Alecjenkins' Blog

Today, I’d like to talk about something very near and dear to my heart; food. We all love food. And if you’re anything like me, then you’ll eat out of shear boredom. Obviously that isn’t the best of things, but I’ll save that for another blog post. Anyways, I noticed something just a few days ago when I opened the refrigerator. The familiar white-yellow glow illuminated my face at the pull of the handle, and a burst of cool, fresh air blew into my face. Needless to say, it was a magical experience, but that is all beside the point. When I look at the contents of the refrigerator, I noticed a trend. Nearly 90% of the food in there was in some kind of red packaging. And of that 90%, the unhealthy foods probably made up about 85-89%. While this does say a lot about my taste in food, it also says a lot about how food is marketed.

During my Junior year of high school, I learned in my Psychology class that the color red was supposed to promote anger, love, lust, and hunger. It is for that reason that so many fast-food restaurants are painted red or have at least some red in their color scheme. KFC, white and red. In-n-Out, white and red. Wienerschnitzel, red and gold. And of course the Big Daddy (I should say Big-Mac-Daddy), McDonalds is

yellow and red. Of these chains, the most successful is obviously McDonalds. With over 31000 restaurants, McDonalds is a worldwide name easily recognized almost anywhere. And from my own experiences, McDonalds is also the least appetizing. But again, that is neither here nor there.

When I looked at these chain’s color schemes and saw the pattern of red, I noticed something else. McDonalds had the most red out of all of them. The red in their symbol, on their billboards, in their restaurants encompasses the pure yellow-gold of the McDonalds arch, as well as the people eating in their restaurant. While hunger is the most obvious affect of red that McDonalds wants to have on their customers, anger, love and lust are pretty good effects as well for a fast-food chain. Love is a little obvious, make people fall in love with the food as well as the establishment. Lust is obvious as well, make people desire your food so they keep coming back.

Anger, in contrast, isn’t quite as obvious and I believe merits it’s own paragraph. If the color red makes the customers of McDonalds angry, then the customer will seek comfort; a natural response to anger. And where can people find comfort? Surely not in their friends or family. And of course they wouldn’t look to themselves. One of the first places that people will go for comfort is food. And who has the most fast-food restaurants in the world? McDonalds. So if you were to be driving in traffic and some crazy person cuts you off and nearly causes a twenty car collision, you can be assured at a McDonalds is right there off the next exit to get you your comforting fix of BigMac.

With our recent discussions on racism, I started to think about how we are racist nowadays. For the most part, when somebody mentions racism you think about a white person looking down on a minority. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that things have changed. Racism has changed a lot. A good representation of the new type of racism is pictured below:

In the picture above, a black male’s face is clearly doctored into the place of a white male for the cover of this Toronto “Fun Guide.” This is done to show the diversity of Toronto. Now, if a place wants to show it’s diversity, doesn’t it seem logical to…I don’t know…actually get some diverse people for the photo? The way I see it, this picture was presented for the guide at a meeting to a room full of powerful white males. The men, seeing that there was no diversity in the picture, decided that the picture wasn’t a suitable representation of Toronto. If this picture were to  be presented, perhaps the public would think that the people who made the guide, or Toronto itself, is racist because there are no minorities on the cover! So rather than going out and taking another picture, a black man’s face is photoshopped into the picture. Seeing that there was now a minority on the cover, the powerful white men were satisfied with their decision, decided that they were no longer racist because they now have a black man on the cover, and allowed the cover to be published.

This is the problem. Trying to not be racist, is, in itself, racist. In a completely racism free society, the people in the room would’ve seen the picture, been satisfied, and published it. Because all we see nowadays is race and what is politically correct, we try so hard to satisfy all groups. In a racism free society, we would never see what the color of someone’s skin is in the first place. A person is a person is a person is a person. No matter the color of their skin, what they believe in, or their way of life.

Windows, Windows, Windows. For years and years I used you on a day to day basis. I used Internet Explorer for my surfing, Word for my typing, and Paint for my boredom. Suddenly, XP changed to Vista, and the world came to a stop. Suddenly Windows wasn’t exactly easy to use and the new OS was plagued with problems. It is because of these problems that, after about a year of hearing nothing but bad things about Vista, I switched to Mac. It’s been about three years since my switch, and I still couldn’t be more pleased. I know my computers (all Macs now) well, and they know me. And now, with the release of Windows 7, suddenly the Mac OS is getting some heat thrown it’s way.

The fans of the Tech world are ruthless. When something new is released, they rip it to shreds and state with a fury everything that is wrong with it. When Vista came out, there was a lot to shred. When Leopard (a Mac OS) came out, they ripped it to shreds (although much less so that Vista). And now with Windows 7, the fanboys are silent. Sure, there is still a loud voice or two among the crowd stating flaws, but the general consensus is that 7 is a great OS with much less problems that it’s predecessor. Snow Leopard (the most recent Mac OS) seems to now be the butt of all the “flaming.”

Now as a die-hard Mac user, I upgraded to Snow Leopard mere days after it’s release. SL promised to be a faster, cleaner, and more streamlined version of Leopard. For me, it did just that. My computer runs more efficiently, has some nice new features, and I have peace of mind knowing that I’m not behind in the tech world. Even with my experience, people still point out the flaws. It is my theory that because SL was a very incremental upgrade to Leopard, people were upset. There were no major design overhauls or noticeable on the surface changes. For most people, what you see is what you get. But for me, it’s a lot of what you don’t see is also what you’re getting. Windows 7, in contrast, DID do some major design changes and DID improve upon it’s predecessor in an easily noticeable way (the new “Super-Bar”, the less transparent menus, the lack of WARNING window pop-ups). Because people can see and work with these changes, they are happy. Because they can SEE them. In the SL upgrade, many of the changes you COULD NOT see. This is why people scream and cry to the moon about the flaws of SL; because they can’t focus on the new good things because they can’t see them.

This whole situation got me thinking about the thought process that Microsoft had when they released 7 (which is basically Vista SP2 with a better task bar). They knew that if people can see the changes, then they’d be happy. If their OS looks a little better and runs a little faster, then they’d be happy. It’s those two key points that Microsoft honed in on. And they accomplished their goal. SL and Apple on the other hand focused on just one of those points, and that made people angry. Even Apple’s popular Mac Vs. Pc ads can’t keep the fanboys at bay.

The average person probably won’t notice this kind of kicking and screaming. The average person will probably just see the I’m a Mac ads and the Windows 7 ads and that’s all they really know on the subject. But there’s a whole world of angry people who are always sitting and waiting at their computer to flame the next new product release. And I hope this small post shed some light on that world.

I love me some Michael Jackson. And when he died this summer, I can honestly say that I was upset. He was a pop culture icon, and suddenly he was gone. This came as quite a shock to me and apparently, it did for the rest of the world too. Since his death, Michael’s name can be found on nearly every magazine cover, television channel, or internet website. For the producers of the new movie This is It, that is exactly what they need.

This Is It is a documentary of sorts about Jackson’s final concert series extravaganza. From the clips I’ve seen of this film, it seems like it’s going to be portraying Jackson in an almost God-like light. Some people think this is a good way to portray him, others think the contrary. For myself, it doesn’t really matter because I’m fixated on the marketing campaign for this film.

As a young man who is a self proclaimed pop culture aficionado, I noticed something peculiar in the marketing for this movie. Of all the television I watch, the websites I surf, and the billboards I see in a single day, a poster, trailer, or web-ad for This Is It is almost rare. But if you were to go to Fandango.com right now and look on their top-grossing pre-sale tickets, This Is It would top the list. This is to be somewhat expected with the release of the film just a few days away, but three weeks ago when this film still topped the list, that was an interesting observation. This film, which doesn’t have all that much marketing behind it, topped the pre-sale list more than a month ago. With such limited marketing, this wouldn’t be expected.

But I started thinking. With Jackson’s death still a hot topic for tabloids and mass media, marketing for his film doesn’t have to be grandiose. When every magazine has Jackson’s name on the cover, when every pop culture website has something related to Jackson, and when every news broadcast brings up Jackson’s death or the antics of his family, this is all free publicity. Even without these mediums directly saying Jackson’s film’s name, they are still imprinting that he has passed into our minds. This, in turn, makes us think, “Michael Jackson is dead. The news said so. I’ve heard he has a film coming out. I will go see it.” This is the perfect marketing campaign. They don’t have to pay for any of this. It all comes from our media and how obsessed with celebrities we as a society are.

So there has been a lot of talk about Roman Polanski. Most people know the story, but for those who don’t, here is this video (watch from the 1:00 to 2:58 point to get the Polanski story and this video does have some harsh language, so be warned):

Now that we’re all up to speed, I have to side with Mr. DeFranco on this topic. For a man to do this to a woman of thirteen is disgusting. And the fact that there are so many people coming to Polanski’s defense awes me. For so many people to just say, “It was a long time ago and he’s made such great work since then” is no excuse at all. In fact, I can’t believe that people would even think of coming to his defense. What this man did was a crime. He fled from this crime, which in itself, is a crime.

Roman Polanski, I love The Pianist, and I respect your talent, but I hope that justice is served in your case.

While browsing Hulu today, watching some old episodes of The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien made a joke about the YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter phenomenons. He said that one day, the three would combine into a super-social networking site called, “YouTwitFace.” I laughed at the silliness of Mr. O’Brien, then started thinking. I use these three sites on a day to day (if not hour to hour) basis. I watch about twenty YouTubers daily, I use Facebook to talk with friends and keep up on events, and I use Twitter to put out my pointless opinions and to see some news in the “Trending Topics” section. Realizing this, I started thinking about the change that is happening in the digital-media landscape.

First off, I was not watching Conan on television. I was watching his television show online, on my own time, with very limited advertisements. I watch a lot (probably 80%) of television online. (Could that be considered ironic?) Conan’s one hour, fifteen-minute show can be watched in about 45-50 minutes online with the limited commercial interruptions. That is thirty-minutes of my life that I wouldn’t get back had I watched his show on NBC. This change towards the internet is the next step (in this writer’s opinion) for television. I do not watch nearly as much television as I did a few years ago. Is this because I’m busier now? No. (Unfortunately.) It is because I can watch my shows online, on my own time. It is also because there is other, equally entertaining content on the internet to be wasting my time on.

Monday through Thursday my favorite YouTuber, Phillip DeFranco, username “sxephil,” posts The Phillip DeFranco Show on his YouTube channel. This show delivers the news-of-the-day in a comedic, sarcastic, and sometimes cruel way. And I love every second of it. Everyday Shay Carl posts a vlog on his “SHAYTARDS” channel. This channel is very family friendly and hilarious. It is these types of user-generated shows that keep my attention. These are just funny people producing great content for all of the internet to enjoy. And the best part about TPDS or “SHAYTARDS” is that I can watch their shows on my own time from wherever I have internet access (which is nearly everywhere these days). These types of shows are going to keep popping up on YouTube because people enjoy them. Sure, Phillip DeFranco isn’t as well known as the Kardashians, but with this shift towards the internet as the primary source for entertainment and information, he very well could be.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about Twitter. Twitter gets a lot of shit for being a completely pointless website where people share what they are doing or their opinions about stupid gossip. Let’s face it, this is true. I do use Twitter, and I do post what I am doing on occasion as well as my opinions about stupid gossip. But Twitter has another use for me. It is a surprisingly good place for news. For example, a few days ago in the “Trending Topics” section on Twitter (this sections analyzes Tweets for keywords that are being used over and over across the sight), I saw “Paramore – Brand New Eyes.” Paramore is a modern rock band who I am a big fan of, so I clicked the topic. From the Tweets, I gathered that their new album was now available for streaming on their website. If it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have had this knowledge. Another example, just half an hour ago I saw in the “TT” section, “Get well Conan.” I clicked the link, and learned from the tweets that Conan fell during a skit and hit his head and is, apparently, hospitalized. Without Twitter I would’ve had to wait a whole ten hours to hear this news! Shocking, I know. My point is that Twitter is a very fast paced way to hear about what is going on in the world through, not a news broadcast, but the people.

On September 9th, Apple Inc. released its newest version of iTunes. This 9.0 version is the biggest revision that iTunes has ever received in it’s nine years of existence. This got me thinking. Nine years ago, I was only eleven years old but I was still interested in technology. I was in a computer class in my middle school and I remember using iTunes 1.0 for some projects in the class. In nine years, iTunes has changed so drastically that if when you look at iTunes 1.o compared to iTunes 9.0, they barely look like the same product. I’ve included screenshots below.

Seeing how far this single program has come in nine years made me start thinking about the entire world of technology and how much it has changed in that same nine years. Nine years ago, if you had a computer with 16 megabytes of RAM, you had a fast computer. That was enough RAM to do your basic computer tasks such as email and internet browsing without problems. Now? If my computer had 16 MB of RAM it wouldn’t turn on. Technology has come so far in such a short amount of time that it’s almost impossible to see where it is going. Nine years ago people would have never guessed your cellphone could browse the internet or be able to take pictures. Where are our cellphones going to be nine years from now? Is the Apple iPhone going to have a 32 Megapixel camera and two terabytes of storage? Anything is possible.

I realized that the evolution of technology has affected so many part of our lives. Namely, media. YouTube and Hulu are growing faster than any of the major networks: ABC, NBC, FOX. With this shift towards the internet as people’s primary medium, the way companies advertise their products or services is also changing. This leads me to this video:

This video speaks volumes for itself. It shows how the internet is changing the world of advertising, social networking, media, and our lives as we know it. I highly recommend that anybody who might be reading this to watch the whole video. You might just learn something about the internet and where it may be going.

Bacon, cheese, and deep-fried chicken. Alone, each sounds like a delicious, albeit unhealthy, treat. Together, these form a one way ticket to the grave. You may be saying to yourself, “Who in their right mind would put those together in the first place?”

KFC. (Formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken.)

Somebody at this company decided it’d be a great idea to put all of these into a single dish. But this isn’t a typical KFC meal. This is not deep-fried chicken with a side of bacon and cheese. No. This is a sandwich. But this isn’t your typical sandwich either, for there is no bread. There is only chicken. Chicken has taken the place of the bread on this fried masterpiece. Yes. This sandwich goes: chicken, bacon, cheese, and chicken. This is the new, KFC Double Down Sandwich.

When I saw the advertisement for this “sandwich,” I had some very strong feelings. It made me think that in an age where people are trying to stay healthy, why anyone would put out such a monstrosity? When America has about 30% of its population considered obese, is this really the best idea for a product? Now don’t get me wrong. I love me some unhealthy food. A #1 with cheese and ketchup at In-N-Out is my favorite meal of all time. But this Double Down Sandwich is…for lack of a better phrase, a $3 heart attack.

Another thought that arose while watching this advertisement above was how the product was marketed. The people in ad above (although hard to hear) are going crazy for this sandwich. Now, obviously, this is what ads are supposed to do; make people want a product. But in this ad, something struck me as odd. The people are being a little crazy. Almost to the point of being too over-the-top. And I thought that maybe they had to be crazy to sell a product that was as ludicrous as the Double Down.

I for one, know I’d have to be as crazier than the actors in the above ad to eat one of these.

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