More on Branding

After today's discussion, I feel compelled to add more to my comments on branding. To me, marketing and advertising are necessary for any company's survival. As Clint said, if people will not buy the "sugar free" Trix, why should we expect General Mills to produce it? It's not the company's fault, it's ours! If we don't buy healthy food, no company is going to produce it. I don't think it is written in any company's goal's "list" to make people unhealthy and obese. It makes no sense. They do what they have to do to make their company survive. Can you blame them? Sure they use "pathos" to make people buy their goods. Have we ever thought that maybe they put "good source of calcium" on the Trix box to make people feel better about buying foods they wouldn't buy if the foods were actually healthy? This is a societal problem, not a marketing problem. If you have a problem with a company's marketing methods, you have a problem with the society that forces them to make money to live. Marketing isn't something that's going away anytime soon. It's the mindset and tastebuds of society you need to change, if that's even possible.

The Media and Branding

So when it comes to the media, I'm more of a computer/internet person. I'd like to think that, this means that I'm not exposed to all the commericials and ads as a person who watches TV all the time, but sadly that is not the case. Anywhere you go online, you get ads about all sorts of products. From my yahoo mail box, for instance, I can see ads about Quicken online payroll, Equifax ID control, Ookisa hair products, the University of Phoenix, etc. Something else I'd like to mention is all online video sites, minus youtube. Just yesterday, we were complaining that every video we watched on hulu.com had the same commercial in front of it. Although it seems annoying, it's actually a good method of advertising because it sticks in your brain. So yes. I would leave a link for this but if you want an example of what I'm talking about....go to www.hulu.com or www.nbc.com and watch a video. :)

This Blessed House

I really enjoyed this short story. The alarming difference between Twinkle and Sanjeev is really interesting. Twinkle is a relativist, because she is tolerant of other religions. Sanjeev is definitley a fundamentalist because he is not tolerant at allllll of other religions. Twinkle is able to see value in things other people see value in, and Sanjeev is not.

I'd like to add in my perspective when it comes to Hinduism and this story. One of the main things I've had embedded in me as a Hindu is a respect for other cultures. So I find it extremely interesting that Sanjeev is so disrespectful towards the Christian religion.

In summary, Twinkle is awesome and knows her Hinduism.  Sanjeev is just bitter and needs to get over himself. :)

Culture

I must admit, Mr. Beitelman's lecture on culture really introduced me to a whole other view of culture that I've never really considered. When I think culture, I usually think along the lines of "heritage" or "a way of life." I never thought "cultured" could become a hierarchical(is that a word?) term to distinguish the elite from the not so elite. 

Although the lecture was interesting, I think there are so many challenges that come along with the idea of culture that we did not talk about. For example, what about unawareness of other cultures? Or possibly the unacceptance of different views? Perhaps, the confusion many, including myself, have when it comes to differentiating between religion and culture(mine overlap quite a bit)?

There are some interesting forums on this topic:

http://thisismauritius.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=403&Itemid=73

Enjoy!

Welcome To My Blog, First Things First: Literacy & Education

Hello all! I'm so excited about finally starting this blog. I have a lot of opinions about a lot of different 21st century challenges that I'm ready to share!

One of the 21st century challenges that I have been interested in recently is literacy in the U.S. and around the world. I don't think we are covering this topic in class, but it is one that I think is definitley worth considering. In a developed country such as ours, it's hard to believe that so many people live and work everyday without a proper education, but to me, the lack of education is the root cause of so many other 21st century challenges.

Here are some startling statistics I've come across: 

- more than 30 million people in the U.S. are functionally illiterate.

- of those 30 million, 15 million are part of our workforce!!!! What does that say about the quality of our work?

Like I mentioned before, so many problems arise from the lack of a proper education:

- Unmarried teenage girls are 6 times more likely to get pregnant if they lack the ability to read.

- 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts

- 85% of juveniles found in court are functionally illiterate ( can't read or write)

The most astounding problem I've come across in learning about this 21st century challenge is that people who are illiterate avoid medical offices. Now that I think about it, it makes sense! How are we supposed to expect people who can't read to follow prescription instructions? Or sign medical forms? Recently, I've heard so many horror stories involving these situations. ABC news did a story on an illiterate woman who signed off on getting a hysterectomy while she was in the hospital, and had absolutely no idea! My mom saw a new story about a man who almost killed his daughter because he gave her 4 pills in an hour instead of "1 pill every 4 hours" like it said on the bottle.

Anyways, I've written a lot, but my point is still the same. Literacy is a huge problem that isn't easy to tackle. In my opinion, if we can figure out how to solve this problem, so many other big issues in our nation and around the world can be conquered. 

Here is an article I found on illiteracy that I think you all might enjoy:

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/print_article.php?articleId=8763