC's Breaking Bad. They can also be found in classic movies such as Peter Pan or Forrest Gump. Disability stereotypes can even be found in the Bible. The stereotypes also vary depending on the medium. The disabled are often depicted as evil, pathetic, nonsexual or burden. There are cases where they are portrayed positively, however, the disabled are stereotyped because we do not understand enough about it. It is as simple as that. In order to give the disabled the equal and fair publicity they deserve, we must try to put ourselves in their shoes and try to understand what life is like for them. The second article I read focused on how the media portrayed disabled people as either victims, heroes or villians. This again, is a very wide range of stereotypes and it shows how little we realize that there are people who have to deal with disabilities for the rest of their lives. One thing I thought was very interesting from this article was the idea of mental illness being stereotyped to result in violence. Mental illness is a very up and coming topic in today's society and is something that we as a society should learn about and support. Overall, these articles relate to our class discussions on race and gender because all three characteristics (race, gender and disability) involve stereotypes in multiple forms of the media. Although there is more variety in some characteristics, there is still stereotype and it is our job as communicators to learn more about the minority and prevent stereotypes in our mediums of communication.

Bibliography:
        "Breaking the Spiral of Silence: Altering Media Portrayals of the Disabled." Bitrus Paul Gwamna. Amiso M. George.
        "How the Media Portray the Disabled." Media Awareness Network.

Week 3 Blog Post

     For this week's blog assignment, I chose to read "The power of the stereotype" article found on pages 11-13 of the textbook as well as the article titled "How to Avoid Stereotyping Muslims in a Post-9/11 World" found on pages 217-221 of the textbook. Both of the articles provided a new way of thinking and approaching news coverage.
     The first article discussed how there are a variety of groups stereotyped in American culture, not just racial or ethnic groups. They focused on the example of old age and how by reminding someone of the stereotype, their performance of a certain task can be impacted. This could also be referred to as self-fulfilling prophecy theory which implies that when one believes a certain outcome will occur, either positive or negative, it is more likely to occur. For example, if you believe that you will do poorly on an exam, you are more likely to do so. Stereotypes can create these self-fulfilling prophecies and make people feel as though since they are a part of that stereotyped group, their outcome should align with the stereotype. For example, if you told a person who was 65 years old to take a memory test a but before the test reminded them of their older age by saying "we are testing how memory is affected by age", they may do more poorly on the test because they feel as though, since they are older, their memory should be affected in some way. This is extremely interesting idea to me because it shows how much we are impacted by stereotypes and the fact that it can definitely limit you in life. On the other hand, it can help in life, if the stereotype is positive or you have a positive self-fulfilling prophecy.
       The next article discussed how there are set guidelines in place in order for journalists and other reporters to remain neutral when reporting the news and incorporate a wide variety of cases in which Muslims are portrayed in a positive or neutral manner, in attempt to decrease stereotyping of them. This is very interesting to me because personally, I agree that Muslims should not be stereotyped and the Islamic faith should not necessarily be paired with terrorism through language such as "Islamic terrorist". However, regulations about what journalists and news casters can and cannot say in relation to Muslim people can be somewhat restricting and limit from the truth. I believe that although it is important to cover a wide variety of people from different backgrounds in local news stories, I also think that the representation of ethnic and racial groups covered in the news should reflect that of the population. For example, if the population of Minneapolis is 60% African American, 10% Asian, 15% White or Caucasian, 5% Muslim and 10% Hispanic, the news should cover those groups in the same way. Hence, the African Americans would get the most and the Muslims get the least amount of coverage. It is extremely important to abstain from stereotyping and I do believe groups should be represented in a truthful and unbiased fashion and that these regulations have good intentions to decrease stereotyping Muslims. However, it is logical that the amount of coverage should depend on the population of the area and that the guidelines could potentially be restricting.

Bibliography:
      Reporting on Muslims, Islam in the media, in American Muslims: A journalist's guide to understanding Islam and Muslims.n.d. Washington, DC: Council on American Islamic Relations
      Cloud, John. "The Power of the Stereotype." Time Magazine. 2009.

"Why Pakistan Matters" Lecture Reflection

      On September 2nd, 2014, I attended Ethan Casey's public lecture titled "Why Pakistan Matters". Ethan Casey is a journalist, author and publisher from Wisconsin who went on extended travels to Pakistan and wrote the novel Alive and Well in Pakistan: A Human Journey in a Dangerous Time. At the beginning of the lecture he commented that although most publications about Pakistan portray it as a foreign problem for the US, in his novel he attempts to show a more neutral and open perspective on the country as a whole. He had about nine main points about what he believes every American should understand about Pakistan and the United States.
       First, there is immense human suffering going on in the region of Pakistan and this is something we as first world countries to be aware of. Second, Pakistan's most effective institution is their military, much like the power of the United States military. Third, their government does not provide health care or education which can in turn make us as Americans realize how fortunate we are and hopefully be encouraged to make an effort to encourage education and health care in these less-fortunate countries. Fourth, Pakistan often has the perception that it is the homeland for Muslims and therefore is based on abstract ideas and not concrete realities. This can make legislature always in a state of unrest and therefore unstable compared to the US. Fifth, there is strategic depth to the area which relates to the control of Afghanistan, which is something the United States is constantly trying to do. Sixth, us as Americans conflate terrorists with Muslims and stereotype them as the "bad guys" which is a very flawed accusation. Seventh, the United States is not necessarily the "good guys" and we are often close-minded with that perception. Eighth, there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism with nationalism having a more aggressive connotation and he argued that the US puts too much emphasis towards this nationalism. Finally, due to strong militaries, he stated that both nations were susceptible to encouraging and producing war and war truly is the one clear "bad guy".
      He then commented on the surveillance and the use of drones currently in the United States as well as in Pakistan and how that is something that will impact both countries in the future. He also commented that 60% of the Pakistan population is under 20 years old and stated that in order to create progress and peace between Pakistan and the United States, their young generation and our young generation must collaborate with, understand and appreciate each other.
     Overall, I found his lecture very interesting and eye-opening. The comments that stood out to me the most were the ones discussing nationalism vs patriotism and the military's role in today's society as well as his encouragement, especially to us young adults, to learn about and begin to understand Pakistan on a personal level. He made a comment when referring to the military that he believed that the glorification of the military is not right and should be adjusted. He basically said that teachers and scholars should be getting the same amount of recognition as the military. This particular comment was one that I didn't necessarily coincide with. I do agree teachers should get more recognition because knowledge and openness to new knowledge is what leads to peace. However, I do believe the military deserves the recognition they get. Coming from a family in which my uncle is in the Air Force, being a part of the military is grueling and demanding and the people in it are constantly sacrificing for our country. I do believe that the United States' legislatures extreme use of the military and glorification of the military as a whole can sometimes be too much. However, every individual within the military deserves recognition just based on the pure sacrifices they have to make in their every day lives. However, I do agree with his comments on the need for the youth of Pakistan and the youth of the United States to understand and appreciate each other. I personally believe your cannot and should not make assumption about people you have no background knowledge on. Judging someone or even an entire nation on a small article in the newspaper or something you heard about them from your friend is not valid and only leads to stereotyping, hate and eventually war.

    Again, I did find this lecture intellectually enriching. It made me really think about my beliefs and evaluate whether I had allowed stereotypes of Pakistan influence the way I had initially perceived the nation. It definitely inspired me to look into not only the history of Pakistan, but the history of other conflicted Middle Eastern countries.





Bibliography:
         Casey, Ethan. "Why Pakistan Matters." Public Lecture. Moudy North 141, Fort Worth. 2 September. 2014. Lecture.

                     "About Ethan - Ethan Casey." Ethan Casey. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept 2014.

   

Maxim Magazine Research Reflection

            I found this study to be very intriguing mostly because it is fairly recent and involves topics that continue to influence our culture today. A lot of the media we are exposed to is extremely sexualized. For example, television shows such as "Sex brought me to the ER", "Dating Naked" and "Virgin Territory", advertisements for Victoria's Secret or that feature David Beckham shirtless, popular music that constantly refers to sex and promotes sexual behavior and not to mention the provocative music videos that go along with it. Overall, as time goes on, the more and more sexual activeness is promoted in the media and it definitely impacts not only the decisions we make as consumers but the decisions businesses make.

            The whole idea of the Maxim formula of women plus sex equals readers is definitely a new and rapidly growing trend that affects all ages and all aspects of culture. The more women are sexualized in the media, the more men expect that of real-life women. It forces women to set high, and often times unreachable, weight standards which has impacted the somewhat recent trend of eating disorders. However, marketing professionals neglect this trend in order to stay in business and gain reader loyalty. Yes, it important to stay up to date with the market in order to increase revenue and stay in business, but it is also important to remain ethical and understand that you are jumping on the bandwagon. In the future, when eating disorders are even more prevalent, women are even more degraded and men set even higher expectations to a point where societal norms are shifted for the worse, are you going to want to be the one who contributed?  Maxim has contributed to a revolution of sexuality and portraying women sexually and based on this research, has caused other companies in this industry to change the way they advertise and promote their content. Has stated in the study, there was a significant increase in the amount of covers with women on the front, decrease in the amount of clothing they wore on the cover, and increase in being portrayed sexually.  These trends definitely put women  readers in a position of high, unreachable expectation and more importantly inequality and it will take a new perspective or formula to shift popular culture and societal norms into something that everyone finds admirable and equal.

Bibliography
            J. Lambiase and T. Reichert. (2006). “Sex and the marketing of contemporary
consumer magazines: How men’s magazines sexualized their covers to compete with Maxim,” in
T. Reichert and J. Lambiase (Eds.) Sex in Consumer Culture: The Erotic Content of Media and
Marketing, pp. 67-86. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum