Jo Chemo, Spoof Ad

Most everyone in this culture is familiar with the animated camel better know as "JO Camel", the advertising technique used by Camel cigarettes. Why a camel? I really do not know why this is the choice of the marketing directors at Camel cigarettes but it has been a rather affective one in that everyone knows "JO".
This ad is a spoof on the Camel ads and shows all of the camels in the hospital on Chemo because all of the cigarettes they have been smoking have given them cancer.
This ad utilizes a few very clear rhetorical strategies. The first that seems to be the most obvious is the us of cause and effect. It demonstrates how the use of Camel cigarettes are often times the cause of cancer thus making patients require the use of Chemo for survival. This is the biggest strategy of the add that appeals to the pathos of the audience. It is in many ways a very comical ad but appeals to a very serious situation. Most people have at one time or another been a smoker, known someone that smokes or at least are around a smoker every so often. Most people have felt the effects of smoking, whether it be as drastic as actually having cancer or not. Nonetheless, there are not many positive effects to smoking. This appeals to pathos as people can relate emotionally to the consequences of smoking.
Finally, this ad uses the original Camel ads as a social commentary in a huge way. As I mentioned before, most Americans are familiar with "Jo Camel" which allows the people who see this ad to understand its message. If this ad were in another country where Camel cigarettes were not sold there would be a disconnect to where the people would have a very difficult time understanding the advertisement.

Calvin Klein Ad

This add, taken from the Unofficial Calvin Klein Ads Archive shows two women with what appears to be a couple of guys behind them. The women are dressed very modestly with clothing that is fully covering their figures. The sex appeal is this ad is very different than the sex appeal that one would see in most advertisements today. This picture is from the nineties judging by the appearance of the clothes although the actual year of the picture is unknown. The clothing is very flattering yet not immodest and does not compromise the dignity of the ladies in the picture.
While viewing several of the pictures on the Calvin Klein website, it is interesting to see the progression of the clothing even from just ten or fifteen years ago. It would appear that more often than not the models become more seductive with fewer clothes on their bodies as the years progress. The use of sex appeal is very much a temporal idea which makes me wonder what advertisements will look like in another ten years?
I find this ad to be effective even without the blunt use of sex appeal. I also find it to be quite appropriate to all eyes of all ages. However, in regards to some of the other advertisements, I cannot say the same.
I think that this ad appeals to pathos in several ways. It is interesting to see that although quite modestly dressed the ladies still have guys standing behind them. This would appeal to emotion and make a person think that even though the women are dressed modestly it does not make them ugly or undesirable. They are beautiful with all of their clothes on which would appeal to the emotion of women whose mind set tends to be the opposite.

Analysis

The element of size in the photograph is a powerful statement. The size of the tree trunk in the center of the picture reaching all the way to the top and bottom of the image creates a sense of grandeur to the photograph. It is in the very middle of the image and takes up much of the forefront of the picture. The other part that takes up much of the rest of the image are the green leaves which are mostly part of the tree. The sticks of the ground which came from the tree are what make up the large part of the bottom half of the photograph. The magnitude of the tree and its elements make a strong statement regarding the little girls. The girls are in the foreground of the image and are rather small in comparison to the elements of the tree and the forest.

I think that the artist is trying to portray a sense of innocence and lack of power pertaining to the little girls. The fact that one is asleep on the other's lap in the midst of the grandeur of the forest, conveys that they are merely little girls. The argument that I think this is trying to make is that although human, they are only small girls and lack an understanding or the wisdom for survival amidst the large elements of nature. The message would be that humans still have somewhat of a sense of weakness although in a position of power over many aspects of nature. The human body is human and in many ways is powerless like with the little girls.

Reflection

This photograph makes me think that the little girls are far away from home and have stopped to rest for awhile. As the day lingers on the girls are becoming more fatigued and have to stop for a nap. It makes me think that they are a bit scared to be away from home by themselves so one girl decides to stay awake while the other rests her eyes. They are quite young and probably thought that it would have been fun to wander out into the forest to play until they realized that they no longer knew their way back home. They decided to rest beside a tree in so that they could conceal themselves somewhat from others would someone else come into the forest. The girl who is keeping watch has a look of melancholy and maybe a bid of sadness as she is thinking about what to do next. There is probably no food around or an adequate place to shelter the two young girls and the girl is probably feeling a bit worried. It makes me think that maybe there are feelings of neglect stirring within the little girls as no one has come to find them yet. Perhaps the reason they left their home in the first place was neglect as well, the lack of feeling loved from parents so they began to wander hoping to find something else, something that would love them better than where they came from. Perhaps they decided to run away.

Observation

The large tree trunk is what consumes most of the photograph by Polixeni Papapetrou from the Foley Gallery, and slices it in half. It is the size of the little girls in the photo put together. The greenery lies in the backdrop of the whole picture which leads one to focus on the little girls at the bottom of the picture, the focal points. One is sitting erect against the tree in her beige collared shirt and jumper. She is acting as a pillow for the other little girl resting her head upon her lap. The little girl is resting with her eyes closed in her white collared shirt and brown jumper. Her hands lay relaxed on her lap as if she had not a care in the world. Both little girls have long brown hair and appear to be no older than seven or eight years old. They are laying atop the forrest floor which is covered in sticks and do not have shoes on their feet to protect them from the stickers of the sticks. It is a dark forrest with no one else around and it would appear as if night were approaching quickly. The sun is barely peering through the thick green leaves, which tower over the little girls.

Reflective Essay: Filippino market vs. American grocery

My friend Bridget and I walked into the open-air market in Maramag, Bukidnon, Philippines on an afternoon as we did several times each week to shop for what we thought to be the necessary groceries for the group of us. As we approached the market in the motorella, a motor cycle attached to somewhat of a buggy, the taxi’s of Maramag, I tried to take a deep breath and work up the courage to make yet another trip that week for groceries. As we did not have means to store food in our house with poor refrigeration and little critters that enjoyed our food often before we did, our trips were rather frequent to this colorful market. We handed our motorella driver seven pesos for the ride and walked up the stairs, immediately greeted by the smiles of some familiar faces.

This was the “grocery” store for the time that we lived in the Philippines. It was where we bought all that we would need for a day or two. The items that we purchased would include rice, meat, vegetables and fruit. Those were the only options. There were no frills or extra things that we would sometimes happen upon, but merely these simple ingredients for sustenance. Surprisingly, rice became a staple in our diet before we knew it.

Consider the idea of filling up on rice every day for survival, assuming there is enough of it to go around. Rice actually expands in the stomach and makes one feel more full than most other foods. In most parts of the United States rice is not an every day staple in our American diets. Most of us eat it maybe a few times a month. In the Philippines rice consumption is quite the opposite as it is harvested in abundance. As a developing country, luxuries are few especially when it comes to food. Many of the people that live there eat rice most days. Fruit, meat or vegetables are eaten on other days when the budget allows. We were only visitors for a year in the Philippines and did not ever starve as many of the Filippinos actually do. The diet of the Filippinos is very different than the diet of most Americans. As Americans we are rather spoiled when it comes to food.

At the market, we would begin with the fruit, to me the best part of the whole market, and purchase a few bananas from one vendor, a pineapple from another and some mangos from the last vendor. Next we moved along to the vegetable vendors. As we tried to find the best price for the things on our list, we were surprised by little mice that on occasion would crawl out from some vegetable piles or small lizards running here and there atop the food. The vegetable selections were few as well, as all of the vendors carried the same things and most of which were foreign to us. This made it hard to know how to prepare meals!

The meat, the last and worst part in my opinion, is where we had to go next. The hanging carcasses of cows or pigs were before us with every piece of the animals available for purchase out on the counter tops. The trick was to know which pieces were familiar and how many kilos we needed. We ended up buying a kilo of chicken, mostly the breasts, as well as a kilo and a half of pork chopped off of the pig with the butcher’s massive machete, right before our eyes. It was placed on the scale, and put in the plastic bag for us to take home, unsure of what part of the pig we just purchased. We carried what seemed like the basic necessities back to our house in the motorella and were done with our shopping for maybe a day or two.

It is amazing how different the shopping experience was while we were in the Philippines compared to grocery stores in the U.S. No one was buying food to make big elaborate meals, or to stock up for several days but rather just to survive for a day or two until the wages came in for the next day or two. It is also interesting to analyze the sanitary conditions of the market as opposed to our grocery stores. What would one think if there were hanging carcasses of dead animals, or small little rats that crawled around on our food, at the grocery store?

Growing up as a child and still today when my family or most families that I knew went to the grocery we stocked up for a long period of time and filled the pantries at my house. Not only did we fill the pantry, but we filled the refrigerator, deep freezer in the garage and the freezer in the kitchen. They were all full, sometimes to the point where nothing else was going to fit. Shopping for groceries was not for survival like in the Philippines, but we stocked up like something was going to happen to us before we were able to get to the store again. Costco and Sam's Club were frequented as things are cheaper the more you buy. Is the hoarding that we do in the States, just because we have the means to, really necessary? After living in the Philippines I would have to without a doubt in my mind answer no to this question. However, it is the American mentality to buy, buy, buy more stuff, more food, even though it is not actually necessary. Our malls are bustling with people purchasing new clothes and trinkets to add to our collections and sit in our large walk-in closets. The temperature controlled, sanitary grocery stores keep their shelves stocked full for us to buy more food than sometimes is even healthy for one person to consume. There are more choices for any item imaginable lining our grocery shelves so as to give Americans as much as possible. In the Philippines if you were able to find one kind of one thing it was a good day.

Although rice in many ways does not provide all of the nutrients that one needs to remain as optimally healthy as we human beings could be, is it better to have more than we need piling up on our shelves, in our kitchens, often times being thrown away after exhausting its shelf life? Is it better to eat so much that one’s health is in jeopardy when there are people who eat only rice, if it is available, everyday? These are two very different lifestyles and cultures, but to say that America is better off because there is more, more, more of everything and because grocery stores are sanitary would be a fallacy that I myself am not willing to make. They are different.

"Amazing Grace"

I recently saw the movie “Amazing Grace”. It came out in some theaters very recently but I believe I heard that it is only in around 800 in the whole country. The radio talk show hosts were saying that it will not make much money because there is no sex and not much violence in the film, which is also why it has made it to so few theaters. The reviews that the talk show hosts were giving of the film were very positive and the trailer looked like it would be entertaining so I decided to give it a shot.
The film takes place during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, mostly in England. It tells the story of William Wilberforce, an active politician in British parliament, and his struggle with only few supporters to fight for the abolition of the slave trade. He becomes very close friends with an ex-captain of a slave ship who converted to Christianity and wrote the song “Amazing Grace”, probably one of the most famous songs of all time and in my opinion a great song. The song is incorporated into the film a few times but it is played right before the credits, which to me was worth the price of admission.
In my opinion this film was excellent. It was so refreshing to see such a wholesome movie with little to no cussing, no sex, no violence, yet it was very entertaining and uplifting. It is a bit disheartening to me that it will not make much money because as a society we are entertained by the “crap”, that makes its way into most movies. Some movies that have good moral content end up rather cheesy with bad acting but this was exactly the opposite, with great acting and an entertaining plot. I strongly recommend everyone to maybe go out on a whim and support a good film.