Blog Assignment 6

                For my sitcom blog, I chose The Office. I chose this for a number of reasons; one of them being that this show takes place in Scranton which is fairly close to home The episode I viewed was from season five and it was called “weight loss: part 1”. This was one of the first times I’ve watched a show to take note on product placement and I will say I am very surprised how many name brands were shown throughout the show.

                Before we get started going over the items shown throughout this episode let’s summarize it up. The gang at Dunder Mifflin is trying to lose weight because whichever branch of the paper company loses the most weight gets three extra vacation days. Also Pam leaves Dunder Mifflin to take college classes in New York City. Normally while watching this show I am laughing out loud but while watching it today I took notes. I did manage to slip in a few giggles here and there, however.

                The first product shown in plain site was an IPod and an IPod dock. This is only shown at a glance from far away during a yoga class. This made me think whether it was product placement or not because although they only show it from far away Apple is such a big name brand that only a small amount of time is needed to promote their product. Later on in the episode there is definitely confirmation that this IPod was product placement, but we will get to that in a bit.

 The next product shown was a Cisco phone. They show these Cisco phones more than once leading me to believe that this was product placement. The only point that may lead me to believe that these Cisco phones are not product placement is the fact that they don’t use it at all and it is only used as a prop in the background.

During the scene where Dwight is removing all the food from the vending machine and replacing it with whole fruits and vegetables there are numerous products shown. This ranges from many Herr’s products, Clif Bars, Swedish Fish, and many more. I believe that this is product placement even though they show it for only a short period of time. The viewer watching it immediately will scan the vending machine for snacks they enjoy eating thus causing them to want these snacks and go out to get them. This is definitely product placement and it is also a very amusing scene.

Up next there was an American Red Cross poster shown and a First Aid Kit. To notice these things I literally had to pause my computer and squint to see what they said, therefore eliminating the chance that they were product placement. I simply think these were there to add to the office-like scenery.

In the office where they work the employees all have HD computers. This is product placement for sure because HD is trying to promote their computers and trying to appeal to possible computer buyers. By using the HD computers they are putting out the message that HD is reliable and all businesses need to have and use them.

Next, there is a scene that takes place in Pam’s college class. They do a pan across the entire room of students and every single one of them has Mac Book’s. There it is the big product that is getting advertised throughout the show. This is the point where I realized not only is this definitely product placement, but it confirmed that the IPod I had mentioned earlier was also product placement. Later on in the episode Jim Face Times Pam on his Mac Book which is even more exposure for Apple products. Apple is clearly a major advertisement on this episode.

The last two things I noticed while watching this episode were most likely not product placement, but I just thought it was funny to see them since I have these products in my own refrigerator. These were Wegman’s organic maple syrup and a Turkey Hill magnet. Although I don’t think either of these companies are specific to our area it was humorous to see things around my house on a tv show episode.

To wrap things up there were a large number of items shown throughout the “weight loss” episode of The Office. A number of these products such as the first aid kit or the Wegman’s maple syrup were not product placements. There were quite a few that were though, such as Apple, HP, Cisco phone, and all those delicious snacks from the vending machine.

Blog Assignment 7

     Looking through all the unusual articles on this Wikipedia page was something else. While many caught my eye there was one that really stuck out amongst the others, “Go Topless Day” is the article I chose to read. Before reading the article I thought back to things I’ve seen in the media in the past about feminism and going topless. I’ve seen countless images, articles, and posts about women going topless for equality so I thought it would be an interesting article.

     By reading this article I learned about the origin of Go Topless Day among many other things. Apparently this all started in Nevada in the year of 2007. I thought it was funny because I heard of women going topless in public for equal rights but I never heard of men having to wear bras and bikinis for equality which this article stated in it.  Also I learned that the date of this lovely event is the Sunday that is the most near August 26^th for those who are willing to participate. The funniest part of this article is where they explain the 2012 observance in which they say “topless women congregated in Bryant Park in New York City…while men mostly observed.”

      Like I mentioned before I have heard about this slightly before. Women are big on equality and try to prove this by going topless in public. A big campaign out now is “Free the Nipple” which is very similar to Go Topless Day in the way they both publicize women’s breasts as a method of showing equality. The big thing they are trying to prove and raise awareness about is that men and women both have nipples so why should women have to hide theirs.

      The information I read in the article is somewhat useful. It shows me where this “free the nipple” movement really started. In the grand scheme of things though, it really isn’t all that useful. It’s not something that I need to know or retain, just something interesting that I could share with family and friends in a party setting. Although it is not very useful, I will have an easy time remembering what I read because it is such an interesting topic.

     I think it earned a wiki page because everyone loves breasts. Men love looking at them, while women feel that they are empowering. Women want equality so they show off their breasts in public and men agree with this so that they can view this event without looking like perverts. I find it interesting that this Go Topless Day probably sparked some controversy but overall it empowered women to “Free the Nipple” and try to promote equality.

     This information could be found anywhere on the internet. If you plug free the nipple in on Google thousands of articles will simply pop right up on your screen. I’m sure Go Topless Day would have the same effect on Google. I don’t recommend typing that into Google though because who knows what else would pop up with a search like that. This information offered in the wiki article was good and solid but could be expanded upon which is why the fact that you could find more information about it is a good thing.

     All in all I though the article was interesting with some solid information about a good cause, or so they think. Personally I feel as though women could find a better way to stand for equality rather than showing their breasts off. Instead of “freeing the nipple” why don’t women try to get equality in the work force. To be  honest, I’d rather make as much as a man does doing the same job as him rather that walking around topless to promote a cause. Go Topless Day just objectifies women even more because it gives been a valid excuse to look at their breasts while they flaunt them in public.

Blog Assignment 5

      I watched the episode of the Daily Show with John Stewart on February 23^rd, 2015 at 11:00 pm. The special guest on this episode was Christine Lagard. This was my first time viewing this show and I was pleasantly surprised because it was humorous yet informative which really made me enjoy it as a viewer.
     
      In this episode they talked about many things such as President Obama, Rudy Giuliani, and the International Monetary Fund. Let’s start with Obama. They basically poked fun at him and it showed him speaking about  ISIS a few times. Many conservatives criticized him because of this. Next up was New York Governor Rudy Giuliani. John Stewart mentioned how Giuliani claims he loves New York and such but wants a new New York. He then questioned the fact that is he loves New York why would he want to change it? Lastly they touched upon the International Monetary Fund with Christine Lagarde which was really interesting because I didn’t really know much about it.

     I feel that using humor to portray the News is actually a genius idea. Most people tend to think the News is dry and boring and bringing humor to it really captivates the audience. John Stewart does it in a decently tasteful manner too. I think the key objective of News is to learn something from it and I definitely feel that I learned a lot from this episode of the John Stewart Daily Show. I do plan on tuning in again in the near future. Also I feel that a different audience tunes into Comedy Central as opposed to CNN so it get a larger audience knowing what is going on in the world. This is always a good thing because people should always have a clue about the surrounding world. No one should be in the dark. It does not degrade news or make serious topics less serious because it is still getting the point across loud and clear.

     I think humor in the news is a great advantage and more news sources should consider it. I believe more Americans would rather watch something funny and informational rather than boring and dry. After all it is still the same information either way and people would probably before the funny route. Humor doesn’t degrade or ruin news stories it only enhances it and brings a larger audience into the wonderful world of news. John Stewart runs the daily show very tastefully and combines just the right amount of humor with news and information.

     As you can see my views on this topic is that I believe it is an advantage. I definitely would recommend watching this show to anybody if you want to laugh while watching the news as opposed to being sad or mad like CNN or NBC tends to make people feel while watching it. The Daily Show with John Stewart is a great was to display the news and humor is always the best answer. Also humor brings in larger audience and you can never go wrong with an informed population of American Citizens.

Introduction

Hello I'm Taylor Schmoyer and I was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. I have lived in the same house since I was born and that house resides in the Whitehall Township. Growing up, there was always something to do close by and that's just one of the attributes of the area I lived in. I'm 20 year old and I am a sophomore here at Kutztown University. This is my first semester at this institution being that I am a transfer student. My major is communications studies and I chose that major because I really love talking to people, writing, and speaking in public settings. My goal is to graduate and get a job that I really love doing. After all, if you love what you do you never really work a day in your life. Also another girl I have would be to live somewhere warm because I love sunshine and warm weather. Some hobbies I have are hanging out with my lovely family and interesting friends, shopping, working out at the local gym, and cooking new dishes. Here is a picture of my mom, me, my oldest sister Casey, her daughter Gracie, and my middle sister Morgan.

Moving on to a reflection of my professors blog, which was about media. I thought it was an interesting blog, being that I too am very hesitant on social media on the computer and phone alike. I believe that phone interaction such as instagram, facebook, or twitter is starting to take over while face to face communication is slowly getting put on the back burner which is not okay. The blog was very well written and worded excellently. Like I previously said, I really value the topic selected because I feel this needs to be brought to attention so hopefully this generation does not become slaves to their phones and social media.