I Ain't No Size 2

By Elizabeth Potter & Jessica Ortiz

Women now a days have several insecurities of their bodies, but Meghan Trainor shows us with her song “All about That Bass” that there’s nothing wrong with having “all the right junk in all the right places.” By this she means regardless of not being a size two, you can still be proud of your body.  Because of media women feel insecure of themselves; in magazines, posters, and advertisements the women are more often than not thin or “size two” but now we know that that’s not always what the photographer’s lens is really shooting. As Meghan Trainor sings, “I see the magazines, workin’ that Photoshop.” As an example, of magazine editing, the video Body Evolution shows the before and after behind every photo. These photos are edited to give correct curves and shape.

In the video Body Evolution they “perfected” a model by taking away all that made her, her. First they begin with regular hair and make-up, yet they added hair extensions and curled her hair because in today’s society long hair is considered beautiful. The same editors, editing the photos are who tell us that the longer the hair the more of a beautiful woman you are. Often, women with short hair, go to extensions or wigs to beautify themselves. After the basics, her photo is taken and then the real transformation starts. First they begin with her face, her freckles are erased, because imperfections are not something society sees as beautiful. When a woman first goes through puberty, she gets different imperfections, in example; freckles, pimples, and a different body shape. Because editors do these edits, these young vulnerable girls think these natural changes are wrong and get these awful lifelong insecurities. In the video, they reshape the model’s nose making it skinnier and longer, along with making her lips bigger. Her eyes, are drastically made much bigger, and wider. Next they move to her upper body, lifting her shoulders, taking major portions of her stomach, and made her breasts smaller. At the lower body they elongate her legs, and take portions of her calves to make long and skinny legs, they then make her feet smaller and more narrow. Lastly they change her skin color, give her an allover glow.

This is exactly what Meghan Trainor is trying to reverse; she wants everyone to realize that bodies are different and “every inch of you is prefect from the bottom to the top.” Her theme of the video is “Barbie”, so that she can show how real people are, and you can’t be a perfect Barbie doll. In the video she tries helping Ken out and giving him a smile and changing his position. Meanwhile she will not be a ”Stick figure Barbie doll.” she will be her perfect self that her mother raised her to love and if “Ken” doesn’t love “a little more booty to hold at night” then “go ahead and move along.”

The extent that editors are taking to transform these girls is ridiculous, and in reality is causing more harm than good. No wonder models always look so perfect! They aren’t real. Yet no one is going to strive to be as beautiful as someone with imperfections. Women are starving, and spending countless hours trying to improve what needs no more work. Women should not change for anyone; before you try loving anyone…you need to love yourself.  Nobody says this better than John Legend: “All of me loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges. All your perfect imperfections.”

Billions

By Andres Rivera & Colten Watrous

We live in a world that is greatly affected by advertising.  This can range from simple lifestyle choices to complex life theories.  What we find interesting though is the length that advertisers go to make their commercials catch the attention of people.  Even though this product is pretty small in meaning, the ad has a huge image surrounded by it.  Axe body spray is a very popular thing in a young man’s life.  We thought it would be a great idea to show what the ads are really telling people through this one commercial.

This commercial is definitely directed towards men.  It tells men that if they use this spray, women will come to them in the masses.  This is naturally assumed that men are encouraged especially at a younger age to go out and get experience with the other sex.  This ad encourages this ideology using beautiful women as a plus to using their product.  This is interesting because this reveals a double standard with how we view men and women in having experience with the opposite gender.  If this were a commercial for a women’s perfume, we might see it approached in a more subtle matter.  Maybe only one man would be in the shot, and we might assume that it would be more intimate.  A woman would not be shown with billions of men running for her because women are held to a different standard. In all honesty, if a woman was shown like the man in this commercial, we would assume that she was a slut.

Another social trend that we noticed is the over-sexualization of a product.  We have to remember that this commercial is about a body spray.  In this setting however, we connect this simple spray to a sexual feeling or drive which may make us more likely to buy the product.  This is a tactic that is very common and used by Axe very well.  They make it very clear that this product is intended for attraction of the opposite sex.  All the women in this ad are barely clothed and there is a reason for this.   This continues what may be a very apparent trait that sex sells in this country.

Men and women of this country respond to things that they can relate to when it comes to advertising.  This ad does this by showing an average man in the commercial. The man is not super buff like Arnold Schwarzenegger or extremely charming like Channing Tatum. This allows for other men to connect to the character and imagine what it would be like to be in his shoes.  The women are all in bikinis and the man’s life is great.  What does this prove for the women in this commercial?  This really only depicts women as sexual objects to a man.  The women in the commercial seem to be driven by a primal desire to be around this great smelling man.  These women don’t necessarily get to make their own decisions.  This might give men the wrong idea that men might be able to manipulate women which might turn out worse for them in the end.

With this ad being directed to young men, it is very easy for some people to be easily swayed by ideas on TV.  This ad shows a young man with tons of beautiful women and it sets a very high bar for what men expect women to be like.  Men enjoy thinking that all women look great in bikinis and that they will rush towards men at a whim.  However this goes back to the fact that the man in the video was a pretty average looking man.  This again represents a double standard for men and women that has a certain expectation for women and not for men.

Gendered Marketing

By Kaitlyn Rentner & Breeana Miller-Poehlein

It is instilled in children at a young age that they should be playing with toys that are specific to the gender they are. Girls are influenced to be playing with “girl” toys such as baby dolls, playhouses, pretend kitchens, and are normally softer colors of pink and purple. Young boys are influenced to play with toys that are manly, involve sports, and normally have harsher, more vivid hues of blues and greens. With young children growing up having these standards put onto them at such a young and innocent age, they learn that things are mostly separated by gender, not only toys, and they are specifically told that each and every item has the “girl” version and the “boy” version.

While shopping around a local grocery or convenience store, it is easy to notice that products are geared towards a specific gender. Humans are practically influenced by products on how they should act and how the gender specific products are what their gender should be buying and using. While walking up and down the deodorant aisle, the women’s and men’s sections are clearly separated. One way to tell the difference between the two portions of the deodorant are the colors and packaging used.

Similar to how toys are marketed, female deodorants, such as Dove, have a more slenderized package and use lighter pastel colors to show femininity. Male deodorants, such as Axe, have harsher edges on the packaging and use black and other darker colors to show masculinity. In addition to colors and package sizes, the names of the different deodorants are gender specific. For example, Axe’s names of deodorants are “Excite”, “Temptation”, and “Black Chill”, only being a few examples of the masculine names given to a product that guys put on their armpits.

Deodorants may be different among gender when it comes to scent and strength, yet what about products that are gender specific, yet are nearly or exactly the same? The video highlights Bic’s “For Her” pens, which are literally normal pens that are just pink and purple. The ad and packaging claims they are a better fit for “feminine hands”, yet they are the same as any typical pen.

The video also goes into how incontinence pads are even gender specific through packaging, color coordination used on the packaging, and the details given on the package. As the video says, the men’s pads use specific measurements whereas the women’s pads use pretty colors and designs to draw in the target audience.

Another thing to ponder is that feminine products tend to be much more expensive rather than their male-based counterparts, as shown in the video, no matter how identical the products may end up being. This gives us many questions as to what marketers tend to think of their female audiences, and why they may be wanting certain feminine-based products as opposed to the cheaper, male alternative to that particular product. In viewing this, questions about the feminine perceptions of beauty are posed, such as, do women buy these products to just to appear more feminine? And why does our society create such an importance on these specific gender-based products?

A question is raised as to if the gendered marketing will ever end. In regards to that, the video describes that Dove made over a million dollars in a year when they added Dove MEN+CARE to their line of Dove products. It is proven that when companies have gender specific products, that more money is made. With a society that is so heavily reliant on targeting certain genders for even the most trivial products, it is increasingly doubtful that gender specific marketing will come to an end.

Shake It Off

By Sarah Connell & Rachael Leek

“Shake it off” by Taylor Swift is both an inspirational video and song. In this song, Taylor Swift says personal stories of what people have said about her. She says that people tell her “she’s got nothing in her brain” and then she proceeds to say that she just shakes it off. This song is a great message to people of all ages. Taylor sends out the message that it doesn’t matter what people say about you, you just need to do what makes you happy. We chose this music video because we thought it sent out a great message through the words of the song as well as through the video itself. In the video Taylor is shown in groups of different styles of dance. Throughout the video she just does her own thing while others dance. There is a scene where everyone around her is dancing a beautiful ballet and she is just dancing to her own beat. This is a very powerful message. She sends out the message that it doesn’t matter if you stand out from others and don’t look like them. All that matters is that you do what you want, and what other people say or think about you isn’t important.

Another element in the video that really speaks volumes is towards the end when a bunch of every day people come in and start to dance. We thought that this was really cool, because she incorporated non-­famous people who weren’t apart of a uniform group. These individuals at the end of the video showed that going against the grain and being your own person is much more desirable than sticking to the status quo. We thought it was great how she showed all these people who were so comfortable in their own skin and dancing the way they want, and not the way they’ve been told. Not only are there individuals “shaking it off” that aren’t a part of a faction, but we also see those who were a part of those distinct groups breaking away to “shake it off”. Those who were once in their groups begin to split away from their original style of dance and begin to follow their own rhythm. What Taylor is saying is that she is going to be herself. This tells us that she is going to continue to be the artist that she wants to be and not a mannequin that the music industry can move into any position they want.

In the song Taylor addresses her so called haters. Taylor addresses her oppressors in a very dignified way. Instead of calling specific people out and coming back with more insults, she retaliates with a positive message. In today’s pop culture it is easy to find celebrities that come back at their “haters” in a very negative way. Taylor could have name dropped and said screw you, but instead she remained poised. Taylor just tells us that “haters gonna hate” but it is up to us if we let it effect us. Taylor has said that “They’re [haters] just building you up to knock you down. But for me, they haven’t.”

We think that today’s society definitely needed a positive message like this. So many things in this world make us feel inadequate and it’s great to see a music video that shows that being just you is enough. In popular culture today there are so many complicated messages. You have to go through so much work to decipher the hidden meanings of popular culture. This video is extremely straightforward: just be yourself no matter what. We think this is a super important message for the people of today. We have too much stuff to worry about and it takes too much energy to be someone who we aren’t.

BO$$

By Jesal Sheth & Danise Esswein

The song serves as a feminist anthem, encouraging young girls to be independent and depend on no one but themselves. They mention successful women like Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama, which shows that women can also be bosses, not just men. The Fifth Harmony proudly sing about the fact that they don’t need a man as they “pledge allegiance to my independent girls.” They prove they mean business and show off their fiery side by beating the men in arm wrestling matches, kicking off chairs in their white jackets and shimmering in style during photo shoots. The ladies compare themselves to the first lady Michelle Obama because of their heavy purses and the “Oprah dollars.”

My show and tell partner and I chose this video, because this video tells that men should respect women for their body appearance. We see nowadays that women are being portrayed in hip hop songs as slutty and nasty, which is totally rude. The whole point of the song is for girls who are the about the ages of the Fifth Harmony band is to turn it on and feel confident because at that age, being insecure is a normal thing. The lyrics like “Every day is pay day, swipe my card and do nae nae” tells the audience that the women care about money and then after they do the ‘nae nae’ which means dance in excitement. The lyrics like “I ain’t thirsty for a bae” shows us that the ladies don’t care about their ex-boyfriend and they want to be independent and free. So this song sends positive messages to all girls of their age to be independent, strong and never give up.

Music videos can be very important to a song, but the song itself doesn’t change at all once it’s played over a video. Popular music tends to get a bad reputation for being lazy, over-sexualized, stereotypical, and for being performed by stars who apparently “have no talent.” It’s also often stated that pop isn’t “real music.” One of the many beauties of music is that there’s something for everyone. Not everyone enjoys pop music, and that’s okay. But saying that someone else’s method of expressing themselves is invalid just because some people don’t like it is unnecessary and ignorant. There is no such thing as “real music” or “fake music.” Pop is a valid genre of music and being a pop singer is a valid career. Writing, producing, and performing pop songs isn’t as easy as it seems.

Fifth Harmony is made up of five young women between the ages of 17 and 21. Our culture has tons of varying “expectations” on how young women should look and behave that often create double standards and the unnecessary pressure to fit an unattainable perfect image. The girls of Fifth Harmony appear proud and confident of their bodies and personal values, which is what the song is all about. Women constantly have to prove themselves in order to get respect, but men often get rights and respect just handed to them.

Of course, women face tons of stigma in our society based on appearance and personal sex life. The outfits that the women wear in this video make them look sexy and proud of their bodies. Not every woman, or any other person, is comfortable or confident enough to wear things like that, so it only makes sense that dressing this way should be celebrated instead of ridiculed.

The whole idea that female public figures need to be perfect role models for young girls everywhere is ridiculous. First of all, nobody should live their life solely based on how someone else lives their life. That’s not how life works. It also creates unneeded pressure on female celebrities when they already have enough to deal with every day. When people talk about these famous “role models” they only seem to talk about the effect it has on women, especially young women, but no other gender. Treating young women this way almost gives them the idea that they aren’t smart enough to live their own life, so they have to look up to someone else to choose how they live their life. Fifth Harmony proves that never needs to be the case. Women have just as much power as men do.

It’s really sad that our culture views women as degrading and trashy when they just want to show off their body a little bit (or a lot.) Even if a woman really is a stripper or a pornstar, that doesn’t give anyone the right to give them complete disrespect. Nobody deserves that.

Fifth Harmony is a group of extremely talented and beautiful, strong women. This song and music video served its purpose and the entire production was done remarkably well. Despite all the stigma surrounding something like this, it shows a truthful, positive image of pop culture today.

Vinyl

By Lucas Stimach & Mattie Hubbard

Vinyl records are known though out almost all age groups of people. Some age groups know more about them than others. Vinyl has a story just like every record has an album on in. First off there are a few things you need to know about Vinyl records. Vinyl is not just a form of playing music, having vinyl records is a lifestyle and hobby.  Vinyl tells the history of music and how it has changed over the years. It also has been there to show us the history of our society. Lastly is that it is one of the few forms of music that is still played today. 

Vinyl has different meanings to different age groups. Many people who listened to vinyl during the 1970s and 1980s most likely was listening to the rock genre. Which consisted of bands including Journey, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, The Eagles, Boston, Meat Loaf, Survivor, Kansas or one of the many other bands from that time period. These people grew up during a time when both rock and vinyl were popular and everyone knew about it. It was very cool to have vinyl but at this time people listened to the vinyl they owned on a daily bases. There was not really any other way to listen to the music that you liked. People did not always just buy vinyl to collect it. Even though some people back then did collect vinyl because certain records had limited runs. They therefore later became worth a lot of money.

Vinyl has a different meaning to today’s modern age group, vinyl is not as well known. People today might have never even heard of vinyl but the ones who have do not probably understand it fully. Those who do understand what vinyl is, feel the historic feeling that comes with it. To collect and play vinyl makes you feel like you own part of pop culture’s history. Also the sound vinyl brings is very warm and welcoming. The classic old school look is seen as very fashionable. People sometimes own vinyl just for the look that it gives off. It is very hipster like and presents a classic feel to the atmosphere.

These are the ways in how each group is attracted to vinyl. They both use vinyl for different purposes. The one thing that they both do is, enjoying the sound and feel that vinyl brings. Vinyl is always going to give off the feeling of owing your own personal piece of pop culture. This is because the history of how vinyl has lasted over 60 years and has played a Hugh role in music. Vinyl also has the ability to connect the younger generations to the older generations. 

Vinyl is something that anyone can get into, all you need to do is enjoy music. Younger generations can get access to vinyl pretty easily by using a computer. All they need to do its to first look up the artist name. Second is to find the name of the album that they want or like. The last step is to see if they are able to purchase that album as a vinyl record. Now this gives them the old school look because it vinyl. But it has the new school music on the vinyl which is really neat. This always records to stay alive and popular it also helps to teach people a little bit more about vinyl and how big of a part it plays in music. 

Vinyl is also very popular today, because of looks alone. Many people will buy vinyl just for one of these three reasons besides listing to the record. The first reason is for the album’s cover art. People will purchase vinyl records just because they find the album covers attractive. Also the art on albums of the CD version will sometimes be different than those of art on the records, usually the record covers are more interesting. The second reason is because the vinyl is rare and has become a collector’s piece. This meaning that this person is a collector and owns vinyl mainly for its rarity. Collections are hard to accomplish fully because of all the vinyl that is out there and some people just don’t want to part with their vinyl.  Also some records are just very rare and hard to get a hold of. The third reason is the look that it gives off. Not because of the cover art or if it is rare. Just the general feeling and look of just owning vinyl. They just like the feeling of it being present.

Vinyl has a lot to offer. It is a tie between younger and older generations. Allows people to look cool and collect a piece of history. Lastly is makes good decorations and brings its own feelings to rooms. This is how vinyl plays an important role in today’s society.