Stereotypes

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people? 

All advertisements are responsible for what they put in the media. Personally I think that it is their duty to preserve the image of their company or agency when creating advertisements by not offending anyone in any way. If a closer look is taken at the advertisements of today at least one stereotype can found. The reason why companies and agencies include stereotypes in their campaigns and advertisements is to easily target audiences who have the same view (agree with that stereotype). However there are some advertisements in which the stereotyping was not initially planned because the designer of the advertisement did not take that into account. Furthermore, it can be generalised that most advertisements have somehow provoked a reaction or offended someone, therefore since we are in a society which communicates its mind and fully express themselves, this negative reaction can be prevented.

In addition, as the passing of the years our society has become more aware and more sensitive towards offensive media. Honestly, before I do not blame the companies that create advertisements for including stereotypical remarks as a way of reaching a specific audience. However now days that these companies are aware that the public notices these stereotypical remarks and that many people get offended by them, I believe that it is past time they start doing something about it. The advertising companies should make it their priority to not offend anyone in order to gain the sympathy of all audiences. I believe this because now days everyone is very sensitive and anything can trigger anyone, therefore if the companies reduce the amount of stereotypes they display in advertisements and actually consider the offenses that it could be causing, advertisements would not be considered as an offensive and bad propaganda.

Summarizing, I do think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people for their own good.

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Hour Choice - Never Follow 

The historical context of the advertisement is highlighting the tradition of the white wedding dress of when one gets married and it is also contradicting that tradition by having the girl wearing a white elegant wedding dress with a veil on her head yet, as shoes she is wearing converse and she also has within her possession a watch. Furthermore this advertisement is appealing to all the cultures that believe that in marriage the wedding dress of the bride has to be white. In addition, the social context of the advertisement would have to associate to this century because of the use of wordplay; "hour choice sounds very much like "our choice". 

In this advertisement the most important characteristics displayed are the fact that there is a girl with makeup sitting on a staircase and dressed with an elegant white wedding dress while wearing a watch and putting on a pair of converse. Not to mention the caption of the advertisement which says "Never Follow". This caption can be interpreted as a way of telling the audience to that we do not need to follow tradition and that we can do whatever we want. The values portrayed in this picture are the values of tradition yet contradicting the values of rebellion. As a whole the entire advertisement is portraying the idea of choice and using the appeal of autonomy because it is giving the audience the idea that "we" stand out and be individuals and that we do not need to conform.

Furthermore in the advertisement analysis, the ad could relate to how women are represented. The ad might have represented the girl in this way, in order to portray the watch in such a way that it would look like as if they were trying to change the way women in society are looked at, as women did not have as much freedom as the role of a male back then, so women in general would be emphasised in this way.

Pitch Reflection

The main appeals that I used in my pitch presentation were humor, intensity, repetition, charisma, flattery, new, autonomy and psychological needs. I combined these appeals in my presentations because I believed that they would appeal to the audience. I tried to incorporate ethos, logos and pathos in my speech as much as possible in order to grasp the audience's attention.  I decided that these appeals would be effective because I wanted to sound entertaining yet professional because the Casio Keytar is supposed to be an entertaining musical instrument and I wanted to give that same feeling to the audience.

The persuasive techniques that I mostly focussed on was on intensity, the idea of new and charisma and flattery which are all factors that attract an audience. An example for intensity is: "We, we will promote it and you, you will make big, huge, immense, massive, substantial, fat profit out of it ". Another example for the idea of new, charisma and flattery is: "The Casio Keytar is an innovative and unique musical instrument. It is the new piano and the new guitar all in one. Playing just one instrument is old fashion. However playing two instruments at the same time is wicked. We will introduce the Casio Keytar to our audience as the next step into technology, the next step into a world full of possibilities, as the next step into the future". I believe that these techniques were effective because it engaged the audience and also it intensified the idea of the new and amazing Casio Keytar. Furthermore I used flattery so that I could complement the musical instrument and highlight why it is so special and amazing.

An awareness of audience and context influences the approach of this activity because with this knowledge I was able to know how to acquire the audience's attention and how to talk in a way that it would be interesting to them and also appropriate.

Lastly but not least, if I were to prepare this presentation again I would have tried to be more calm while presenting and not speak so fast, and I would have done this bt practising my presentation at home in front of my parents. In addition, I would have added more pathos to the content that we used in the pitch because most of the appeals contained logos and ethos and not so much pathos. In conclusion, this pitch preparation was a really good activity to our summative FOA. I felt like I did really well and now I know on what things that I can improve for next time.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos > Advertisement Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNN9nL2vppM
This is a Super Bowl advertisement which is marketing HEINZ.

Considering the fact that this is a super bowl advertisement, it doesn't really display much ethos or logos but rather  focusses on pathos. The intended audience of this advertisement is towards especially americans that are watching the super bowl. Normally during the super bowl there are parties and get together to watch the games or people will simply go the game. Usually the most common food served during the super bowl is hot dogs and therefore HEINZ used took advantage of this occasion to market their products such as ketchup and mustard. This advertisement uses pathos effectively by displaying appeal to emotion and portraying family and animal compassion vibes. In the advertisement a bunch of Dachshund are dressed in a hotdog costume running towards adults and children that are dressed as ketchup and mustard. This conveys a very family friendly feeling which appeals to family and it also conveys the feeling of being happy. Furthermore the little dogs in the video just makes it even better showing animal compassion and attracting the views of animal lovers and children. This is an effective advertisement considering that it is marketing HEINZ products.

Furthermore this Ad shows appeal to humor and bandwagon. It displays humor appeals with puppies being dressed as hot dogs and it also displays bandwagon appeal by showing how adults and children feel happier by using a certain brand of drink or food (HEINZ). Need to nurture can be found in this advertisement because whenever se see a puppy or children it appeals to human's paternal or maternal instinct.

Letter to the Editor

To the editor,

It is no doubt that texting has been a huge influence in the language of the youngsters in this time and period. “Text speak” has definitely spread around the entire world and the more teens text and the more abbreviations they use in text messages, the more likely they are to using that register in formal writing. Although teens have been being affect negatively with this technical language, there are some positives as well. In the article “Twtr? It's majorly bad! Leading headteacher condemns 'text speak' for eroding schoolchildren's language skills” the author argues that this is completely impacting in the vocabulary of youngsters and that it is limiting their language and also their brains. In the article it is discussed that young teens are forgetting how to distinct formal writing from texting and including abbreviations and “text speak” in school essays. Furthermore it has being said that technology and social media is the reason while all of this is happening “Youngsters are also in danger of growing up with limited vocabularies

because they spend so much of their free time on sites such as Twitter and Facebook instead of reading.”. But is it fair to apply this assumption to all teenagers and generalise the cause of poor vocabulary? 

Social media may be encouraging “text speak” but there are a lot of relevant information in social media. For example while an adult may read the news in the newspaper, a teenager that has twitter can follow the news channel and have just as much or even more access to the information as an adult. Furthermore everything that we used to do without technology can be done with it, reading the news, reading books, communicating and expressing opinions and etc. Media is an amazing platform which eases our communication and acquiring of information. I personally believe that the social media can and is affecting children but not all in a negative way. Most teenagers are smart and they use “text speak” and abbreviations during conversations to sound cool. It is possible that some mistakes might be made but overall they are aware of what they are writing tor saying. Additionally I do not think that social media is limiting vocabulary because personally I have learned new words in places such as Facebook and Twitter as I have learned reading books. It is true that books are richer in grammar and vocabulary and they also explore words that are more insightful but technology has its own dialect too. Perhaps teachers should be more open minded and less strict to “text speak” in conversations but they should keep reinforcing the importance of proper register in formal writing. 

The original article is somewhat correct but it is not fair to apply that assumption to all teenagers in the world. Moreover "text speak" in a way is another dialect and therefore it differentiates teenagers vocabularry. Teenagers are only affected by this if they let it affect them, because in order for someone to leave a word out or abbreviate it, they must first know the original word and know that the word is there. 


Luiza Helena Ferreira.

Source: hfile:///Users/luizahelena/Downloads/Twtr__It_s_majorly_bad__Leading_headteacher_condemns__text_speak__for_eroding_schoolchildren_s_language_skills___Daily_Mail_Online%20(1).pdf

Interview - Stromae

Stromae is a talented French rapper who was born in Belgium. He has struggled a lot in life and he used those experiences to express himself through the creative outlet of music. Stromae does not necessarily reflect on a struggle related to race or culture, it is based in personal experiences that he has suffered through life. Today we will be discussing the meaning and the message through one of his most famous song, “Papaoutai”. Furthermore we will be discussing how his music has impacted society as a whole and the communities around him. 

• Stromae, what is the song that you have composed that you can say that was purely based in a past experience that has marked your life?
• From all the songs I have written the most personal one that I can related to a marking past experience is “Papaoutai”. That song goes all the way back to when I was 1. I lost my father due to the Rwandan Genocide. In the song I explain how all fathers will eventually go but I lost mine really early and growing up without one was pretty hard. In the beginning I didn't know the concept of death and that meant I did not know that my father was gone forever, I always wondered where he was and I was constantly asking myself and my mom where could he be hiding. This songs even though reflects on the aspects of life loss it could relate to other people whose fathers have abandoned them or simply work all day and don’t have time for their children. I comment on how many people know how to make babies but not all know to to act as proper dads and take care of their children, which unfortunately is a sad truth of our society because this type of things happens quite ofter.

• Why did you choose to portray your feelings and experiences through music?
• I chose to portray my ideas and feelings through music because I believe that it is a way of communication and a platform that nowadays it is more efficient than anything. Furthermore I also believe that through music not only you can convey ideas and experiences but you can make the listener feel something. One of the most fascinating things about music is that you can portray the feeling you are feeling to other people through lyrics and sound. I find that music has helped me a lot in my life and with music you can be free, because there is no defined structure which you have to follow. Another aspect of music is the style of rap. I love to rap in my songs because in my perspective I can demonstrate more feelings and expressions in a more detailed way.

• Why did you choose the French language in order to express yourself even though you know German and English?
• I personally chose French because in French I believe that one can be more expressive and the words are more meaningful but another reason is that I grew up with French therefore I feel more comfortable sinning in French than in another language. Furthermore The type of music that I created which was hip hop mixed with tapping was new in France and I was one of the artists that created an impact with the format. Additionally even though I sing only in French my music has spread all around the globe and I am very thankful for that. 

• How do you think that your music has somehow impact the society in which you live in and other societies around the world?
• I’d like to believe that all the music I have written so far has somehow inspired people or helped them through rough times, because most of the music I have written is based on a personal experience which I hope that people can relate to and empathise with the situation. The purpose of my songs are purely to express my ideas and share painful experiences (mostly) which perhaps could be something people can relate to and connect to the songs. 

Stromae thank you so much for your time and for sharing your perception and views on how music can impact the way we communicate. 

Practical

October 1st, 2106

Dear George, 

My name is Luiza and  I am a student in Raha International School. I am writing you this letter to tell you about some of the adversities you might face when coming from Ashford, Kent to Abu Dhabi. First of all what will be a big change for you will be the weather here. It is fairly hot all the time and it barely rains. Not quite the same thing as the UK. Honestly telling from experience coming here abroad and studying in a new place, with a new culture and different languages and religions might be a shock for you, but you will adjust with time, just like I did. 

I am sure that you are used to your culture there, celebrating all the events and the food you eat and even how you dress. Everyone in your city being more or less the same like you. Well George, when you come to Abu Dhabi to attend Raha International School you will see so much diversity. It will overwhelming at first but you will learn to appreciate and learn from each and every culture. Here in the UAE we celebrate all the holidays you probably celebrate plus the Muslim ones. The people here really like to party, no wonder there is so many festive events. They are also very connected to their roots and culture and are very religious and spiritual. Something you need to keep in mind is that because there is so much diversity there are different religions and different beliefs but you have to respect them just like they will repeat you. Although the culture and religions you face here will be different, everyone speaks English which is an advantage for you but the locals’ mother tongue is Arabic therefore you will hear a lot of that.

In Raha there are more or less 74 different nationalities. There is a gigantic range of diversity in this school and you can learn something from each friend or teacher. When you arrive here you will have friends from all around the world. They will speak the same language as you but they might speak different languages with other people or at home. The good thing about the school is that they teach French, Spanish and Arabic if you are interested in learning a new language.

Furthermore the purpose of this letter is to inform and explain to you that when you come here you will be surrounded by different language and cultures. You need to be open minded about it and explore through the diversities. I am not advising you to forget about you culture and language but instead to try and learn new ones and find out the things you like and don’t like. Language plays a very important role in our lives, because it lets us communicate with one another. In Ashford, Kent you have been probably only exposed to English while here in Abu Dhabi people come from all around the world meaning that there will be many different languages within your surroundings. Being able to speak more than one language not only widens the vocabulary of a person but also it gives us the opportunity to express ourselves differently and to see through a different perspective. Knowing only English as a language will only give you one view on certain topics and issues. George once you come here in some way you will be deprived of many conversations and it will affect you in some ways because language is the main pillar in which our communication depends on. Furthermore to prevent this as soon as you get here, you could start taking a second language class in order to acquire a second point of view within languages and also to expand your ideas and vocabulary. 

 Your identity is a big part of this as well, because eventually you will not be the same George that lived in Ashford, Kent. In the contrary you will explore the world more and see different things therefore gaining a different perspective of life. Although I encourage you to be open minded and an explorer when you come here, I also believe that it is important to remember your roots and where you come from. Coincidentally enough, the majority of the Muslims here believe and perch that as well. 

Mother Tongue

Achievement Tests

A society’s determined way to measure an individual’s skill and knowledge. According to the National Centre for Fair and Open Testing, achievement tests cannot be a completely fair, reliable, objective and unbiased test for a student. They were create based on a generalisation that society made from testing other people, but this test cannot accurately apply to everyone that takes it. These test prohibit students form expressing their creativity, diversity. These tests create stress of students because they need to get a good score in order to get a good salary. Additionally they reduce the richness of human learning to a number or set of numbers. Achievement tests were not developed by geniuses, they were created by mediocre minds that want to in-prison our minds into thinking just like theirs.

In achievement tests one of the things that cannot be shown are the creativity of a student. There will be yes or no questions, or questions that the student has to analyse a text or something alike. At the end of the day, you are grading a student’s intelligence and skill to show them through an insignificant piece of paper with writings on it. Based on that test score, the student’s life might be amazing, might be awful or might be okay. That test result has the power to decide if a person is worthy of working for a certain company or not. A person should not be marked on their levels of how to display skill and knowledge, and Amy Tan the writer of Mother Tongue fully supports this argument. An individual’s worth relies on more areas than just knowledge and skill, their creativity is a immense part of it, but that cannot be tested. Achievement tests were made for  ordinary people who will not stand out and conform to the rest of society, and that is why they will blend in amongst us. While individuals that could be more intelligent and skilful will probably not get the higher test score simply because they do not know how to display that through a piece of paper and a pen. Creativity is the use of imagination in order to create something original and that should be highly recognised in our world. Societies need to learn and understand that not everyone will have the same ways of performing or the same perspective on certain issues, and that is why are not fair.

Additionally another aspect that is really important to humans is diversity. If we were all equal first of all the world would be boring and second of all which is more important, is that nothing new would be invented, because there would be no one different. We would all have the same minds and think in the same way. And that is what achievement tests are trying to do to us. Society wants to get our minds into a prison were we all think alike and no one is different or out of line. Diversity is the key to our world because every individual is unique. Everyone learns in their own way and they also have their own way of showcasing their intelligence and skill. Achievement tests are completely biased and cannot be applied to the members of our community because everyone is different. This certain tests should not have the power of defining who is better than who, or who is right and who is wrong. According to Amy Tan, we all come from different backgrounds and we all learn in a different way therefore we should be tested based on the way we learned instead of generalising a test that the majority of the population and apply it to every single individual.

“Cause the purpose of "Why I hate school, but love education" was not to initiate a worldwide debate, But to let them know that whether 72 or 88, 44 or 68, We will not let exam results decide our fate”. - Suli Breaks 

A Good Name

My full name is: "Luiza Helena Diniz Esteves Ferreira"

Each of those five names has a different meaning and origin.

Before I start explaining the mythology and meaning of each name, I will highlight my parents' intentions when they named me. 

My first name is Luiza because that was the name of my mom's grandma and she was Italian. My great grandmother is where my mom would spend most of her weekends, therefore she named me the name of one of her favorite persons and also someone she looked up to. Secondly I was named Helena because that was the name of my grandmother of my dad's side. My parents chose to make my name a compost name and add Helena to it because my grandma always wanted a daughter but she only had sons and I was the first girl to be born in my dad's side of the family. Diniz comes from my mom's side that she got from her father. Esteves came from my dad's side that he got from his mom and lastly but not least Ferrreira came from my dad's side that he got from his father. 

Transitioning to the meaning of each name and where they come form in history is quite a roller coaster ride. Luiza has a German origin. The name itself means "Glorious Warrior".

Described as a person who is relaxed and love making new friends, communicative and intelligent. Helena comes from the Portuguese and the Greek origin. Helena means "shining light". Described to be beautiful inside and out, hilarious, caring and sarcastic. Diniz has also a Greek and Portuguese origin. The names means someone that is dedicated to the spirit of the water. Diniz originated from the name of the Greek God called Dionysus, and he was the God of Wine. Esteves has a portuguese origin. The name itself means "the son of the Crowned". Finally Ferreira has also a portuguese origin and the name translates to "one that comes from the land rich in Iron". The colors associated with this name are red and gold and the object associated with this name is a horseshoe. Although because it is a Portuguese name, many people can't read it properly because of the sound of the double "rr's" and because of that I've had many people call me "Ferrari" since it is a similar name.  

The reason why so many of my names' origin are Portuguese, is because Portugal colonized Brazil, and with that also came the language that we speak. 

I believe that the significance behind each of my five names clearly and perfectly describes me as the person I am today. I believe that in one way or another the names that we have are in a way meant to be. Somehow in one way or another, knowing or not knowing, we will live up to our names because in order for someone to have decided the characteristics of a certain name, there had to be a trend of people with that same name having similar personality. I think that each person that comes and goes in this world adds a characteristic to their name, because after they are gone that becomes history. 

Cultural Remarks

Now, let me tell you a story all about how people think Carnival is so wow 

And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there, I’ll tell you how stereotypes aren't fair

As a Brazilian, when people meet me they usually get super excited and ask a lot of questions. Most of them are questions such as: “Do you speak Brazilian?”, “OMG, have you ever been to the Amazon? I heard it is amazing!”, “Ahh so you are Brazilian, you must be amazing in football aren't you?”, “Man Brazil… yeah isn't it the place where they have the Carnival with all the girls wearing those costumes?” or “Right, Brazil. There are a lot of pretty girls there am I right?”. 

These stereotypes that include the language, the beauty standards, the customs and geographical knowledge in general are really disturbing. My culture is based on people that love to dance, eat and talk and we are happy at most times. We love nature and parties and we are also very friendly towards one another. I am really proud of my culture and I am happy to call myself Brazilian. I like the way the people think and how we are open minded to the world and I also enjoy how everything can be somehow turned into a party. Another factors the music of my country and the dancing that is absolutely fantastic. But sometimes people don't quite understand the culture and jump to conclusions therefore causing stereotypes. Stereotypes can also be caused by the most famous activities and symbols in Brazil. Brazil isn't really fully connected with the entire world and therefore some can assume multiple things that are simply not true. 

First of all, not many people are aware the Portugal colonised Brazil, therefore we speak Portuguese, not Spanish or Brazilian, and Brazilian isn't even a language it is the nationality. Secondly everyone seems to think that if someone is Brazilian they must love football and be great at it. I personally love football and I am good at it, but there are hundreds of Brazilians who hate football, my brother for example. Football is the sport Brazil is known for and that is why people tend to think that is the only thing that we play. 

Brazil is widely known for the Amazon. The biggest rain forest in the world. What some tend to think is that it is a huge tourist area when in fact it isn’t. It used to be a tourist area, now companies go there and cut down tress and build industries. Also the Amazon isn't a place a lot of people go to because it is a jungle in a way with deadly yet exotic animals, but mainly professional photographers and geologists that go there. Lastly but not least the Carnival and the beauty standards the world has set out for Brazilians. Carnival is a traditional party where for an entire week people go out with their friends and family and listen to live traditional music, drink, eat and dance. On the first day of the Carnival there is always a parade in Rio which is transmitted live to most parts of the world, and in that parade beautiful professional dancers dress up with interesting costumes. That is only the parade to symbolise the start of the Carnival and the people on the parade are professional dancers which are required to wear such costumes. Regardless of what the Carnival really is, because that is the only part that is shown to the rest of the world, that is all they think Carnival is. By displaying only that part we deliberately give the bias impression to the outsiders that everyone in Brazil looks and dresses like those beautiful ladies, which isn't true at all. 

If people understood more about the Brazilian culture there would be so much expectations when it comes to beauty standards and football, and there wouldn't be confusion in the language that we speak. Although stereotypes aren't fair, it is partially Brazil’s fault because that is what they show to the rest of the world. If they want to end the stereotypical remarks, they have to show the rest of out culture. 

Kiwi

I believe that this picture represents me because of one factor only. Kiwis are birds that can't fly, and that defines the entire purpose of a bird. Birds are known for their freedom because they can fly and go anywhere. Kiwis on the other hand are grounded and can't explore as much as other birds. I believe that this is a good representation of me, because there is still so much more that I want to explore and discover, I just haven't had the chance yet.

First Blog Entry

Blogs are a great way of one to express themselves but that depends on how much detail they want to reveal about themselves to the exposed world of the internet. One can use metaphors and symbolism to represent events that have occurred in that individual's life. Sharing with your friends and family is easy and no thought has to be put into it, but sharing with people from all around the world which you do not have idea of who they are, requires thought into what should I say and what should I keep it to myself. I am not of a big private person, once I get close enough with someone where I can start to feel comfortable with them I open up. But this is a blog, it is public and this is where the importance of privacy and the information you choose to reveal come along.

My name is Luiza and I am currently studying in an IB Programme School and I am in the DP Programme. I am 16 years old and I am Brazilian. I completely love English as a subject and books. Even though I watch more movies than I read books, once I find a good book that really interests me and I can connect to it, I stay glued to that book until I finish it. I believe that books give you a perspective that the movie doesn't. Furthermore in the book you imagine the scenery while in the movie it is just there for you. My interests consist of nature, family, animals, activities in the open and music. The things I most care about are family and nature. As long as I am surrounded by at least one person which I am comfortable with and in the silence of the wild with a stravagant view,  I am fine. 

My dreams for this year and in the future are to find myself more and identify what I really want to do in life, but sometimes I just feel lost. Sometimes I just find myself thinking and setting ordinary goals like everyone else, I am not looking foward to conform to this society that only focusses in one thing. I want to be an individual and have my focus on many objectives and ideas. Another one of my goals is to get my driver's license and also adopt a dog. Academic wise I really want to be able to enjoy all of my classes because as long as I am doing something I like, I will do it well. 

Language is inevitable. We have around 6,000 different languages in our world but they are dying every now and day. Thanks to language we can express ourselves, thanks to language I can write this blog entry and thanks to language we can think. Without language I could not even imagine what this world would be like. We as a nation would probably develop sign language in order to communicate with people, but again, sign language is a language. There is no way, whatsoever to communicate without language.

Language has a pretty big role in my life since I speak four, and need 3 of them constantly. I speak English in the country I live, in the the school I go to with my friends there and I am typing English on this blog right now. However I speak Portuguese in my home country and at my home with my parents. Furthermore I speak Italian with my Grandma and towards family members in Italy, and finally French I only speak in school. Language is a barrier between people and I am breaking each one at time. It is pretty important to study language because this way you can fortify the grammar and vocabulary on that certain language. Additionally by learning about language, it becomes easier to learn and use the proper words to express ourselves in more depth and description. Sometimes words don't have to be used in order for someone to express themselves. AS an example of that is art. Art is a form of language.

You see, language is all over the part and no one can escape it. Language is crucial to us and to the world. All languages are... not just the most spoken languages. I believe that all languages should be preserved because each of them is important and unique. Each and every language has it's own expressive ways.

Lastly something I would like to adress is language barrier. It has happened to me many times since I moves to this country and it still happens. When you do not speak a language that at least other two individuals speak, that creates a barrier and you feel excluded when they speak that language because you do not understand it. Besides projecting the feeling of exclusion on people, it is considered rude to speak languages around those who aren't familiar with the same language.

Languages are amazing because each of them has something unique in them. However no one knows all the languages and that creates a language barrier. Ironic isn't it?!