Taxing Pop

Yes, i think this scare campaign is effective but only because it forces people to be scared of it. Yes i think the growing obesity in our nation is an epidemic of large proportions because i can actually see it happen. In my opinion, there's probably more obese people in our nation than there are normal size people. Even if the new tax goes through in America, there's still a chance that it won't happen here because then pop and stuff would have to cost a lot more than it already does since most things in Canada cost more than what they do in America. So if they were to add tax on pop or chips, then they might lose a lot of people who buy pop. If it does actually go through than i would maybe continue buying pop depending on how much it actually is. When i watched the video that was posted, i didn't really react to much to it.

I really hope they don't tax pop because it really isn't necessary. I don't even really think that pop is the thing that's causing the obesity. They should be more focused on fast food rather than pop. Maybe they should add more tax on fast food then that may prevent people from buying food not good for you even though you can't afford it. Another reason why none of this is necessary is because there are other reasonable ways of stopping the growing obesity. So thats my opinion on taxing pop.

Ads of the Past

Ad #1
The first ad that talks about using tape worms as a way to lose weight is a shocking one. It says that you can eat as much food as you want and stay thin as long as your using those tapeworms. How can any that be healthy to your body. This will probably shorten your life faster. People will most likely follow this and end up dieing from a heart attack.

Ad #2
The other add with the guy blowing smoke into the girls face is also inappropriate. Teenagers are going to look at this and start smoking to try and get girls. I think the fact that it was okay for teenagers to smoke at that time period that allowed this ad to be shown. Not only that, advertising cigarettes was also allowed. Nowadays you could never see a commercial advertising cigarettes. This ad tells me that the society in America had a lot more "bad" teenagers hanging around and smoking. Today, if there was an ad on how to get girls, it would have something to do with cologne or hair gel. So that's a big difference to todays ads.

Ad#3
This ad is just plain disgusting. Assuming they mean lard is poo, then yea, that's disgusting. Obviously this ad is inappropriate. Your basically telling people to eat doodoo. This ad looks really old which tells me it was a time period when saying these type of things was ok. It also tells me that the society in America was very care free. This ad cannot be compared to any ad today.

Ad #4
This ad is somewhat inappropriate but more ironic. The doctor is supposed to tell you not to smoke yet he's smoking himself. It defiantly isn't good for doctors to have this ad going around. Again, the only reason i think it even exists is because this was back in the day.

Social Awareness Contradiction

I feel that the Dove Campaign is good because it will help show girls that they don't need to have all that extra stuff. Usually, they are already beautiful. It's good that Dove is doing what their doing because it's true that the media really does pressure girls into think they aren't pretty. Now it really surprises me that Dove is owned by that same company as Axe which has a completely different view over the situation. What Axe does is make guys believe they need to wear that cologne in order to get all the ladies. Obviously that can't be true. When i see those commercials it doesn't make me laugh or feel disgusted but i just get a "wow" reaction when i see it. I mean, girls aren't going to come running after you just because you smell good. That's not how these things work. I don't think there actually trying to be serious but just saying that it might be easier to get a date with a girl if you smell really good. But that can be debated.

And yes, a parent company should have the responsibility to make sure their sectors have the same beliefs and values. It shows that their dedicated to whichever side. With the company that owns Axe and Dove, there like a two side company. I don't think that's a very good reputation to have. So that's my opinion on this topic.

Photo Manipulation

In the media, many organizations are manipulating their photo's it's insane. The first picture show on that blog post shows how bad pictures are getting manipulated. How can anyone fall for stuff like that. The regular picture of that girl doesn't look anywhere near as thin as the photoshopped picture beside it. I don't think anyone in the world could possibly look like that. Even the picture of Jessica Simpson is bad but not to the extent of the Ralph Lauren picture. In the Jessica picture, the photo manipulation isn't as drastic. You can still notice a difference but it isn't as noticeable as the Ralph Lauren picture. I wonder how the organizations can even believe that people aren't going to notice anything weird. It's the same as me getting a picture of a lake and putting another picture of a boat on it and saying the picture was one. That's how bad these pictures have been shopped.

In the third picture, it's funny to see the difference form the first picture to the last picture. Fist they make her taller by a few inches. Then they make her a bit thinner. I don't even think any of that is necessary since she didn't even look bad in the first pic. Sometimes these magazines make a person look bad. They're trying to make them look good but they're actually making them look disgusting. So that's my opinion on photo-manipulation.

Google Streetview

I think Google Street View is good and bad. I will say that there are more bad things then good thing. I'll start with the bad things. GSV, disrespects people's privacy. Someone could be walking down a street thinking nobody is looking and do something embarrassing they'd be ashamed if someone saw, only to have a snapshot of it taken from Google satelites and posted on the internet. I'm sure nobody would like that. Here's another bad thing. What if you happen to leave you window blinds up and start changing. Google could take a snapshot and people around the world could see you changing. That's just embarrassing. So really, the only good thing is that you can find certain stores on certain streets without actually going outside. So it could help as a better map for traveling.

Google Street View was really good for one of my Tech. Design units. We had to design out house sing Google Sketchup and i used GSV to help me. Those are pretty much all the good thing GSV has to offer. But not everyone will agree with the bad things I mentioned. So that's all I can pretty much say about Google Street View.

Videos Games are so Awesome

In my opinion video games have took an amazing turn over the past few years. It's amazing to see how games that look like pong, look like real life now. For example, shooting games from back in the 80's are really pix-elated. Now if you look at a game like Modern Warfare 2, everything in that game looks close to real life. Super Mario Bros was released about 20 years ago, now after all the different sequels and remakes, it looks so clean and polished. Even the Mario games on hand held consoles look better than the ones for the NES and SNES. Everybody nowadays owns at least one video game console. You have the Xbox 360 and PS3 for the more serious gamers. Then you have the Wii for the long time Nintendo fans and casual gamers.

Video games are a really fun thing to do when your bored or just when you feel like it. I've been playing videos games since the PS1 and N64. I had such a fun time playing those game and watched the evolution of them as the years passed. I got the PS2 and was amazed by the graphics. In 2007, i got my 360, in 2009 i got my PS3. The graphics and gameplay are so much better than they were before. Racing games in terms of looks were pretty bad. Now, in 2010, Granturiso 5 is coming out and it looks realistic. If you have an HDTV, you play these games and they'll look even more stunning that on an SDTV.

Look at the difference: