Margo’s Media Blogs

Many hygiene products target women and men using different colors, slogans, etc. For example, most men's soaps are in darkly colored bottles, and often times meant for the whole body rather than just the face or just the hair. Women's hygienic products however are oftentimes brightly colored with floral scents and meant only for the face or specifically for the hair. Companies are targeting men and women using very different methods, though the product is basically the same thing. Thus the companies are supporting the stereotypes that divide men and women. A woman uses floral, vanilla, or some other light and subtle scent for their soaps and lotions. Men however have products like sandalwood and other sharper scents. Men and women's deodorants are the same ingredients, yet they are advertised as being completely different. Mens deodorant is in a darkly colored bottle, and there are only 'manly' scents. Women's comes in a wide variety of bright colors and sh...

Miss Representation addresses the use of photo shopped models in common media, newspapers, ads, etc. The documentary detailed the impact of these unrealistic standards on young women, and even connected these images to a rising rate of depression and anxiety. Models are consistently photo shopped on magazines and ads to seem thinner, have brighter skin, and basically look perfect. These ads are of course seen by young girls across America, and these girls gradually begin to think that these photo shopped models are what they should look like. These girls are not taught that these women look the way they do because of computers, they only see the ideal woman, and they believe that is the image they must look like in order to be 'pretty'. Women are taught from a young age that they are not good enough, and they need to buy this product to be able to look like this girl that was clearly photo shopped. Young women are constantly told by the media that they need to lose weight or...

Merchants of Cool spent a lot of time talk about the midriff. Examples of midriff are in the above image, which is one of the first results you see when you look up 'teen outfits', thus, the midriff is still quite popular today among teens. Walking the halls at McClatchy you can easily see that though the style may have changed from low waist bedazzled jeans to high waist jeans, there are still plenty of similarities to the teen girl's clothing from Merchants of Cool. The question is, is this a positive aspect of teen culture, or another thing that easily makes girls feel bad about their bodies? The midriff in Merchants of Cool was mostly used by MTV to attract viewers to the company. Today, I think the midriff is not as much about being part of a brand, I think now the midriff is just a part of teen's style. The midriff when used by MTV was over sexualized and meant only to attract the hormonal teens to MTV. I believe that nowadays the midriff may just be another pa...

Since the internet and social media came into existence, there have been issues with situations of cyber bullying. People have used the anonymous messages and comment spaces to call people out and finally tell people all the nasty things they really think. Now I know that this is a real issue, but I don't believe this is the only way social media has affected mental health. With social media we can see thousands of people, thousands of lives, countless different stories and personal worlds. Having these things at the tips of our fingers is not always beneficial. For example, if you have a young teen who has struggled with their weight, they are insecure and worried that they aren't pretty or handsome enough. Then they look at Instagram, Snapchat, etc and they see all these people who are thin, flawless, and can wear whatever they want. This teen is going to feel like they aren't good enough, they can't ever be as good as these models and actors. These situations coul...

I was at Target this week and I glanced at the board with all the coupons and printed advertisements, I noticed how many people in the pictures had the most fake smiles, the most unrealistic expressions for the action they are doing. For example, the image above is much like one of the ads I saw. I have never seen someone intensely working out, like in this ad, and smiling without a single drop of sweat or exhaustion in their face. Seeing this gave me the idea to write about the many advertisements that have unrealistic and inaccurate portrayals of the consumer. Ads for feminine products are the most unrealistic and inaccurate ads I have ever seen. They always show a woman running, dancing, or doing some sort of physical activity while they wear the product advertised. These women are smiling and laughing, they look as happy as can be. This is the complete opposite of the reality. Most women are miserable when they have to buy these products, they are embarrassed to buy them, and th...

As I researched ads for my Media Literacy project, I was shocked by the amount of diversity in many of Old Navy's ads. Each ad that I watched was incredibly inclusive. I saw women who were of various sizes and women of various races, it was as if they had went on the street and asked women if they wanted to be in the ad. In a lot of media there has only been one demographic that was portrayed. A classic white family, with 2-3 kids and a dog, your normal 'american dream' image. Yet ads like Old Navy's and many other shows have begun to portray many people. The advertisers have finally begun to break down the barriers and portray people of all races, sizes, etc. For example, in my ad for the Media Project, there are various women who dance around the screen and show off their Old Navy jeans. Contrary to popular shows and ads, these women were all different sizes. There were some who were larger and others who were smaller than the 'average'. It was refreshing t...

As I scroll through Instagram I see the many news pages I follow. I get frequent updates about the next species that is extinct, the next terrorist attack, the next natural disaster. Somehow, I am able to see all these terrible things in the world, and all I can think is, "Wow that is terrible", then move on. I am not moved to action, nor emotionally affected at the sight of all these terrible things worldwide that are happening right as I write this. I blame many things for this apathy I and many feel about these global disasters, but one of the main things I blame is the normalization of these events. I have seen so many videos on climate change, and so many images of dying animals and broken glaciers, yet I still don't feel the need to get up and do something about it. I have seen so many things about the changing planet, my whole life I have been seeing these things happen. I am now numb to the fear I used to have, because there is only a few people who still try ...