Research-Chocolate

My final decision is to do my paper on the topic of Chocolate. I would like to make the point that chocolate can be presented in many different ways. Hershey and Ghirardelli both present their chocolates in different manors in order to maintain a successful business. Hershey has the fun filled, treat presentation that appeals to little kids. They also have come out with a more healthy brand of chocolate that has a high contents of cacao. On the contrary, Ghirardelli presents the more romantic, sensuous appeal of chocolate. I have not come up with an exact argument reguarding these two brands but by continuing my research hopefully I will be able to come up with one. With my paper I would like to illustrate the difference between the two brands advertisement strategy’s. Hershey has many commericals revolved around Hershey park, which is heaven for little kids. Whereas Ghiradelli has luxury trips to win, and shows women sexually about to eat the special piece of premium chocolate. I am expecting to find the difference in how the two companies have evolved over time, what items they started off with and how those different items have grown to fit our culture and society’s needs. It will be interesting to me, since Ghirardelli prides itself on being around for 150 years, if they initially had sexual advertisements for chocolate or if that was in order to please the public. Hershey is a very blown up company, and I would like to see how that has come about, and why they are so much popular than almost every other brand of chocolate even though their contents is mostly sugar and not pure cocoa beans. The two main sources of information I have looked at are the original websites: http://www.ghirardelli.com/ and http://www.hersheys.com/. These two websites have provided me with loads of information ranging on the variety of products, recipies, prizes, history, ingredients and so on. I have a lot of ideas for my paper, but I need to gather them in an organized way to make a real argument. Also I would like to do more research on the slogans, jingles, and people that are put on advertisements in order for them to be eye-catching and enticing, this will show a lot about the motives of the companies.

Banking-3

Friere makes the Subject/object point numerous times throughout his essay, saying that the objects(students) are just a bank ready for some deposited information. He goes off into a huge tangent with his speaking, and sometimes can loose the readers attention. I think that instead of using an angry tone, he should use a more persuasive tone. He is aware that students will be reading his essay, in essence every reader is a student, and therefore should have taken that into consideration. Freire could have given more simplistic questions to think about, and just have written his essay in a more understandable, and less agressive manor.

Banking-2

Freire uses the word praxis to make a point that we are just followers of an “accepted custom.” We are no longer individuals that can think, learn, and feel all on our own. We fall into that once again, preconformed complex, where we are guided and directed into almost everything that we do. Alienation can result in an education setting becasue it makes humans feel like they are empty, and merely ready to consume “useless’ information. This would be a perfect description for a class room setting in which the teacher belittles the student, a fills that student with some would say meaningless information. We are thought of as hollow objects, sitting around waiting for the Subject to take control.

Banking, A second reading

For the most part, I think that college classroom settings, especially at Mary Washington are not set up in an opressor, opressive situation. However, I’m sure that there are many many examples of highschool classrooms, that fall into the “problem-posing” position. There was a social studies class in my high school in which all the teacher did was play movies, and then have the kids right an essay on the movie. Another example in a psychology setting would be just presented the information without real life paralles or even hands on learning. It is very obvious when a teacher is passionate about their work, and actually wants you to be excited about it. On the other hand, sometimes you find a teacher who is definitely just doing the job to make a little cash. The thought about Freire with the objects on his desk was very interesting. That idea can be applied to the class room, saying that the teacher is Freire and his students are the objects on him desk. The teacher is aware that they are there and what they are supposed to be functioning as however he never realyl puts them into his conscious.

Research Paper

I have been struggling to come up with a topic for my paper that would have a lot of information as well as interest me. I kind of want to go in the direction of how sexuality has become such a focus for advertising these days, but that is a very common and well known topic. I haven’t decided quite yet, but to defer from my original idea I think I might go with classic foods. I would like to take a look at Campbel’s Soup, Quaker Oats, and Cherrios. All of those brands have been around since the beginning of time and would provide for a lot of interesting research. I beleve that there would be a lot of information in books as well as the internet. Also, It would be very convenient for me to find numerous ads and comercials because these are such popular brands. The interesting aspects of researching our classic foods would be so see what nutrition the orginal versions actually had, and what has been added, as well as how the advertising of these products have changed over time and how the company has grown.

Second Reading For Susan Bordo

Question One:
Susan Bordo does take a very nice and steady pace when writing her essay. Her points are thoroughly expressed by many in depth examples. She really gets into the descriptive side of what she is saying, and uses a lot of visial as well as emotional expressions. I like the how she uses different subheadings to change from one topic to another. It reminds the reader that there is a change in subject, and kina regains focus to the topic at hand. I think Bordo incorporated pleasure within her text by putting down exactly what she felt at that particular moment when first observing the images. This style of writing would be fun to me to try. I like to analyze and put my feelings into words, and this would be a perfect way to integrate work and pleasure.

Question Two:
Susan Bordo has arranged her essay into various subsections. These subsections begin with some back round information which leads into examples. Bordo then uses the back round information to explain an ad, and where she though the “artist” had gotten their motivation for taking such a picture. In each subsection there is a mention of a gay perspective, and a criticism on the publisher of the image. She takes her time to make sure the reader knows exactly what point she is trying to make, and backs up her opinions with many many illustrations. In my opinion the first subsection was the strongest. I think that Susan Bordo was taken back the most by the first ad that she presented in her essay. She seemed to be most passionate and attached to this ad and therefore made it be the focal point of the beginning of her writing. The end subsection I believe was very strong as well. Bordo finished the essay with her conclusion statements and organized them very well. She also left the reader with the main points, and questions to ponder about.

Question Three:
Susan Bordo used her writing to thoroughly exemplify her points. She used a “subject position,” in many of her examples. This is a great way to lay out many different perspectives so that the reader can understand in a well-rounded manor. One of the repetative views that I noticed was that of a homosexual. There were many references made to the idea of the gay man. Some other “subject positions,” that I observed were Susan’s own personal view, the view of specific photographers and fashion experts, the idea of a satre, how movies portrayed the topic, as well as magazines and newspapers.

Question Four:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.romancebookcovers.com/surrendermylove/fabio.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.romancebookcovers.com/surrendermylove/surrendermylove.html&h=189&w=195&sz=17&hl=en&start=45&tbnid=6pWej1Ka4ljH2M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfabio%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

My ideas for the Research Paper:
For the research paper I would like to follow Chanel. Coco Chanel has been a very influential brand since the 1920’s. It would be interesting to follow not only their fashion line but also their makeup and perfume lines as well. I plan on researching all of their sights and looking back at their vintage ads. I also am interested in what their punch lines on commercials will be and how their products are presented in stores. The historical perspective will be fun to acquire, and will interest me every step of the way. Also there will be many visual aids and hopefully statistics that will help me to further clarify my research paper.

Ooops

I didn’t do the correct assignment. I will redo this and make a comparrison between two vintage ads.

Vintage Ads

http://www.scrapbookingsuppliesrus.com/product_info.php?cPath=20_768&products_id=11291

This coke ad is very different from recent beverage ads that are shown today. The product is being held by a very clothed, and classy woman. There is a lot of text explaining how popular and in-demand the product is. This advertisment is actually selling the drink, instead of selling the woman. “Pause that refreshes,” is the main slogan, and is catchy and innocent.

http://www.adflip.com/addetails.php?adID=1453

Although “Let me come into your bedroom with my latest creation,” is the slogan for this add, the pajamas are very modest. There is a slight hint of sex appeal however it seems more based on beauty to me. The bedware is made in many colors, with fancy lace that might not be so comfortable, however they will be appealing to others. I’m not sure of the time period but the price seems very reasonable. In today’s culture bedware is only presented in a sexual way, and is very skimpy. If you want to be appealing in bed, you must wear basically nothing. The idea of “sexy” has definitely transformed over time. Women in this time period were seeking any attention they could find, and they usually found it in what they wore. However, what they wore would not be attractive and would be way to modest for women seeking attention from their dress code in today’s society.

Deconstructing Ads

The two ads are uniquely presenting womens feminine products from the company Kotex. The first older, ad, is emphasizing the social aspect of the woman. There is a lot of text explaining how wearing Kotex can make you feel calm, and secure in any social situation. Whether your on a picnic with friends, out to dinner with a significant other, or meeting new people Kotex will always keep you protected. The ad focuses on having a pleasant feeling, even when experiencing a not so pleansant time of the month. The second ad however becomes more focused on looks and a slight sex appeal. There is no story, and basically is presenting the idea that if you use Kotex you will Be Sure of yourself. So if you use another brand does that mean you won’t be confident? This is a similar slogan to “Because your Worth It,” that is used in today’s makeup ads by Cover Girl.

Narcissism as Liberation

1. Douglas uses many critcal and sarcastic comments to portray her point to the reader. One of her main points was the idea that womens thighs and butts need to be smooth, with no dimples. Our society will not excpet even the least bit of natural cellulite that is on womens legs. Legs are supposed to be perfect, fit, and smooth. There is not an emphasis on being healthy and working out, rather only appearance is taken into account. Another topic she discussed was women’s obsession with facial products. Women spend so much money on creams that are supposed to provide a more youthful look. Douglas says that she doesn’t believe in this because your face shows character and what you have personally been through. An idea I was drawn to was..what if every women woke up, looked in the mirror and was happy with her self image? Our society would be a lot different, and a less conceited, and judgemental of women’s looks.

2. The way that Douglas presents her writing, draws the reader in. She pokes fun at how society analyzes the womenly figure, and does it in a way to capture the reader’s attention. She is almost always correct in her assumptions and points. She backs up her writing with knowldegable comparrisons, ones that the reader can relate to. There was a lot of comparrisons to popular magazines, and how they depict how a women is “supposed” to look. If these societal concepts would be turned down a notch, over all women would be a lot happier, and a lot more focused on more important issues. It is sad to say that some girls only care about their appearance, and are constantly on a search for exceptance of others. If this attention would be focused differently, we would have more money to contribute to better causes such as Hurricane Katrina, or the Soldiers in Iraq.