seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Netherlands
seen from Sweden
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from Finland
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
By Jeffrey Weiss, Special to CNN (CNN) -- Has any advertiser gotten into more trouble than Samuel Adams by not putting religion in an ad? Usually it goes the other way.
Somewhat related to the video we watched for the midterm. This article explores the use (or absence in Samuel Adams case) of God and religion in advertising. If you’ve ever wanted to know the Beer Code for advertising, read this.
This is a study examining if shows like The Biggest Loser actually influence weight loss or if they are purely for entertainment. Quite interesting as many of the contestants on weight-based reality shows tend to gain the weight back later, be it due to mostly loss of water weight or removal from the positive environment and/or resources that allowed them to lose weight.
Amid the smoldering wreckage of the popular culture, the author blames Reality TV, which has not only ruined network values, destroyed the classic documentary, and debased the art of bad acting, but also fomented class warfare, antisocial behavior, and murder.
Here’s an article that examines the effect of reality television on media and pop culture. It’s quite brutal and makes interesting comparisons with the decline of documentaries being inversely related to the rise in popularity reality shows.
The New Yorker
A really interesting read about the use of alcohol in reality television. The article talks about how producers of these shows will often use alcohol to get more drastic and emotional responses from their cast, whether it’s to insinuate drama between two contestants or just make them more vivid. Shows will use it almost to create actors out of people with no previous acting experience, which is a cheaper solution than getting more talented people to appear on the programs.
“Increased contact with different groups of people will not necessarily increase understanding, particularly if people remain ethnocentric–judging different others only by the standards and perspectives of one’s own group.” - Rhetoric in Popular Culture, p. 60
This quote, in the section describing pluralism, immediately drew to mind Bernie Sanders’ supporters and their view toward Hillary Clinton. With the rise of the internet and the ability to be aware of more groups, we have also become more exclusive, shutting out a political candidate and her supporters because she isn’t as progressive as Sanders. This is purely observational and does not apply to everyone who supported Sanders or dislikes Clinton, but many have denounced her exclusively based on their desire for someone else without prior knowledge of her views and policies, thus demonstrating the concept of being ethnocentric.
Show coming up Sunday, April 24: Spooky Action Space Captain, Magnetic West, Alex Botkin, and Jason Kaminski
