so, i've been out of it fo a while.. but it's not because i don't love you. 
life has been hectic - mostly i was/am buckling under the pressure of reading for my theory exam. but things seem mostly in hand for right now.... so we'll just go with that. there was also minor excusrions (re: a trip home for a wedding) and stuff like that. kept me busy, and off the internet, sadly.
so, i had some lame meme thing up. and i had all good intentions of making good on that. but at this point.... *shrugs sholders*
**********
today, there was an interesting piece in the tribune about, get this, the oreo cookie. i'm not really sure why.... but it's all about building the brand, dealing with the problem of obesity, addressing changing fads. that kind of thing.
the interesting part is that there is this big discussion of "marketing to children." i find it really intriguing on two levels -
1) I like the idea that it is bad to market to children. now, i don't think that kids are mini-adults. but it's odd the way that childhood has become SO fetishized - kids are seen as so breakable, so innocent, so devoid of sexuality etc. so now we have to protect them from advertisters. on some level, i'm sympathetic. fuck, i worry about what MTV is doing to my brain (to still my former roomie's prhase) to this day. but really - when is it ok to sell to kids? 13? 16? maybe 18? i mean, the whole idea of "adolescence" is pretty much socially constructed as it is - and the notion that a "age X = adulthood" is obviously a legal fiction (a USEFUL fiction of course). it's just odd that we're so intent on protecting kids from the oddest things. i think it's how we compensate for hyper-consumerism that pushes us to into working so many hours and neglecting our family life. but that's just me.
2) i also like the idea of people being anti-advertising in general. i mean, in a lot of ways, we all tacitly buy into a market economy. but not just a market economy - we obviously accept/encourage a hyper-consumerism where we are bombarded with advertising and focus groups work to figure us out all the time. on the whole we accept this as a society. we all don't like it - but apparently we're happy enough with it. EXCEPT when it comes to kids.
just goofy shit.
life has been hectic - mostly i was/am buckling under the pressure of reading for my theory exam. but things seem mostly in hand for right now.... so we'll just go with that. there was also minor excusrions (re: a trip home for a wedding) and stuff like that. kept me busy, and off the internet, sadly.
so, i had some lame meme thing up. and i had all good intentions of making good on that. but at this point.... *shrugs sholders*
**********
today, there was an interesting piece in the tribune about, get this, the oreo cookie. i'm not really sure why.... but it's all about building the brand, dealing with the problem of obesity, addressing changing fads. that kind of thing.
the interesting part is that there is this big discussion of "marketing to children." i find it really intriguing on two levels -
1) I like the idea that it is bad to market to children. now, i don't think that kids are mini-adults. but it's odd the way that childhood has become SO fetishized - kids are seen as so breakable, so innocent, so devoid of sexuality etc. so now we have to protect them from advertisters. on some level, i'm sympathetic. fuck, i worry about what MTV is doing to my brain (to still my former roomie's prhase) to this day. but really - when is it ok to sell to kids? 13? 16? maybe 18? i mean, the whole idea of "adolescence" is pretty much socially constructed as it is - and the notion that a "age X = adulthood" is obviously a legal fiction (a USEFUL fiction of course). it's just odd that we're so intent on protecting kids from the oddest things. i think it's how we compensate for hyper-consumerism that pushes us to into working so many hours and neglecting our family life. but that's just me.
2) i also like the idea of people being anti-advertising in general. i mean, in a lot of ways, we all tacitly buy into a market economy. but not just a market economy - we obviously accept/encourage a hyper-consumerism where we are bombarded with advertising and focus groups work to figure us out all the time. on the whole we accept this as a society. we all don't like it - but apparently we're happy enough with it. EXCEPT when it comes to kids.
just goofy shit.
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