Leadership

When I watched Miss Representation, there were many concepts and facts that stood out to me, one of which was the lack of female leadership. The vast majority of our government leaders are made up of men. And the small percent of women who do appear in leadership are not taken seriously. Women are judged and ignored as the general public rally behind men. Women are judged for what they where, how they look, how they speak, and what they say. If a woman leader wants to be taken seriously, she must wear something fashionable but not too revealing, wear just enough makeup so that her appearance looks "pretty" but not too artificial. She must do everything perfectly and once she has done this, she will still be criticized. As I said in my previous blog post, it is never enough. She will always have a certain flaw that makes her less qualified than the male opponent even though they are equal. Women fight so hard for a chance to help lead and contribute to society but they must work ten times harder in order to have the same opportunities as men. But why is misogyny so prevalent especially with female leaders? It is because the media spreads these ideas and plants seeds of doubt into or subconscious. There are so many people whose initial response to female leaders is doubt but are they even aware of why? If people were aware of their subconscious decisions, would they still identify with this sexist mindset?

This same concept appears in news reporters. Almost all women who work as news reporters are pretty by societal standards. And just as women leaders, they are not taken seriously. They too are scrutinized and ignored. No matter the job, we always see this theme where women have to fight to be heard. To be understood. To be recognized. And though we have made progress there is still so much more that needs to change before everyone is considered equal.

Never Enough

The documentary: Miss Representation, Was vey enlightening. Before, I was definitely aware of these issues, however; I did not know the full extent of misogyny within the media. Women are portrayed as objects rather than people and men are conditioned to accept and contribute to the stereotypes of women.

What I find so unfortunate is how the vast majority of people are completely unaware of how affected women are by the media. Our perceptions of our own bodies are warped by the unrealistic expectations created by media. We become consumed by these expectations to such an extent where we are unable to find anything we love about our appearances. This leads to a variety of unhealthy habits. Women develop eating disorders, depression, and more. 

The entire concept of beauty is a social construct. Why is it that the perfect hourglass figures are considered beautiful? This idea of beauty was created by media and reinforced by consumers who add to the pressure for girls to look beautiful. The images of women in media are not even real. As if the carefully selected models were not gorgeous enough, their images are then altered into something entirely unreal. The pictures of models are airbrushed, made skinnier, and overall completely transformed. The pressure of becoming these images become so great that we do everything in our power to change our appearances but it is never enough. No matter what we do to change who we are or what we look like, there is always something else that needs to change. We always find a new flaw to scrutinize whether it is our own flaw or someone else's. People spend thousands of dollars on plastic surgery so they can have an appearance that is societally acceptable. But no matter what we do, it is never enough. 

Do We Have Our Own Culture?

The Merchant of Cool prompted a very good question: do we have our own culture? Media is a part of everyone and sometimes it is hard to tell whether we influence the media, or the media influences us. Maybe it is a combination of both but either way, these two factors cause people to constantly change their views and opinions.

There is a common pattern in the cycle of culture. People (mainly teens) find something they like or identify with and once media discovers something that is popular, they overuse it until it is no longer appealing. An example of this is music. One of my favorite bands was Twenty One Pilots and I used to listen to their music before they were so popular. The first time their song, "Stressed Out" was played on the radio, I was super excited because it meant that more people might share a similar taste in music. However, their song was played so many times that eventually, I cringed every time it was on. Then I was just disappointed because this song that I really enjoyed was twisted into something I hated. Afterwards, I looked for new music that I would like and stopped listening to Twenty One Pilots. I still like the band but now it is much less appealing.

This same scenario happens all the time. We find something interesting from the media or vise versa but then we obsess over it until we move on. This happens with songs, clothing style, movies, and so much more. Something is cool for a while but we always move on to something else. It's debatable whether this is good or bad. Even though we grow tired of things easily, we are always open to trying new things.

What is "cool"

In recent times, one of the largest targeted demographics for advertisement are teens. Teens are so important to large industries because if they find a certain product or brand to be "cool," then everyone will buy it. And for various reasons, many teens also have a decent amount of spending money. The goal of advertisement for teens is to target people like me. Even though I don't have a job or any way to make money for myself, I am usually able to buy things because my parents are willing to lend me spending money. This allows me to waste money on pointless things that I have seen in advertisement.

Teenagers are a good audience to target because if they find something to be "cool" it spreads like wild fire. There are so many teenagers who feel like they need whatever is "cool" which is why we all copy each other. An example of this is the iPhone. When I started to find phones appealing, it was not because I thought it would be practical or I thought it would make me safer, it was because all of my friends had iPhones. I thought it would be cool to have one because everyone else did. When I look back at how I felt, it seems shallow pointless. Just because everyone finds something appealing, does not mean it's better.

It's tricky to find something that teens like because what we consider "cool" frequently changes. Even though we are so challenging, teens are such an important consumer for big industries that people go to extreme measures to find what is "cool" for teens. In the video we watched in class, there was a group of people who made it their job to interview, photograph, and study teenagers so they could sell that information to companies. This information was so valuable to companies because they could use this information to create appealing advertisement.

Met Gala

An event that was recently all over the news was the 2018 Met Gala. I saw numerous videos about it on Instagram, Snapchat, and on TV. This year, the gala was Catholic themed, which inspired amazing outfits that many fans loved. This event was an opportunity for celebrities to make a fashion statement that everyone would remember. Many of the outfits were designer which gave publicity to some huge fashion brands. These companies at the Met Gala gained publicity because they were mentioned in the news and tagged in social media posts from the celebrities that chose to advertise for the designer brands. The most popular brands at the Gala were Versace (which was tagged in many celebrity photos such as Katy Perry and Blake Lively), closely followed by Gucci, Tommy Hiliger, Balmain, Chanael, Prada, and many other companies.

At the Gala, all of the costumes were amazing however, a few really stood out, dominating all the news on social media. One of the best costumes was worn by Lana del Rey who coordinated her outfit with Jared Leto. They were both dressed as ethereal figures and their clothes were designed by Gucci. Lana del Rey's costume was great but what put her outfit over the top were her accessories. There was a large three-dimensional heart along with a dramatic head piece that looked like wings. Another great outfit was worn by Katy Perry who had a golden dress and boots along with gigantic white feather wings attached to her back. Katy Perry was one of the celebrities I saw all over social media and her outfit was made by Versace.

This event is one of the biggest opportunities for celebrities to show off how popular they are and designer brands to get publicity. Brands that appear in the Met Gala know that everyone will be talking about the event and if they create an amazing outfit, then the company will get even more advertisement. The brands and celebrities are mutually beneficial because while the celebrity advertises for the brand, the brand makes the celebrity seem more important. This is why the Met Gala is such an important Social Event for anyone trying to gain publicity.

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Pop-Up Ads

I hate Pop-Up ads. They show up everywhere and make it so challenging to look up anything on my phone or computer. I often have to find articles on the internet for different school assignments which is so frustrating because it slows down my research.

I also find it annoying when the pop-up ads start playing videos on my computer even when I don't click on them. Then I cannot continue to read the article without having to listen to the irksome commercial. I don't understand how the ads are able to play videos even when I do not click on them I have absolutely no control over the ads and it seems like they will never stop showing up.

Occasionally, I accidentally click on them, then I cannot delete the ad until it loads and it creates such an inconvenience. Once I accidentally clicked on an ad and it made my computer freeze so I had to wait until my computer was done rebooting. Even though pop-up ads do not actually waste a bunch of my time, they are still extremely annoying because I did not ask for them, and they never seem to go away.

I understand that companies use pop-up ads to spread advertisement, however it's not a very logical technique because most people find them annoying and don't click on them. It creates unnecessary clutter that everyone hates. It's possible that people occasionally click on them out of curiosity but I believe that most people just find them irritating.

90 minutes

My dad and step mom created a new household rule where my sisters and I have to put our phones away for at least 90 minute while we do homework. This rule was not very unreasonable because, if I'm being honest, my phone definitely distracts me from my homework. However, when they first told me that I could not use my phone, I was very annoyed. It felt like a huge deal. This sparked an argument between me and my parents. Unfortunately, this further proved their point that my siblings and I were too attached. Ultimately, they did not listen to our arguments and they implemented their rule. 

Ninety minutes is not a very long time however it felt like forever. I never realized how much my phone distracted me. While I did my homework, I constantly wondered if someone might text me or what I might miss in a group chat. I also wanted to check my social media or distract myself with a funny video. I hated feeling so controlled by my phone. It's odd how my phone distracts me even when I'm not using it. I kept looking at the time and counting down the minutes until I could check my phone.

I realized my obsession with my phone was very unhealthy. Even though checking my notifications is very unimportant, that's not how it felt. I constantly use my phone as an excuse to procrastinate and I should really stop. But if I'm being honest, I probably won't stop because I'm lazy and don't have the motivation to stop. 

Makeup

Why are some makeup brands so expensive when the quality of the product is basically the same as a less expensive brand? I'm don't know that much about makeup but I still notice this common theme throughout different brands. For example, when I walk into a store for Mac or Clinique, I notice that all their lipsticks are very expensive. The cheapest lipstick often starts at $20 dollars but the majority are much higher. Meanwhile, if I walk into Walgreens and go into their makeup section, I could buy a very similar product from a less popular brand such as NYX or Essence. The difference is the price which is often at least half as expensive as the well-known brands.

I am not saying that the quality of a popular brand and unpopular brand are always the same because typically the more expensive brand is slightly better, however; the difference is not significant enough to make a large impact. Some people may say there is a huge difference which is why they only buy from the more expensive brand but personally, I have never noticed a significant difference in quality. For example, I once purchased a highlight from Sephora that was $30 and a few weeks later I found a very similar highlight that was $8 but I did not recognize the brand. I was curious so I bought the makeup and compared the two products. They were almost identical which was annoying because I spent over three times as much money on the highlight from Sephora.

Why are the popular brands so expensive? Because the popular brands have much more advertisement. A few days ago I went to Arden Fair Mall and I saw a huge poster advertising Mac lipstick. The poster was very aesthetically pleasing and after looking at the poster I continued to think about the advertisement. Another example is Covergirl. This brand has numerous commercials with famous people such as Zendaya Coleman and this makeup brand constantly appears on America's Next Top Model. Popular brands charge more for their products because even if their prices are unreasonable, people still buy them because they are popular.