Skintimate Ad "Shave and Shine"

Not gonna lie, I discovered this ad by looking at Scotlyn's media blog post. At first, I was just gonna pass it up, but in the past day since I watched it, I can not stop thinking about it. It was about ten seconds into the video when my jaw visibly dropped. A girl literally says, "she's got a face that's kinda model-esque but she's got leg hair like a porcupine." As I am typing this, I am actually laughing. There is no way this is real right? Well, sadly, it is. Words actually can not express my disgust.

Later on in the video, they have the girl with hairy legs hiding her legs behind a plant. Actually hiding. Talk about body shaming! Later on in the video, the girls start chanting, "My leg hair, I shave it! My leg hair, I shave it!"What? This comes off as the advertisers trying to brainwash their audience.   My favorite line is "She got more numbers than the stock exchange 'cuz she kissed her thorny legs goodbye!" I guess this is supposed to make the viewer feel like they will get the attention of men if she has saved legs. Interesting logic.

My main takeaway from this ad is that I do not want to shave my legs. This ad makes me want to protest shaving my legs because of the way it body shames girls who chose not to shave their legs. This ad is telling girls that having any leg hair at all is completely unacceptable. This message is flawed because it is pretty much impossible to get rid of every hair follicle on one's body, because guess what, women aren't born hairless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvLSvaH8hs

Pro Life/Pro Choice

"Pro Life/Anti-Choice versus Pro Choice/Anti-Life/Baby Killers"

No matter what words are used by politicians, everyone knows what abortion is. People who believe abortion should be illegal call themselves "pro life." First off, the word pro has a positive connotation for being good. Life is very positive because we are all alive and we value our lives. "Pro life" advocates would call people who believe abortion should be legal "anti-life" or "baby killers." First off, "anti" is very negative, because it means against. And being anti-life? Well, that just sounds horrible! Every person has his or her own belief as to when life begins, so it's unfair to say they are "anti-life."

People who believe that abortion should be legal call themselves "pro-choice." Pro is positive because it's advocating for a position. Choice also has a positive connotation, especially in America, home of our unlimited choices!  Choice advocates would call "pro-life" supporters "anti-choice" which can be seen as really negative. In America, we value freedom and the ability to make our own choices and don't want anyone to get in the way of us making them.

In his essay, Politics in the English Language, George Orwell outlines how often politicians confuse people by using different phrases and words. All of the different names for the same things would definately be an example. We don't need all of these different phrases that really mean "pro abortion" or "anti abortion." 

My Relationship With Media

Media plays a constant and big part in my life. Even though I hate to admit it, I’m pretty much glued to my cell phone at all times. My phone wakes me up in the morning. My phone is the very first thing I look at when I wake up, to see if I have missed anything from the night before. When I’m trying to “wake up” I listen to music (mostly on Pandora Radio which is full of endless ads for movies, food, drinks, colleges, etc… you name it, its on there). Some of the music I’m listening to has product placements or mentions of products I should buy or the kind of glamorous lifestyle I really “want” to have. Throughout the school day, my phone is never far away. I mostly leave my phone in my backpack. 
I don’t really have much time to watch TV or movies so I get most of my media intake from my cell phone. There are ads on all of my favorite and most commonly used apps (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Tumblr) all of the time. These apps all give me a false sense of reality in a way and give me a portal into the glamorous, fun, wealthy, partying life that is desired by most. After time everyone gets used to seeing all of these ads and really become numb to them. 
There are a few ads that often really catch my eye. Mostly the controversial, sexist ads posted by most companies. There are also some really cool ads that catch my eye sometimes though. For instance, I recently watched the Nike women’s commercial about being “better for it” because one of my teammates shared it with me as motivation. I thought it was kind of interesting. An advertisement actually being motivational. Can’t decide if that’s awesome or weird. Either way, the people who came up with it were genius. 
I probably didn’t become completely aware of media until this summer, after I went on my trip to Africa. A lot of my views on the way things are presented to us changed. I remember in 7^th and 8^th grade I was super obsessed with fitting in and looking cool. I wasn’t cool unless I was wearing Abercrombie clothes, Victoria’s secret push-up bras, and Juicy Couture jackets. I definitely got over this phase by the end of 8^th grade, but I remember the huge impact this mindset had on my life because I was obsessed.