"I'M LOVIN' IT"

When I turned 15 I started my first job at McDonald's. My family does occasionally dine out in restaurants but not usually fast food. I choose to work mornings on my weekends and often started work at 6am, so I would arrive early and have breakfast before my shift. Eating there was a novelty for the first six months, but after that I would rather have my mother’s cooking any day. 

Although I prefer eating at home, I became more aware of the clever ads that McDonald’s uses to creatively persuade people into having a meal at McDonald's. Many are aimed at children, some at the morning coffee crowd, meals with the family, and even the late night crowd.

The ad I selected was a baby made over as a Ronald McDonald. The baby was wrapped in a white blanket and with a soft focus on the outside of the picture. The ad says in small lettering in the upper right corner, “just opened” and the area, then further to the right it has the McDonald's emblem and the words, “I’m lovin’ it” underneath. It was very clever to show McDonald’s arrival in the area was like a new baby. That evokes caring feelings toward it. The persuasive techniques I recognized in the ad were:

Warm & Fuzzy- The use of a baby in a soft blanket with a softened lens appearance around the outside of the picture makes this ad fit into this category.

Association- The use of a baby helps you to correlate this with something new and the Roland McDonald clown face helps you to associate the ad with McDonald's.

Humor-The Ronald McDonald makeup on the baby was the advertiser’s use of humor.

Repetition- The slogan for McDonald’s is a song that say’s “I’m Lovin’ It” and it is repeated on all of their ads including this one.

THE SUPER BOWL GLUTTONY

I speculate, the choices GE makes for their advertisers during the Super Bowl are carefully thought out. First, they would need to consider their viewers. The Super Bowl has become a social occasion where people gather to eat junk food and often times, to drink alcohol. This would mean advertising around those types of items would be advantageous to the advertiser and interesting to the viewer.  Another reason for allowing the gluttony of food and alcohol commercials is that those advertisers are willing to pay huge sums of money for the advertising spots. The Super Bowl is also in February, which is winter. People are more apt to over eat during this time of year. The bottom line is, it is the commercial spots go to the deepest pockets and those who feel it is worth it to them to pay that amount of money.

TV- ARE PARENTS FORMING CHILDREN'S HABITS FOR A LIFETIME?

There is a lot of controversy over how much television a child should watch. I think that while it can be very entertaining, it shouldn’t be a big priority in a child’s life. I believe the way you are taught to use the television can stick with you as an adult. I believe my parents gave me good habits growing up and I still have them today.

I really enjoy watching movies. I don’t care for regularly programmed shows, but a movie, that’s another story. When I watch the TV I don’t like to be interrupted and I want to do it in my own time. With cable, I feel as though I would have to spend my time watching commercials and adjusting my schedule to watch what I wanted. I am not willing to do that and would prefer to watch something from beginning to end.  My time is too precious to me.

As a child, I was raised in a very active family, with boating, baseball, camping, downhill skiing, snowmobiling and much more. We didn’t have much time for television other than an occasional movie or the news. I can’t say I feel as though I missed out on anything. I learned to enjoy family and friends instead of “vegetating on the couch”.  I will be honest, movie night with my family or friends is fun and I have had my own television in my room since I was four; but, it didn’t have cable.  I could only watch a movie if I checked t it out from my parents movie library, we rented a movie or checked it out from the library. I think my parents did it right. They made sure that while we do enjoy watching a movie, television is not a huge priority in our life. That is, other than an occasional movie, the news, or sports on the family television.

DO TVs BELONG IN CHILDREN'S BEDROOMS?

This is a decision that needs to be made with their child's best interest at heart. It isn't easy to not allow something that most parents are allowing, but each parent needs to base their decision on their morals and there child's individual personality.

Many parents are using televisions as babysitters. But, if you really sat and took a look at the morals being shown to your child on the television, would you pay a sitter and have them in your home day after day if they exposed your child to what mainstream television does? I would hope not.

Still, I don't disagree with a child having their own television if the proper precautions are put in place. I strongly disagree with a child having unrestricted access to television, but I don't believe there is anything wrong with a removable DVD player or video game that can be used for an hour a day if your child accomplishes their daily activities and chooses to have a friend over to share a movie or a game. 

Again, I think that each child is different and every family needs to decide what works best for them. I am not sure if when I have a child, I will allow a television in their bedroom or not. However, I do know that I will monitor the media that I allow my child to access.

Presidential Vote 2008

Voting for the President of the United States is not just a right, or a privilege, but a responsibility. If we as citizens want to keep our country on track, we should vote for the best leader we can. In the 2008 election I was not old enough to vote. I would have voted for Brarack Obama as our President. 

  

In my opinion, President Obama was the best choice available on the ballot, that had a chance of winning. I will be benefited by his having been in office. I am about to turn 18 and would like the chance to continue my health insurance through my parents. It is something that concerns me. 

I have a friend that receives medical insurance through his parents at age 19, because he is attending college full time. He was hospitalized recently, after receiving 3rd degree burns on 65% of his body. He had to drop this semester of college and probably next semester also because he will be in the hospital, trying to just survive. He and his family will be very affected by this tragedy, emotionally, physically and financially. But, thanks to Obama's medical plan, he won't be dropped by insurance or have to pay for the insurance to continue, at $450  or more a month just because he wasn't able to continue college full time. I appreciate that insurance companies are willing to pay for full time college students to continue insuring students, but is that fair to people who are not able to carry a full college load, either physically due to illness, emotionally due to unforeseen problems or intellectually? I don't think that it is fair and it places a burden on the tax payers to compensate financially.

I think that Obama has done some positive things for our country and he is trying to clean up a  mess that took eight years to create. Are we being fair as citizens to place blame on him or his party for not being able to fix in two year what Bush created in eight? I understand our Countries concern, but we need to have patients too. 

CHARACTER vs IMAGE

 In today's society we judge people, not by their character but by the image they present to us. We move quickly and have very little time to investigate the personal character our candidates for political office poses. Because of this, many people cast their vote based on the image the candidates present or the negative image their opponent's conger. Shouldn't we be concerned, we could be choosing, " A wolf in sheep's clothing?"

Image does have some importance; the person we choose for President of the United States has seven roles. One of which is Chief of State, as such, he is the human symbol of the American people as a whole. We wouldn't want a slob to represent us, but we also wouldn't want to sacrifice by choosing someone of poor character. The remaining six roles are: Chief Executive, Chief Diplomat, Commander-In-Chief, Chief Legislator, Chief of Party and Chief Guardian of the Economy. I believe every citizen would want someone with great personal character in these roles.

As our once great leader said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -Abraham Lincoln

I feel media, candidates and the constituents of the United States should be more responsible in portraying and in choosing our representatives, not just for the image, but for the personal character and intellectual abilities they poses.

PIRACY- IT'S NOT FOR ME

Okay, it may seem uncool, I have never downloaded music for free. I choose to purchase my music through FYE or just listen to it on the radio. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of taking something from someone without their consent.

I have had many friends say that they download from places like Limewire for free and many of them have great selections of music. I can see why they are tempted to do it, because it's a faceless crime against people who have so much. Some of them don't even realize it is against the law. If you watch MTV cribs, it doesn't seem as though taking a song is the same as breaking into someone's home and stealing from them. So, for the people taking the music illegally, it seems like a win-win unless they get caught.

I was raised to believe that no sin is better or worse than the next. Stealing something even if it is small or comes from someone that has more than you doesn't make it right.

I am not passing judgment on others for their choices. That is their business. I just know that it is the wrong choice for me. How about you?