Final Blog/Paper

Throughout the short history of American capitalist society, all citizens have been told by government, corporations, and others that they are what they buy. For this final paper I will be incorporating much of my first blog post, which focused on how large firms can use advertising to convey certain people as deviant, and purchasers of their products as “ideal.” Let’s face it: materialism has run the world since human society was conceived, it has only been proliferated recently though, with the formulation of a capitalistic structure. Don’t misperceive me; capitalism is a great system when discussing economic outputs, as competition breeds innovation. However, the inevitability that large, powerful corporations can and do make social constructions about their customers as the ideal image or person someone should strive to be, while at the same time demonizing and making deviant those who choose not to buy their products—all in the name of money—is the truest form of an unfortunate reality. One of the ways I am vastly changing this paper from my first blog post is that I am going to focus not only on why and how corporations create conflicts and stark contrasts between what men should be like and what women should be like. I am going to go in-depth on strategies large companies use to advertise that goes so much farther than gender stereotyping, and that is supplemented by capitalism. Next, I am going to take a look at advertising through a different lens; delving into the controversial topic of prescription drugs, and how they advertise their products, and what effects it can have and has had on individuals in our population. My overarching focus will be to show people that corporations and the media have a stranglehold on our minds, habits, and lives. And that their motives in doing this are anchored in controlling the masses and turning a profit. By constantly changing or modifying the perception of whom and what is deviant, people will continue to be materialistic consumers in the name of not being seen as deviant. Take my first commercial example that is quickly becoming an absolute classic: Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. In this commercial the actor is essentially talking to women viewers asking if “their man” looks like him, after he establishes that they can’t look like him, he reassures them that they could smell like them if their men stopped using “women’s body wash.” This is a classic example of making a portion of men in society deviant. According to the ad, if you are a man that doesn’t use old spice body wash, you MUST be using a woman’s body wash, thereby decreasing your masculinity each time you lather up with something other than Old Spice. As Quinney points out in discussing Conflict theory in our textbook, “The social reality of crime is constructed on conflict in our society” (Thio, Calhoun, & Conyers, 45). To be more specific, “Definitions of crime are applied by the class that has the power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law” (Thio, Calhoun, & Conyers, 46). While these definitions deal with crime and how a dominant class in society gets to choose what the laws are, as a byproduct they also get to socially construct individuals as deviant based on those laws and customs. This is precisely what the Old Spice commercial above does. As the film Tough Guise suggested, men in U.S. society feel pressured all the time to prove to everyone how “man” they are, because the media and yes—corporations like Old Spice—are constantly creating a “problem,” such as a man smelling like a girl. This is brilliant on the companies’ part, because once they frame a problem, they get to offer you a solution in the form of a product, which they will sell to you and make large sums of money from self-conscious consumers just like you. Next, let’s take a look at a different type of advertisement—this one focuses on the conflicts between men and women—and makes a compelling case to buy their product to demonstrate that you are not “controlled” by your spouse. Nothing says the man wears the pants like driving a new sports car, right? This commercial is titled “Man’s Last Stand.” The title makes sense once you watch the video. In the ad, Dodge is using a male actor who is looking very pensive, while talking to himself in his head. He is talking of all the ways in which his wife gets to control the actions and behaviors he exhibits: taking the trash out, walking the dog at 6:30 a.m., eating fruit in his breakfast, agreeing with his wife, being silent when he disagrees, etc. Then at the end of the commercial he says “And because I do all of this……I will drive the car, that I want to Drive.” This commercial is doing the same thing as the last ad in a sense, by creating a problem for the consumer to think about. Instead of creating a problem that attacks masculinity by what they smell like, they are attacking masculinity by saying that women wear the pants in so many ways now—men need to take their role back as the dominant, decision maker in the relationship—and they can do that, by buying a car that is far too fast, loud, and expensive for a “woman” to supposedly want. By stereotyping the dynamics of a single relationship in the commercial, Dodge is able to convey that if men don’t get the car, it is because the wife said no, and if the wife said no to the car, you are not man enough to make your own decision. These attacks on masculinity have several adverse effects on society. First off, because corporations have the power and the assets to reach wide audiences, if just a few people buy into what they are selling, it creates a cycle in which several more consumers buy into it as well. Next, if a corporation can manufacture an image or type of “ideal” person, people will spend astronomical amounts of money attempting to become that person—who is a fictional individual anyways, and in a lot of ways is unattainable for the majority of people, similarly to the American Dream. Furthermore, we can easily flip the coin and demonstrate how women are socially constructed based on ads that are targeted at them. According to Jean Kilbourne, “advertisements sell more than just a product. Modern advertisements 'sell' socially constructed values which are often deemed to be the values that society should uphold and reinforce. Waters and Ellis (1996) have also argued that advertising does play a critical role in reflecting and shaping culture. As such, advertising tends to promote a set of false ideals that women should strive to achieve. These include women having to look visually appealing and embodying society's perception of femininity.” This once again demonstrates that not only are companies saying that when you buy their product, you will smell better; when you buy their product, you will become akin to the image you are being sold. In this video, in which Jean Kilborne narrates, she demonstrates through multiple examples the negative effects of gender biased advertising towards women. In virtually every ad, women are turned into objects, something to look at vs. someone to look at. Next, by dehumanizing women and only focusing on hypersexualized parts of their body or turning them into objects, that is the first step in justifying violence, hatred, and bigotry towards them. Kilborne points out that in racism, terrorism or any activity in which violence or harm is meant toward a group, the first step is dehumanizing them. We see this with the letters Christopher Columbus wrote to the king and queen regarding the Native Americans. By viewing them as uncivilized, dirty, long-haired, naked creatures—he was able to justify the rape, pillage, and genocide of 99% of the Indians in Cuba. Furthermore, women in ads are airbrushed and photo-shopped by professionals to look like a woman that is completely free of flaws. This is a tool used by advertising firms as well: By making women look unnaturally beautiful, they can keep selling products that will supposedly make them look closer to the model on TV. In reality though, the model on TV doesn’t even look like that without hours of make-up and digital enhancing. Next, advertising like this creates a public health problem for weight loss. Anorexia is a pandemic in this country among young women, because they are constantly being sold the image of the ideal woman as someone unsustainably skinny. As promised though, I will not focus solely on how gender is framed to sell products. Symptoms are also designed to pedal products to consumers who are socially constructed to be sick or ill. This ad by the Onion News Network is a satirical, fictional news report that gets at some of the core issues with the pharmaceutical industry. While the video is not discussing a real drug, its merits are vast when you consider the statistics among prescription drug use in this country. According to the film Generation Rx, the United States consumes Eighty percent of world's supply of prescription opioid pain relievers. Along with that, we account for 5% of the World’s population and consume 50% of the prescription drugs. A lot of this can be easily seen on TV ads, in which the they ask you if you ever feel tired, depressed, have foot cramps, etc. The drug companies have found out that if you can relate certain natural, physiological behaviors such as fidgeting or cramping to a disease or an illness, then they can make a lot of money. As Generation Rx stated though, because the prescription drug companies are incentivized primarily by profit instead of the nation’s health, they intentionally covered up negative side effects of drugs that millions of Americans were taking. Furthermore, advertising agencies for prescription drugs don’t focus on the side effects or adequately warn their consumers of the potential risks. The Zoloft commercials are a perfect example of how the prescription drug company uses deceptive advertising mechanisms to sell their products. First of all, the animation of an unhappy “ball” looks as if it is targeting children. Next, it says that the “reason” or “cause” of depression is unknown… but it may be due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. It then states that Zoloft helps to correct this imbalance. Here is my problem… If they don’t know the cause or reason for depression, then how can they isolate the source of it to “correct” it. This ad is a complete contradiction of itself and the scientific method. Because of its deception that most consumers can’t see, Zoloft is the most widely used prescription drug of its kind. When advertising medicine deceptively and deeming a segment of the population as sick or in need of medication, Big Pharmaceutical is socially constructing individuals in a way that is conducive only to their profit margins; discarding their health, wellbeing, and psyche from a very young age. Next, consider this statistic by Natural News, “The tragedy is happening right now. Over 750,000 people actually do die in the United States every year, although not from plane crashes. They die from something far more common and rarely perceived by the public as dangerous: modern medicine” (Natural News, 2005). According to this article, the deaths are due from over taking prescription drugs or negative side effects that can be life threatening. Think about that number for a minute though…437,000 people die a year from cigarettes; modern prescription drugs kill almost two times as many people as cigarettes do. Cigarettes have been forced to put disclaimers on their boxes telling the user they may die from using the product, prescription drugs on the other hand, are supposedly supposed to help individuals; the remedy given to us by doctors is more lethal than the poisonous vice pedaled by merchants of death. Although one may not think, Merton’s Strain Theory can be a wonderful tool to take a look at individuals in a society that are pushed to deviant behaviors due to the pressure exerted by individuals and institutions of power. Merton states, “social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in nonconforming rather than conforming conduct. In the context of advertising, these corporations are bombarding individuals with images and ideals that everyone in society ought to value. As a result individuals spend unsustainably, don’t get the desired result, and are deceived to such an extent that there is little else for them to do than commit deviant acts or separate themselves—at least socially—from the society. However, this is not at all bad for the corporations in their advertisements. For every person that backs out of their ideal image—they get more evidence that if consumers don’t buy their products, they will be just like the individual affected by Merton’s Strain theory—and no one wants to be perceived as deviant. It is this scenario in which capitalism stops becoming the inputs and outputs of an economy that are enhanced by ownership of private property and an emphasis on competition; becoming a system of the winners and losers, the shepherd and his sheep, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Capitalism definitely puts the rich against the poor in some ways, but is not nearly as detrimental to the social fabric of said society as the ways in which the powerful wield their power using tools of deception, idols, and capital to effectively infiltrate the minds of the masses. As we have learned throughout this course, deviance is a social construction, and those with the assets and resources can shift and modify the definitions of deviance as they see fit to benefit themselves, and keep segments of society against each other, instead of unifying against the institution. Advertising is just one way in which we can look at this dynamic, however through my research and understanding of sociology, it is evident that more people should learn how to dissect advertisements and detect underlying social assumptions and constructions, so we can be educated in the fight against materialism. Word count 2,492. Works Cited "Statistics Prove Prescription Drugs Are 16,400% More Deadly than Terrorists." Natural Health News. Natural News, 05 July 2005. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. http://www.naturalnews.com/009278.html Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers. Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. Print. Generation Rx: Reading, Writing, and Ritalin. A&E Networks, 2001. DVD. Youtube. (Not required to cite) "Gender Studies: Advertising and the Social Construction of Gender." Wet Paint. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. http://sc2220.wetpaint.com/page/Advertising and the social construction of gender

Live Nude Girls Unite! Film Review

1.) The main thesis of the film seemed to be that strippers and other sex workers have less discretion and maneuverability at their jobs because society deems there profession as disgraceful. This was demonstrated in the film throughout the unionizing discussions and talks.
2.) An argument in the film that demonstrates this is when they were discussing what the outcome is if they have a trouble customer and they have to call the police--in many cases one of two things happen, the cops never show up, or they show up hours later. Next, the thesis is further fortified when the girls shared the fact that if they call in sick they get fired, and if you wanted someone to fill in for your shift her breasts had to be bigger than yours.
3.)The thesis of the film relates pretty well to our course. Sex workers are seen as deviant by moral entrepreneurs and much of the middle class in our society, and this view, while tempered with bigotry and "They could have...instead" rhetoric, enables sex workers to be taken advantage of by their employers and others. In this class we are deconstructing the views of such individuals deemed to be deviant. By watching the film, the class was able to see that they were actually real people and that they deserve the same respect as anyone else.
4.)The point I found most convincing was that by the end of the movie, the woman from the local union helping them fight the attorneys, was an ardent advocate for their cause because she was exposed to injustices through the dancers' eyes.
5.) I didn't know enough about the sex work industry to really deconstruct or disagree with their arguments.
6.)The point that really stood out to me in the film was the stage fees that owners nationwide began imposing on their dancers in order to perform. The stage fees began pretty low, but exploded to upwards of $250 dollars, just so dancers could do their job... I would research this point and find out what percentage of the strip clubs in Washington State have stage fees, and how much they are. This would enable us to find an average stage fee for a strip club and have solid data about how much owners are making off of it, and maybe raise enough public awareness to change it.