The Jewelry Industry

The jewelry industry is just as strong now as it has ever been. The thing we really have to look at is what they are doing to attract sales.  Ever since there have been ads the jewelry industry has been using them in ways to take advantage of peoples insecurities and desires about social status, love and marriage. This first advertisement is especially condemning in this case. Even though the majority of the commercial is not in English, you can tell from the context what is going on.

The commercial implies that by wearing this brand of jewelry it makes the wearers more prone to marriage. “Jewelry that makes you want to marry” is used at the end of the advert and it is just ridiculous. This prays on a person’s fear of rejection by implying that just by having or presenting the jewelry it can make a person want to marry another. Think she might not like you enough to marry, or your social image might affect her decision? No problem, locate your nearest Tanishq Jewelry dealer. Now lets shift to a common jewelry store we all know, Jared. 

Have you ever been concerned about your social status in the world around you? According to Jared all you need to show your high ranking status is to purchase one of their fine pieces of jewelry. Watching the video you can clearly hear them say they have been supplying jewelry to the world’s ancient royalty and modern red carpet goers alike; if you want to be like them you need buy from Jared. Jewelry is portrayed by advertisements to symbolize wealth, power and high social status. How often are successful people, actors, musicians, etc seen in commercials to be sporting expensive jewelry?  From this bombardment of advertisements a large number of us have come to accept these portrayals as truths.

 

Playing on symbolism and tradition of marriage the many companies try to make it seem as if buying their product will make you have a happier or long lasting marriage. Take the above image for example; pulled from the webpage of Kay’s online March catalog. Every kiss begins with Kay, and according to this ad so do long lasting marriages. You can see the his and her rings overlapped next to each other with the words “Tell the story of your love, Now and Forever” emblazoned across the middle. This clearly portrays the idea that that if you have these rings, then your marriage will last forever.

 If expensive jewelry had anything to do with your marriage, or true status as a human being then maybe the richest of us would never divorce, and the best of us, no matter what sacrificed, would be covered in diamonds and rubies. While looking into the issues revolving around advertisement in the jewelry industry, I discovered that three major jewelry distributors (Kay, Jared, and Zales) are all owned by a single corporation name Signet. So even though all these companies are trying to exploit your emotion for your sale, in the end it doesn’t matter where you go.

Works Cited 

https://www.kay.com/CatalogViewerForm?langId=-1&storeId=10101&catalogId=10001&catalogURL=https%3A%2F%2Fcareyweb.com%2FSterlingFlipBooks%2FKayMarch2016%2FDVL%2Freader.html&catalog=March+Catalog

American Petroleum Institute

You know what really grinds my gears? When people in the media deny climate change because they are receiving giant sums of money from various corporations and institutes. In this particular case I am looking into the American Petroleum Institute and how they use their money to pay off the media to market their gas and oil. Patrick Michael’s is a climate scientist and he estimated that 40% of his funding came from oil and gas companies, American Petroleum being one of them.

What really disgusts me is the commercials put out by Energyfromshale.org, an organization trying to brainwash us into thinking hydraulic fracturing is safe. Let’s watch this commercial really quick.

In this commercial she makes a bold statement by saying fracking has been done safely by them for 65 years. They are lying right to our faces. There is nothing safe about pumping thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground to break apart shale to retrieve natural gas. In the documentary Gas Land we can clearly see the destruction hydraulic fracturing brings to the land around us. People were able to light their tap water on fire because of the toxic chemicals getting into their aquifer from fracking. Besides the toxic chemicals in the ground, the extraction and production of natural gas is the leading methane gas emissions contributing to climate change according to the EPA.

So where does this all tie together? Well Energy for Shale is actually part of the American Petroleum Institute. So money spent by them to disprove climate change will help boost sales and make fracking look safe which benefits Energy for Shale. This case is very similar to my post about Perdue chicken. These companies straight up lie to our face to make us think they are doing the right thing for us and the environment, when in reality that are not. Think about it, would we still support fracking if we saw the destruction it caused? We wouldn’t want to buy their product at all. Worst of all the American Petroleum Institute claims that natural gas is a clean energy and the way to the future. A scientist from Stanford by the name of Marc Jacobson created a map on how we could reach 100% sustainable power by 2030. The reality is we can fight climate change and make a difference. However these companies keep putting out propaganda to make their product, in this case natural gas, seem friendly and safe for us and the environment. They are giving us a false sense of hope while stabbing us in the back and destroying our water, land, and planet. 

Works Cited

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html

How Fake is our Beauty Industry?

When I look at the beauty and cosmetic industry I think of a multi billion dollar industry that makes its money off of telling people they need this to look beautiful. Fun fact, beauty products are just sold to help you hide your insecurities, own up to your body and be proud of it. Another fun fact, the beauty industry is so misleading about its products that some ads have been banned in certain countries for being to fake. In fact a couple years ago in the UK an add published by L’Oreal featured a photo shopped version of Julia Roberts. It was banned by the advertising standard authority for being too misleading. On the left is Julia Roberts, and on the right is her misleading self made by photo shop.

It just makes me sick to my stomach that people fall for ads like this. Why else would people spend upwards of 200$ for a beauty product unless they thought that these images were real. It blows my mind how twisted this whole industry is in making us think that if we buy their stupid creams or eye liners that we will look like them. Who cares!

One add that I found particularly funny was a mascara commercial from cover girl that utilized Katy Perry. Pay close attention to what comes onto the screen around 19 seconds.

Did you see it? At least this company doesn’t try to lie about their products and say that Katy was wearing last inserts. Still though I doubt that most people will see that because they are just drooling over Katy’s eyes. 

People should not be persuaded to buy a product to try and look like a fake model in some add. We should be buying cosmetic products because we like the way they smell or the way they feel. I’ve been buying the same soaps and shampoo since I can remember not because of some ad, but simply because in the store I smelt a variety of them and picked one that smelt great. 

As a final ad I am going to leave you with this picture and question. What is this picture trying to advertise?

http://images.pcworld.com/images/article/2011/07/lancomejuliaroberts-5200420.jpg

 http://www.adwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pantene-print-ads-2.jpg

Pharmaceutical Marketing

One question that has been running through my mind for the longest time is why do prescription drug companies have ads? When I am watching TV all of a sudden an add will come on for Abilify or Nexium saying if I have these symptoms then I should go to my doctor and ask for this medication. Hold on here is it not the doctors job to tell me what is best for my health? I shouldn’t go to my doctor saying I need this medication because of x, y, and z, instead I should go to my doctor and say hey I have x, y, and z what can I do to fix this. Doctors now a day are way too quick into prescribing a patient with a medication because more often than not they get reimbursed by these drug companies to sell their product. Let’s take a look at the first ad here for Nexium a prescription for acid reflux. 

I didn’t know what Nexium was until I saw this commercial. From the start it seemed like an anti-depressant because of all the family shots, but really it is to cure acid reflux. The ad targets us by using the word “you” in saying that they have been helping people like you for over a decade. Nexium also now has a new service where they can deliver it right to your door. Why do I have a problem with this? It all comes back from my original point, people see this as a cure and then go to their doctors to get it. But does the patient even know what the cause of acid reflux is? Acid reflux can be caused by eating too big of a meal, being overweight, eating before bed, smoking, drinking coffee, or even eating acidic food like tomatoes, chocolate, or spicy food. I know as both my mom and dad got older then experienced some acid reflux due to body changes. Instead of going to a doctor about this problem they simply changed their diet by drinking less coffee and eating less acidic foods. Now I’m not saying this is the cure all for everyone, but it should be the first step before taking some pill. 

The next drug I am looking it is actually the leading drug in sales for anti-depression, and is meant to be taken with any other anti-depressants we already take.

I chose to just play the side effects to this and not the actual commercial because who in their right mind would take this with all of this horrible things that can happen. Just like acid reflux, depression is probably being caused by something that can be fixed before having to rely on a medication. This person might just need to talk to someone about whatever is bothering them, or just needs a change of pace in life. Instead these marketers come in and say “hey just take this pill and everything will be better.” Like all medication though eventually it won’t have the same effects, so we have to take more or move to s stronger medication.

I acknowledge that there may be so people out there that need these medications, but I don't like how these companies tell you to ask your about them. We are supposed to go to a doctor with a problem and then they give us a solution. The other problem I have is that people don't take some time to research their own symptoms and find alternatives instead of just taking a pill. In fact many illnesses today can be fixed simply by changing something in our everyday life. Lastly I am going to to show you all an amazing drug, its called nature and everyone should take some of it.