PCU

For the pass week our theme has been college life, which we have observed, read, and discussed. In the last activity dealing with our theme we watched the movie PCU about the life of a group of college students. After watching the movie, I tried to compare it to my actually college experience so far and found that I had nothing in common with the college students in the movie. The movie displayed many fallacies throughout the entire film. The scene in the movie that created a huge genetic fallacy to me was in the beginning when the new guy arrived and he was talking to the leader of the Pit who said there were three things he needed to survive which were beers, not talk to any women, become friends with a guy who had a car, and have no classes before eleven. Another genetic fallacy I caught was also in the beginning when the new guy arrived at the Pit and everyone was doing their own thing (smoking, skateboarding, watching TV) basically nothing related to school. By having these scenes in the movie I feel like the argument for this movie is that college is a waste of time, students don’t learn, drinking and parties are there many focus, and protesting. I disagree with this reputation of college students in the movie, especially when every college student doesn’t participate in activities like these.

Into the Wild

“Into the Wild” a book that documents the life and death of Christopher McCandless probably puzzles the average American. Living in the world’s richest country we as people tend to get caught in worldly materials that young Christopher McCandless decided to give up for the freeness of the nature. America’s materialistic setting has caused people like McCandless to abandon reality and go on solitary journeys. By comparing and contrasting present time in America and fifteen years ago we may find it hard to find a character like McCandless .Taking a look at the world today we see the average American or American family striving for the riches of the world. By having the title as the richest country in the world people struggle to fit the stereotype image of an American family living in a six bedroom home with two luxury cars parked outside. Though some people live this way, not everyone does and there are even thousands of homeless people on the streets of America who are not living the American dream. For example in the article “Death of an Innocent” “Chris didn’t understand how people could possibly be allowed to go hungry especially in this country” said Billie McCandless. Yes, we should wonder why such things go on in a country so rich in money and opportunities. Not only has money taken over lives, but so has fame. Instead of taking time to look into the issues affecting American society today we turn the lives and stars and celebrities and deal with their problems before we even fix ours. For instance people like Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears, and Michael Vick are people who we have become obsessed with watching their every move as detective watches its target. In McCandless case it is very unlikely that a character like him would exist today in modern society where all are focus is money, fame, and materials. I do believe that a character similar to McCandless would be more common fifteen years ago when stories like this were of the norm. In the article “Death of an Innocent” there are numerous examples that back up the existence of a character like McCandless would be more common fifteen years ago. First the author Jon Krakauer shared his similar experience as a young man who experienced many things that McCandless went through like the trip to Alaska and even escaped some things that McCandless didn’t, like death. This article even compares McCandless journey to others like John Waterman a mentally unbalanced man who disappeared in the mountains of Denali, and Carl McCunn a wildlife photographer from Texas who committed suicide after being left in the in the forest. Though all these men had different stories they all had a common love for nature. Stories like this left people in the nineties to think of the stories as common, whereas people today would shocked and appalled at stories like these. Ultimately when looking into the life and death of Christopher McCandless one may get sense of relief to know that someone wasn’t confined to America’s materialistic world of riches and fame, and it’s also sad to know that character like him would not exist today in the world we live in, where standards of living life are based on paper.

United Colours of Benetton

In the 1990’s the clothing company United Colours of Benetton advertised a controversial ad called “The Family”. This ad featured a dying AIDS patient surrounded by his family. In fact this graphic picture gave people a glimpse of the AIDS a deadly disease, with no cure, that took people’s lives within years or less. Though when taking a look at this ad one may question Benetton ethical values, but by taking a deeper look one may also see Benetton’s remarkable marketing skills in play. Arguments can be made that United Colours of Benetton did not feature this picture in the ad to aware people of AIDS only, but instead for other reasons. Arguments also can made that United Colours of Benetton used their controversy as publicity. These are two strategies in which I believe the Benetton Company used to appeal to its consumers in the early 1990’s.
Observing the first strategy we see that the ad appeals to our senses and emotions. Seeing such a graphic picture really hits the average person in the heart by letting them foretaste AIDS and its destruction. By using such a picture in this nationwide ad, the Benetton Company did make more people aware of the disease that the world knew so little about. Also by featuring this picture in ads the Benetton Company contributed to an AIDS foundation. Though United Colours of Benetton did some good, the company main objectives were marketing. Since the company contributed some of it earnings to an AIDS foundation, some people would see the ad and think they’re helping people with AIDS by buying their products, which one type of consumers they appeal to. Taking a look into Psychology it is a known fact that the more a person looks at an advertisement (ad, billboard, commercial and etc…) the more likely you are to purchase the product, these people make up the second type of consumers.
Moreover the Benetton Company used another tactful strategy that attracted more consumers. The strategy they used was controversy, which may seem bad to any company but in the Benetton’s Company situation it was good. One may ask why, by creating controversy the company received unlimited publicity. By receiving free unlimited publicity in newspapers and on television United Colours of Benetton received recognition from the world. Therefore because of the controversy involving The Benetton Company, they became more appealing to consumers. Though this strategy may seem unethical it is quite common in the world, when we look at news on TV or read the newspapers we see or hear similar concepts. From time to time we also see musicians and artists who talk about touchy issues to farther their careers.
Ultimately we have examined the strategies in which United Colours of Benetton Company have used to campaign their clothing. By alluring our senses and emotions the company has got a strong hold on some of its consumers this way. By repeatedly seeing this ad consumers are more likely to purchase the product, which is a fact in the world of psychology. Also by receiving unlimited publicity from their controversial ads United Colours of Benetton pulled in consumers in an irony effect. So in the world of business the Benetton Company succeeded, because every company’s main goal is gain consumers and sell products, and that’s just what they did.