Unethical Advertising

#1)

I saw one on the drive back to Utah after Christmas break. I remember it because I was rather disgusted by it. It was just a picture of 3 round fruits that increased in size. I remember that the largest one was a watermelon. So, it would have gone something like: apple, cantaloupe, watermelon. And then it just listed the name of a place to get plastic surgery. It took a couple of seconds for the meaning to dawn on me, but when it did, I just felt kind of disgusted at the fact that this company was comparing the size of fruit to breast implants. Here I was, thinking that this sign had something to do with fruit when it was really telling women that they need to get some implants or be a sad little apple forever. And then I thought, a watermelon? Really? Now that’s getting a little ridiculous. Anyway, that ad left me feeling angry at people for objectifying women and angry that I was unable to do anything about it at the moment. Even thinking about it now makes me want to

#2)

My roommates were all sitting in the living room, so instead of bothering them with the tv, I just went into my room and started watching commercials on youtube. I watched one that was funny, but kind of offensive at the same time. It starts out with a young boy who joins what looks like a Buddhist or Tibetan colony. He trains with them until he can do all kinds of fancy tricks, but he’s not initiated into the clan until he smashes his head on a pepsi can, thus imprinting his forehead with their symbol—an open pepsi can.

Here’s the link: pepsi commerical

I found it kind of funny, but at the same time I think it could be offensive, especially to someone of that culture. Everything was fine until the very end when the guy smashes his head on the pepsi can. That’s where I thought it went too far.

#3)

There's something else that I wanted to show on here. It wasn’t an ad, but it was kind of the results of a study by USA Today. Since the term “unethical” can include the incorrect, I thought this video worked. This video is all about how much money Americans feel that they have to make to be comfortable. What it fails to do is to qualify for differences in situation. For instance, they said that the majority of Americans thought that a salary of $50,000 or more would let them live comfortably. However, I realized at the end of the video that it said nothing about the size of the families being supported by these incomes or the places where they would be living. In some states, it’s easier to live on less. In other states, especially in the East, the cost of living is just going to be higher. Also, a family of eight is much more expensive than a family of four or two. So, I feel like their statement is skewed, and it makes me skeptical of any other information that they put up on their website.

USA Today

Journal # 6

This flyer is a demonstration of landscape orientation (#4), single column grid (#5), and Poor ordering of information (# 14).
All of the information is just kind of stuck in the middle; it could be much more organized.










This next image is a good example of a triple column grid (#6), numbers used for a list (# 10), and good ordering of information (#13). So, I realized after I had uploaded this image that the words were just there are as a template, hence they don't really make sense, but the order is still clear because of the large numbers and because of the way the information is separated.










This next picture is a snapshot of my newsletter that I did for class. It's a good example of poor use of white space (#1--I could have separated things much more, like the different headings and different articles.), Portrait orientation (#3), mixed column grid (# 7), Drop cap (#12--If you notice, I've done a drop cap on the beginning of the two articles.), and a watermark (#19). I love putting watermarks on my indesign stuff. I think this one can also work for #17, tabs or dividers because I have that solid divider in the middle of the page separating it into two halves.









This one is also an example of a landscape orientation, but I put it on here mainly for its good use of white space (#2--at least I think it's good.)













This page shows a header and a footer (#18) as well as a marginal header (# 9). Even though I've already put one example up of a triple column layout, this one does a good job of that too.










This image is a good example of using bullets to give information (# 11) and it is contained within a solid frame (#20)










This is a snapshot of an assignment I did a while ago. It shows the MLA format (#15), and it also shows a flush left heading, which is what #8 is asking for, I think














Yup, so there's my journal. I think I'm doing it right, but let me know if I'm totally off!

Visual Rhetoric Journal # 2

20. Grouping by shape

19. Figure-ground contrast

18. Pathos: I thought this man looked so sad. Either that or he's tired, but my first thought was sad.

17. Logos: I know this doesn't present a logical argument, but when I saw it, I immediately thought of logos. When I think of logos, I think of order and symmetry. That is this picture exactly.

16. Ethos: The suit combined with the handshake makes me think of trust.

15. Tone: I wasn't quite sure what tone meant in terms of photos, but I kind of took it as feeling plus vibrancy. The colors in here are awesome, with the reds, oranges, and yellows. It also gives a feeling of excitement plus nostalgia.

14. Conciseness: I thought this one was pretty concise in that I could tell what it was right away.

13. Emphasis: I think the angle really emphasizes the height.

12. Unity: I think the lines and the bags, as well as the hoods they're wearing, really unify this picture.

11. Proportion: I love the difference in size here. Either those tires are really small or that one is just huge! But it's weird, I can't exactly tell if they're at different distances or not.

10. Point of view: This is a clock, but I think the picture's taken at a cool angle. Besides, you can see all the gears, which you normally can't see.

9. Pattern

8. Narration: This picture seems to tell the life of the tree, but it's bent and somewhat uprooted in such a grotesque way that it makes me think of pain. Interesting.

7. Details: I thought this one worked well because there is so much going on; it would be hard to describe it all.

6. Comparison and contrast. I really wanted to see a juxtaposition of height.

5. Classification or grouping into categories. I love how these look, separated into their different colors.

4. Balance: I really like the spires of this building, and even though the building is not symmetrical, the spires give it a balanced feel.

3. Adapted to a specific audience, purpose, and context. This one is supposed to be about stopping hunger.

2. Visual without text


1. Text without visual component

Sometimes you have to make change happen

I can't make my mind think about school right now, so I've been taking a break today. It's a strange feeling though, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like I'm ready for something, and whatever it is that should be here is late. I suppose you could say it's a kind of senior-itis. I've only got six more classes to take, really, until I'm ready to graduate. I've been thinking about adding on another minor, but that's beside the point.

Another word might be restless. Don't get me wrong, I love college. But it's different now. Have you ever been going on with your life and then a bunch of things change all at once? Not in a bad way, but people just move on and they go their different ways? And you feel a little like the tortoise, but then you wonder if you're actually the hare and it's you leaving all of them behind, making all of this change. Today's blog is going to be a random mish-mash of whatever's in my head because I can never make sense of anything until I write it all down.

So, let's start from the beginning of my thoughts. I usually feel pretty content with my state of life. It doesn't take too much to make me happy. As long as I can eat a sandwich sometime during the day, have clothes to wear (that are comfortable), and a bed to sleep in with some fuzzy blankets, I'm pretty happy. Oh, I like having my guitar there too. There's something different about this year though, and it just feels like I'm almost on the verge of something. Maybe it's that I went to Wales and England and really, really want to go back. Maybe it's because some of my best friends are now gone on missions for a year and a half. Maybe it's because I'm about to graduate and don't know what I'm quite going to do with my life. Maybe it's something else entirely, and maybe it's all of those combined.

I'm moving into a new apartment this next semester, or at least I will be as long as I can sell my contract. I've been living in the same apartment for over a year now, and now it's filled with different people. Don't get me wrong. I like these people, and I would love to be their roommate for another semester, but it's just weird being in the same apartment with different people. While I was in the UK, I lived on Penny Lane (it was actually Pen-Y-Lan, but we called it Penny Lane) in a very interesting building. But I had my own room, my own writing desk, and my very own view. I'm going to see if maybe I just need more space than I have now. It is three to a room where I live, but the rent is so cheap!

Also, I've been pretty content with my English major. In fact, I don't think there is another major that would have made me any happier. That's good. It means I did, in fact, choose the right major. But I think I've been planning my life too much. I tell myself, okay I'll either go to graduate school, get a job as an editor somewhere, or have a job on the side and try to write. But I don't know if I'd really be satisfied with those. And I thought back on the college that I've done and wondered, is there anything that I will regret not doing while I'm here?

I'm a little afraid of my answer because there is something. I always feel a little sheepish telling people what I want to do and dream of doing because I always think it sounds silly. But whatever. But when I was little I desperately wanted to be an actress. I remember daydreaming about that so many times in school. I was in a couple of plays growing up, and in my senior year of high school I was one of the Emcees for our Variety show. I did a semester of drama in high school, but I thought the class and the teacher were kind of weird, so I got out and did choir. I'm very glad that I did choir though. I think that really was where I learned to let my voice grow. one of my favorite things is playing the guitar and singing a song, so I'm glad I can do it to my own satisfaction. But I haven't done anything much with theater since I graduated high school. I mean, I've always enjoyed doing impersonations of people, my friends can tell you that, but nothing really on a stage. I'm pretty sure that I would regret it if I didn't at least explore some options in theater. Acting is fun, but I also want to experiment with screenwriting and play writing.

I guess I just don't want to tie myself down to something that I'm not sure will make me happy all the way. I don't know that I want to have my life planned out. I mean, how exciting would it be to just go somewhere and see what happens? I could go to England, or I could just go somewhere new and see where my feet take me, see what opportunities come. I kind of want to do something unexpected. And I really want to see other places. I've traveled a lot within the U.S., but there's a whole world out there. The only thing is that you have to have money to travel. Meh, I'll worry about that later. Right now, I want to think that I can go anywhere and do something exciting that I hadn't thought of before.

For instance, I speak Italian! Surprise! Well, most of you probably knew that. But what if I found some way to work in Italy and learn my Italian really well? I've been forgetting it, and it's kind of sad. I don't know, but I think I feel a little less restless now. It's time to think about things I haven't thought of before :)

It's definitely Fall

Sooo...I guess it's been a long time since I've posted on here. Life's been busy--nice but busy. This summer, I went on a study abroad to Wales. It was pretty sweet, and you can check out my other blog documenting my experiences over there. I only put up a grand total of two blogs on there, but that's better than none, eh?

School's great this semester. I'm taking three classes for my editing minor, and they all kind of overlap, which is nice. What I learn in one helps with the other two, so it's awesome. I'm also taking a Romantic poetry class. We spent the first couple of weeks on William Blake, and now we're onto Wordsworth. And then I've got one religion class that focuses on marriage and family relations, and it's actually very interesting. I think this is the first semester that I haven't felt too busy. My classes keep me occupied, but they don't overwhelm me. I have plenty of time to go to Leading Edge every week.

Oh, I did apply for an internship with the Church Office Building. I'm hoping to work with one of the Church Magazines, but we'll see what happens. I sent in the online application first, and they asked if they could see a portfolio. After many, many hours of copying, hole-punching, and inserting, I had my portfolio of about 170 pages. I know! I'm not sure if that's a typical size for a portfolio, but it felt rather large to me. The main reason for its size is that most of my editing experience has come from Leading Edge, and that means short stories. In most portfolios, they want a "before" and an "after" of the piece that was edited. I think I had one story that was about 25 pages, so that meant that it was 50 pages in my portfolio for that one story. But anyway, It would be cool if I got the internship. I wouldn't be crushed if I didn't get it because I'll have more opportunities to apply in the future, but I would definitely jump at the opportunity if it came my way.

All right, I think I'm going to go and read some slush!