The Stanford School of Medicine has put together a compendium of cigarette company advertisements. These advertisements exist on the border between hilarious and insane; featuring doctors, cartoon characters, nurses, cultural icons, athletes, government officials, priests, men, women, and even babies(!) promoting the use of cigarettes - sometimes for HEALTH BENEFITS! The health benefits include, ironically enough, getting over a cold, and easing a sore throat or cough. There is a section where advertisements of the past are set side by side with more contemporary counterparts.
Give yourself some time and check out the gallery and commentary. I spent about an hour browsing through the different advertisements before hearing Buddy the Elf whisper very loudly to the tobacco companies: "You sit on a throne of lies."
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Commodity to Sell 2:00 PM
1) Breaking this down to its lowest common denominator, this woman is prostituting herself in order to secure funds for graduate school.
2) Publicity stunt or not, her conundrum speaks to a larger societal ill. It is sad that access to education, including graduate school, is becoming more and more limited to those who have funds. In this way that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.
3) Further, it is sad that a capitalistic worldview has so pervaded our culture that everything has some level of commodification (knowledge, assistance, ministry, virgins). Thus, one is measured based on what they have to sell, what they can produce, or what they can deliver.
4) Did you notice the girls with the cross emblazoned on their shirts give voice to their thoughts? "Giving up ones virginity to get money for grad school is a noble reason.."
5) This Bunny Ranch dude is a pimp. (There should not be a positive sense of this term.)
6) She wants to use her virginity to secure funds in order to become a marriage and family therapist. (?!) Take a minute to marinate in the irony of that. (Perhaps my seminary friends and I should begin a drug ring to pay off our sizable seminary debt.)
