I am honestly glad to be finished this unit, though, I must say that it was a very interesting unit and I think I have learned a lot about the media.

Everybody is trying to be health conscious now a days, and people are watching what they consume. Sometimes this may be hard though, as junk food is way more accessible and is usually cheaper compared to the healthy foods. That is probably why a lot of people are eating junk food and drinking pop and sugary drinks, which in turn leads to an obesity epidemic.

This has caused the New York Health Department to start a scare campaign to stop people from drinking pop. The ad made by the New York Health Department shows a man pouring pop which slowly turns into fat into a glass, then the man proceeds to drink it. At the end of the commercial a huge load of fat is then dropped onto a plate, and the commercial states that by drinking 1 can of soda a year will lead to making you 10 pounds fatter. Honestly, this ad did make me a bit more health conscious about my choices of beverages, as I am a pop drinker myself.

Obesity is definitely growing to be an epidemic, and the sad thing is many people aren't taking it seriously. There are so many health problems related to obesity, that I would have to say scare effective campaigns are seriously needed. I say this because rarely people think about the consequences of what they eat, and only the facts can scare them away from eating the unhealthy foods.

If the US implements this tax I am pretty sure that Canada would be pressured to also start putting a tax on pop. This would probably make me stop buying pop and unhealthy foods regularly. However, 15 cents is that not much of an increase so I'm pretty sure a lot of regular pop drinkers will stick with their spending habits.

As photoshop is used to digitally alter almost every image you see in the media, I guess it isn't so surprising that you see some strange looking images, after all digitally altering the photo makes the image of the person or thing no longer accurate to real life. While photoshop can be used to touch up a photo and make it supposedly perfect and beautiful, upon close inspection you can almost always know whether or n0t the picture has been tampered with or if it is natural.

Upon looking at the website http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/, I came
across a picture that looked very strange. If you look closely at the image you can see that the boy appears to not have a lower body. The lower part of the boy's body seems to be cut off or has disappeared somewhere.

It definitely bothers me that companies are crossing the line with excessive alterations and manipulations to their images. What will this do to our perception of beauty? What will happen to us if we strive to become something that isn't physically possible? That is why so many young people are being negatively affected by the media, they see something and they automatically think must look like that because their role model or favourite celebrity looks like that, but in reality their role model's or favourite celebrity's body has been altered to look a certain way with photoshop.

I sincerely hope that the new trend of normal people being featured in the media without an manipulations or alterations sticks. The media may take a long time to change their ways, as they want everything to look perfect and have been using photoshop for manipulation for a while now, but the future looks bright, as more and more people and celebrities are becoming aware of the media's ways.

Finally, if I ever do get to see a magazine in the future featuring normal and non-photoshopped people in it, I would think that it would be a little weird, since I am so used to photoshopped images in magazines. However, it may be better to know that these people are real, and that our perception of beauty would no longer be of something fake.

I don't think it was too long ago that video games were just simplistic things, with even simpler controllers, featuring big bulky consoles, and were only made for the purpose of entertainment. Now there are endless types of consoles featuring many different games, made by many different companies, and catering for many different audiences. I do believe however that video games have evolved to the point that they are beneficial to you rather than detrimental. Studies have proven that newly released video games made for brain training, or to get people to exercise do actually work, and aren't merely wolves in sheep's clothing.

As an owner of Wii Fit myself I can say that the game does require the same effort you would use if you were doing a moderate intensity workout. Therefore, I can say that it does indeed work to help you get fit as it features a variety of exercises that are entertaining and motivate you to keep on playing. I have also played "brain games" such as Brain Age and Big Brain Academy which also features many enjoyable challenges, that help to keep your mind working and become mentally aware. From experience, I can say that newer video games are beneficial, they are entertaining and motivate you too keep playing, which helps you at the same time to become fit or smarter, this may seem too good to be true, but it actually does work. It is true that video games are made to attract users to spend endless hours playing them, but if you think about it, ultimately the user is the one who chooses how much time they should spend playing.

Although, these games may help you to become smarter or get in shape, they should not replace regular exercise or regular learning. These games can only help you to an extent, you should not stay at home playing them all the time. You also need to get out and get fresh air, to go take a jog in the park and enjoy nature's beauty, instead of staying home doing virtual jogging where you are only running in place, and your avatar in the screen is running around a park for you. Also, doing brain challenges do not replace doing homework or reading a good book.

Although, it may seem cool that these games are creating a virtual world where you can get smarter or in shape, you should not forget about the real world. As long as these games only remain a past time and you are not regularly playing them and becoming addicted, you should be fine. These games will help as long as you have a balance between virtual learning and exercising and the real thing.

The Dove advertisements for real beauty, has been seen by many, and has received positive views by many as it promotes real and natural beauty for woman, in an attempt to change the way woman are affected by the media. This campaign even brought the parent company Unilever the title of one of the most ethical corporations of 2009. The ironic thing is that Unilever is also the parent company of Axe body spray, where the Axe Effect Campaign promotes a completely different idea, which is that users are made to believe that by using the spray, attractive women will in turn be attracted to the user.

I feel that the Dove campaign is definitely a good thing, as it promotes real beauty, which in turn helps woman to feel good about themselves and not try to be like the unrealistically thin women that are usually seen in the media. The fact that the ad may potentially get through to many young girls and send them the message that they should feel good about themselves and how they look, makes the campaign even better. I do believe that if people see real images of people in the media, instead of images of people that have been digitally altered with photoshop, they will feel better about themselves and comfortable with their bodies. As the campaign encourages the viewers to embrace their own beauty and reality, it contradicts what the media has to say most of the time, as the media has their own idea of beauty. Since the Dove Campaign promotes such an idea, I indeed think it really will change how women are affected by the media.

On the other hand there is the Axe Effect Campaign, which features ordinary men becoming instantly attractive to many women, as they use the product, I would honestly have to say, that I find this campaign quite humorous. Model-like women are seen running to men who use the spray, in almost all of the commercials, and it is really funny, because the advertisements are basically sending off the messages that women don't really care about you, they only care about whether or not you use Axe products. The ridiculous scenarios are the most humorous part for me, as woman are mostly seen in very unrealistic situations running or fighting to just get to a man who used an Axe product. Obviously, this is not going to happen in real life, just try it, buy Axe body spray, and then drown yourself in it, then wait to see if thousands of attractive women come rushing to you (not that I've tried it).

In conclusion, yes I do feel that the parent company should have the responsibility to ensure that all of their different sectors uphold the same beliefs or values. Having different beliefs within a company may lead to conflict, as many people believe that there is a conflict between the Dove Campaign for real beauty and the Axe Effect Campaign, as they promote completely different views. To be an effective company and to have the people actually believe that you are one of the most ethical corporations, you must be consistent with your morals and standards.

These ads of the past and their messages are downright shocking, but if one thinks about it, there are many similarities between the ads of the past and the ads of today.

This ad advertises the use of tapeworms to stay thin and still be able to eat as much as you want, the only trick is that you have to eat or swallow the tapeworm to get it inside of you. I think this ad shows that even at that time, women in American society were pressured to look a certain way and to have the thin figure that is still known to be advertised by the media as the ideal body for women. Today, there are still dieting methods and tactics advertised for weight loss, but the tape worm diet has to be the most extreme and harmful one I have ever seen. You are guaranteed to lose weight on this "diet" as most of your food is used by your host, the tapeworm, to grow bigger, but on the other hand having a tapeworm inside of you is extremely unhealthy and can even be deadly.

The second ad depicts a man blowing smoke from a cigarette into a woman's face, hoping that she will "follow him anywhere". This ad can show that American society did not have that much respect for women at the time, as this message is very degrading. This also shows that even at the time, lust was a factor used in promoting products and in advertisements, on this level I would have to say that this ad is not as bad as some of the ads we have today, but that is just my opinion. The most shocking thing about this ad is that by following what the ad suggests, many people would contract many serious diseases, such as lung cancer.



This ad shows a very happy family, and says that they are happy because they eat lard. Although, lard is unhealthy and is basically fat, one can still see many advertisements on television promoting other unhealthy fast foods. The main difference between the modern ads promoting unhealthy foods and this ad, is that the modern ones try to cover up the fact that their food is unhealthy. This ad is straight to the point. In a way, this ad is much better than the ads used today to promote unhealthy food as it is straight to the point and does not try to cover anything up.


The final ad claims that more doctors smoked CAMELS cigarettes than any other type of cigarette, this was obviously said by the company to try and attract more people to start smoking CAMELS cigarettes. I am thinking that this ad came out in a time when people did not know about the harmful effects of cigarettes and when no research was done on the damaging effect of cigarettes on the body. Also, it probably came out when it was common for people to smoke cigarettes so this is probably the reason why the ad was allowed to run. This is an example of an ad that would be seen as highly inappropriate in today's society.

The four ads seen here say a lot about what the American society was like back in the day. Women were still pressured to look a certain way and sadly were expected to behave a certain way and even sometimes degraded. American society was also not as conscious about their health as people are today, as dangerous and harmful activities were advertised and made to seem as good. The saddest thing is that I can see many similarities between the ads of the past and the ads today, but the main difference is that the ads of today seem to hide and distort things to make them seem good, while the old ads were much more open with their messages. I'm not that sure that we have come that far with our advertising methods, the harmful messages are still in the media but they are covered up. How can we progress to positive messages being advertised when the old negative messages are still here?

When I typed in my address on Google Street View, I wasn’t expecting a picture of my house to show up, but rather just a picture of the street, hence the name Google Street View. When I realized that you could zoom into a specific house, I immediately made sure to zoom into every aspect of my house, and searched every window and door to make sure that nobody or any part of the inside of my house was visible. To my relief even with the limit reached on the zoom button, you cannot see anybody near my house and you cannot see the inside of my home either.

However if Google Street View had unfortunately caught a picture of me or the inside of my house, then I might have considered taking legal action. I do not see how taking a picture of somebody and then posting it on the internet for the public to view, without the consent of the person or anybody in the house can be seen as legal. Even with the person's face blurred out, I'm sure you can make out whether the person is a 40 year old man or a toddler based on their body size. Also, if you happen to know the person well, and know what clothes they usually wear, you can easily make out who the person is. Basically, blurring out somebody’s face does not really help if you know the person.

Although I cannot see how Google’s actions can be seen as legal, and even though I do not know the Canadian laws for privacy, I'm sure that Google Street View is not be breaking any laws with their application, since they are taking their pictures on public space and blurring out faces and license plates (I could be wrong). I realize that Google is actually trying to make an effort to protect people’s privacy by blurring out these things, but I also think there are many more things that Google can do to ensure that the privacy of the people they are photographing is protected. For example, if Google wants to take pictures of a neighbourhood for example, they could at least get the majority of the neighbourhood's approval before taking pictures of the neighbourhood and Google should notify people that they have the right to remove the image of their house or the image of themselves from the internet.

I must admit that I do find Google’s Street View to be interesting and I do use it sometimes and it proves to be extremely helpful. Although, I do not use it for stalker purposes, (I DON'T), I use it when I am going to an unfamiliar place so I can familiarize myself with the surroundings and see the environment, therefore I can make sure that I am in the right place so I don't get lost. In this way Google Street View can be used for good. If you think of all the good possibilities that this application could be used for the list could go on for a while, so I realize that Google did make this application with good intentions.

Although, if you think of all the bad things Google Street View can be used for, I think the list would be longer. If a criminal was planning to break into a house, they could use the Street View application to zoom into every aspect of the house they plan to break into, and work out a plan to get in and out of the house unnoticed. Therefore, this would make it much easier for the criminal to execute their crime successfully. There is also the prospect of seeing something you weren't supposed to see, such as someone helping their sibling after they had sneaked out, like in the picture above, the parents of those children would be quite mad if they saw that. Or perhaps if you are a stalker, you could look up the address of your victim's house and zoom into their windows to and try to see in their home. There is also privacy concerns as mentioned above, and many other instances where Google Street View can be used for not so good purposes, so as I said before the list can go on and on.
In conclusion, I do not think Google Street View is entirely bad. I have somewhat mixed feelings on the situation, but I do not think that they should shut down the application, seeing as it can be very helpful, so in a way I do agree with what they have done. I do have some suggestions that could potentially make the application better for everyone. Google could blur out entire bodies, material possessions, and basically things that aren't part of the natural environment. This way people would feel more secure and probably more content with the application. Also, as I said before Google could consult neighbourhoods before taking pictures and get the majorities consent, in order to start taking pictures of the neighbourhood. I realize that this may be tedious, but I'm almost positive that it would gain Google more customers and less people would have issues with the application.