SEX!! Now that I have your attention...

Its no secret that sex sells.  Today sex and sexual material is everywhere in mass media and there is no way to avoid it.  Advertisers put sex in their advertising to capture the attention of  the many people who are drawn to the word in itself.  When viewers read sex in the media they're usually looking for either beautiful women or handsome men which serves as bait to lure in consumers.  Take, for example, the sports illustrated swimsuit edition calendar.  Every year this calendar extra sells millions of copies.  But what is it that is so appealing to readers?  It is simply the sex appeal.  Men in their teens and early twenties are the predominant demographic that the calendar caters to.  With no writing and high resolution color photographs of scantily clad women, the calendar has very little to offer, except for visual pleasure.  Another example of this is pop star and now sex symbol Miley Cyrus.  She is a talented singer who has recently gained extreme popularity in the media because of her scandalous music videos and her shockingly revealing outfits. Wearing only a bra and underwear and touching yourself is bound to get attention from all kinds of viewers which is part of the exact reason that she does these things.  This example is not limited to just Miley Cyrus and the sports illustrated calendar, it is expressed in media everywhere.  Men find it attractive while most women don't, but it still has proven to be a topic of very high interest, bringing in all sorts of viewers for its various reasons.

Assignment 4: 2 Proposals

1. SEX!! Now that I have your attention...

2. Sexy people selling unsexy products

Podcast on Consumerism

https://soundcloud.com/dcardino17/digital-civilzation

Consumerism

What is consumerism? According to Wikipedia Consumerism is a "social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in large amounts." Our nation is known as the nation of consumers, all we do is shop. Being aware of consumerism matters because it is good to be aware of what is going on. There are many things in the media that encourage us to purchase goods and services. Such things are commercials and advertisements. It is good to know where the products you buy come from. There are four steps to consumerism. The first step is extraction, extraction of resources from the environment, like trees, water, and animals. After the resources are extracted they are mixed with toxins, this process is called production, which is the second step. The third step is distribution, after the products are made they are distributed to stores. Products prices are kept low so that they are sold quick and more shipments of goods can come in faster. Products change every year just to make consumers purchase new products every year. We consumers want the new, updated, and in-style products. Without them we feel out of date and like an outcast. Advertising is used to show us consumers the new products that are created. The media and advertising also hide the steps behind creating products. They don’t tell you about the environment they destroyed and the toxins that are put in your products. Also since most products are planned obsolescence, pretty much meaning they are designed to go to the garbage, this is the fourth step, disposal. These products last about six months before they break and are thrown out. When they are broken they go to disposal, and they are either disposed by incineration or they are thrown into a landfill, both which create pollution. A very little percent of the waste gets recycled and then the cycle of consumption starts all over again. This is why it is good to be aware of consumerism. There are alternatives to consumer culture though, such as “...a strategy known as ‘voluntary simplicity,’ otherwise known as ‘downshifting. Our planet urgently needs us to explore alternative ways to live, and one promising way to lessen our impact on nature is to reject the high-impact lifestyles of consumer culture and voluntarily embrace ‘a simpler life’ of reduced consumption.”1 As stated before, our culture needs to downshift because we are having a huge impact on the environment. We need to cut back on this consumer culture and start living a simpler life before we ruin the planet. 

1.http://simplicitycollective.com/start-here/full-simplicity-essay

Ally DiUbaldo

After a long drive from Long Island, New York to Fairfield, Connecticut, and passing through the main entrance of Sacred Heart University, Ally DiUbaldo immediately fell in love with Sacred Heart.  After seeing how the campus was perfectly laid out and a perfect size, she knew this is where she wanted to be for the next four years. Ally is eighteen years old and is a freshman at Sacred Heart.  At Sacred Heart she is in a sorority, and because of that she was able to make a lot of friends.  Ally is currently undecided, but she thinks being an orthodontist would be interesting so she wants to lean in that direction.  Ally also enjoys sports, back in high school Ally played lacrosse and she rowed, but she doesn't play any sports at Sacred Heart.  In Long Island Ally is an only child and lives with her parents and her dog. Ally looks forward to her time here at Sacred Heart and hopes to be an orthodontist.