The Truth about Autocomplete

     An advertising campaign was put together for UN women by the advertising firm Ogilvy and Mather.  This advertising campaign was made to show that many people are still discriminating against women and that many people still believe that women are not equal to men.  The posters from the campaign used genuine Google searches which revealed auto-complete results for terms like "Women cannot..." and "Women need to...” where several negative words appeared to complete the phrases.  Some of the phrases that were completed were very shocking to read, such as "women need to be put in their place" and "women should be slaves".  I find it extremely disappointing to know that many people believe that women shouldn't have any rights and that they should be treated like dirt.

     Sexism still exists in the world today, and the advertising campaign is just one example of proof.  Sexist attitudes still exist today because many people don’t share the same point of view about women.  Many people have trouble changing their mind, no matter what anyway says, even if they are wrong.  A lot of people still believe that men are superior to women and that women are incapable of doing anything useful.  Throughout the years, women have done some incredible things like in 1893; women gained the power to vote and in 1963, the first women, Valentina Tereshkova, went up in a rocket ship and flew up into space.  But, even though women have accomplished these amazing things, some countries in the world sill think women should only stay at home and do whatever men tell them to do.

     Sexist attitudes have a large, negative impact on women, cultures, and societies.  Women are seen as inferior to men and as people who don't matter at all.  This attitude is very offensive to women and it can make some women actually feel as if they are inferior to men.  Sexist attitudes affect our culture because it can change the way women act around men and if this attitude continues throughout the generations, our culture will not grow in a positive manner.  This attitude also affects our society because this attitude causes tension and problems between men and women in all societies.  But I think we can change this attitude by teaching people that sexism is wrong; that we are all equal.  I think people should know about this issue and what they can do to help change it.  I think other campaigns like this one, should be created to let people know what women have achieved, and how they are still be treated unfairly today.    

  

     

   

         

Black Friday

     Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and it unofficially marks the start of the busy holiday shopping season.  Both Americans and Canadians become very excited for this long day of shopping, where they are offered large discounts.  Often people line-up overnight outside their favourite stores and it can become very crazy.  There have been many disasters on Black Friday because many people become aggressive when they want to buy the discounted items, especially electronics.  For example there is a video on YouTube that shows the madness of Black Friday. In the video, many people were fighting over flat-screen televisions that were on sale, and at one point the police had to break up a fight over a television.  Fortunately, there is a Canadian organization to help fight back against Black Friday, it is called "Giving Tuesday".  This new Canadian movement takes place every year after "Cyber Monday” and it is about donating and volunteering to help others in need.  It joins charities, companies, and individuals together to give back to a cause that they feel strongly about.

     We all buy things that are unnecessary for every day, such as a new gaming device or the latest model of a smartphone.  Many people often buy things that they want rather than what we need, and we forget that some people can't even afford to buy the basic necessities to survive.  We often forget that we should be grateful for what we have.  Today, most people feel that they should buy the latest things that are in the market.  Many people nowadays, confuse their "wants" with their "needs".  Our society makes us feel like we have to the latest gadgets or designer clothes to fit in.  We buy the latest things to be a part of the trends and to be cool, which makes most people happy.  

     Commercials and advertisements play a big part in our "need" to buy things that are not required to survive.  Through many different ways of media, the retailers try to tempt us to buy their products by making their products seem appealing and cheap.  Our culture and media encourages us to buy things constantly because they are benefiting off us.  When we are buying the things that they are promoting, they make a profit of us, so that they can continue to stay in business.  I think that promoting to buy things constantly is a bad thing because if you keep buying things, you will eventually run out of money.  As well as promoting to buy things constantly will make more people become poor because they kept on buying the latest things and they ran out of money.  I think that this will make people think that they must have the latest things, when in reality you don't need the latest gadgets to be happy.   

Brilliant Ad

     The Y&R advertising agency created an advertisement for Colgate, a company that produces and sells oral hygiene products, to tell kids that brushing your teeth is important.  The advertisement uses the Colgate logo and their slogan "Don't forget", which are printed on ice cream bar sticks and lollipop sticks, to remind kids to brush their teeth.

     Here is my favourite set of images from the advertising campaign:

     The advertisement campaign is very simple and effective and the message of this advertisement campaign, which is don't forget to brush your teeth, comes across very clear in this advertisement campaign.  I chose this campaign because of its simplicity and that I found the message of the campaign to be very important.  I also think this is a great advertising campaign because it is very clear that it is an advertisement for Colgate, and not some other brand like Oral-B or GUM.  The target audience, which is kids, is also very clear and that I think this advertisement is very effective, because it makes me want to brush my teeth when I see it.  The most appealing part of this advertisement, in my opinion, is that the ice cream stick is in the shape of a toothbrush.  The fact that the ice cream stick was in the shape of a toothbrush is what drew me to this advertisement campaign, because I thought that this was a brilliant idea for the company to incorporate.

     Colgate has many great advertising campaigns, but for me this campaign immediately caught my attention.  I preferred this Colgate advertisement campaign rather than the other Colgate advertising campaigns, because this campaign was very simple and I liked that the message of the campaign is directed at kids.  Unlike the other Colgate campaigns that have children has a target audience, this campaign has only a few words and the message is still conveyed clearly.     

More Social Media

     Social media is now being used constantly in many different forms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Everyday people are posting things which they feel that the world needs to know, such as what they are doing, what they are wearing, and what they are feeling at that moment.

     Social media has many advantages as well as many disadvantages.  Social media is a good way to reconnect with old friends or family members, who you haven't talked to in a long time.  It also can be used to find out what is happening in the world, or to just find out what is happening in your own community.  But social media can allow strangers to easily access personal information.  The video by Jack Vale proves how easy it is for someone to find you, and know some personal information about you like your name, birthday, or what you recently ate.  All Jack had to do was use social media to search for posts that were near his location, and he found out personal information about strangers.  Another disadvantage of social media is cyberbullying, which is sending or posting mean messages about someone, usually anonymously.  In my opinion, cyberbullying is more harmful than regular bullying because since it is on the internet, everyone can see it, and it will permanently stay on the internet.

     If a total stranger came up to me and started telling me personal information about myself, I would be freaked out.  Wouldn't you?  This is why, when I use social media I am very careful about what I am posting.  I rarely post pictures of myself online because I am not willing to share everything with others, especially to people that I don't know.  It is always good to be careful when using social media, since you never know who will look at your profiles.  

 

Popular social media icons.

Stop and Frisk

      The problems that African Americans males are facing are that they are being searched for concealed weapons or contraband goods by police because of their race; they are being stopped and frisked.  They are being frisked just because they are African Americans, and the police believe that they are all criminals or they will all eventually become criminals.  Since the African Americans males are being stopped and frisked, they no longer feel safe around police and they feel like criminals, and not citizens.  They feel that they cannot depend on the police for help and they are afraid of the police.

      I think this is a serious issue, which is wrong and unfair, especially to the African Americans which are innocent.  I also think this issue harms the community because there is mistrust between the citizens and the police.  But I think that many things can be done to prevent this issue.  I think that the police should only be allowed to search someone if there is actual evidence against that person. The police should not judge people based on their race and what they are wearing.  I also think that to help prevent this in the future, kids should be taught that to stop and frisk an innocent person is wrong, and they should be showed how to treat others properly.

      I think we have similar in issues in Toronto, because even in Toronto racism is a problem.  Many people in Toronto have been hurt and discriminated because of their race.  Though the issue of racism may not be as severe as the issue in Brooklyn, it has affected everyone; whether they have seen it, been a victim to it, or they have been racist to someone else.

   

My Thoughts on the Twerking YouTube Video HOAX

     I have just seen the video about a girl whose leg had caught on fire after "twerking", which had become a YouTube sensation and was later revealed to be a hoax by Jimmy Kimmel.  Shortly after the video became extremely popular, Jimmy Kimmel and Daphne Avalon, the stunt woman in the video, revealed their hoax.  I think that the original video was both inappropriate and slightly funny.  I found the twerking to be inappropriate because I don't want to watch Daphne or anyone else, shake their butt in front of me; I find it to be uncomfortable to watch.  I also found the video to be funny when she failed at her attempt at twerking.  But I didn't think it was funny when she caught on fire, because if the situation was not staged, she could have accidentally burn herself.

     I think that Jimmy Kimmel created this video to show how inappropriate twerking is, and what lengths people will take just to twerk.  Some people actually blamed Miley Cyrus for this video because of her performance at the Video Music Awards, which involved twerking.  I think that her performance was just another example of why twerking is inappropriate and in her case unprofessional.  I think that the video was also to let people know that, they should be more cautious of what they see online.  People should not believe everything that they see and read on the internet.  Many people involved in the media believed that this video was real and only a few people believed that the video was a hoax.

     I think that Jimmy Kimmel was trying to reveal that on YouTube most people in our society like to watch videos that are funny and showcase pranks or people not succeeding.  Most people in our society like to do dangerous or silly things in videos, just to get a lot of views on YouTube.  

  

Jimmy Kimmel and Daphne Avalon revealing the hoax.