How they were stereotyped in the ads, and how our perception

In response to James and David post, add two to three points that would help them improve their speeches.

 James post

As the climate changed in the paleolithic era so did the resources of our human ancestors.  All living things need shelter and a source of food. When these resources are moved because of environmental factors, animals will migrate to find them.  Think of it as the same process that migration of birds or fish have nowadays except instead of weeks you measure the migration over hundreds if not thousands of years.

Archeological records help back this theory. During the paleolithic era the Earth saw a slowing of the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation. This caused sub-Saharan Africa to become drought stricken and pushed the normal rainfall further into the South African regions. This forced the indigenous species south with the rains. Researcher Ian Hall of Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the United Kingdom found a "striking correspondence between the archaeological record of South Africa and the timing of the abrupt climate change, what we found is the warmer, wet conditions in southeast Africa matched almost precisely the timing of these cooling events in the north, all of the archaeological evidence fell within these wet and warm periods.” (1)

• If groups are transient or migratory, the development of permanent structures is not economical.
• Due to the lack of permanent structures or need for long-term storage in hunter and gatherer societies, advances in most technologies were stifled.
• Populations were generally controlled by resource availability.  Weak members were culled. This provided an acceleration in natural selection.
• As different groups migrated to resources, they would have inevitably encountered members from other groups trying to obtain the same finite resources.  Conflicts would inevitably occur and those societies who could work together socially and with greater technology would have prevailed to pass on their genome.
• This migration of people and the search for resources is reminiscent of most major conflicts in modern day societies for the past 200 years.

David post

As water levels rose due to global warming after the last ice age, many hunter/gather societies were misplaced, as their diet also consisted largely of fish.  This, along with a dry climate, turned normal forests, into grasslands, roughly 2 mya.  Because of these drastic changes, the Homo s. had to adapt.  With these adaptions, came what is considered one of mans' most defining moments, and greatest leaps.  Agriculture, the base of cultural advancements and technologies the world over.

• Due to dryer climates turning forest to grasslands, hominins created tools to help with planting(also known as the Savannah Hypothesis).
• Converting from hunter/gather to farmer/agriculture, allowed early hominins to settle in the best suited areas(Indus River, Nile, Yellow River). 
• As hominins migrated, more adaptions were made, as in colder climates drove to the use of animals skins as cloths, and changing in ways of hunting.
• Agriculture and how it propelled society from hunter/gather to trading, townships/villages.
• Larger brains, and smaller stomachs led to the need for more nutritional foods, leading to the domestication of certain animals.  

DISCUSSION 2

Thinking about what we have learned about bias, read Jayla and Sevie posts about their initial reactions to their chosen ads. Then respond to at least two of your classmates. From your perspective, how might bias lead viewers to experience or perceive the chosen ad differently?

Jayla post

The four advertisements I chose:

Tide Plus A Touch of Downy: The Princess Dress (0:30) Video

IKEA: One Room Paradise (2:30) Video

Schlage Locks: Ex-Girlfriend (0:30) Video

Coldwell Banker Real Estate: Home’s Best Friend (1:00) Video

All the four Ads I chose were rooted in the value of "home". All four ads had some sentimental feel to them while watching. The first ad made me extremely happy as it took a different turn and starred a father and daughter duo, something that we do not usually see too much of on tv. The second ad was very intriguing; the main characters were a mom and son; the mom was a single mother. The ad hit home because I am a single mother as well. The third ad was about house locks, and it made me think outside the box as it pertains to men and masculinity. The fourth ad gave me a sense of joy; it included America's weakness dogs/puppies. All the ads took surprisingly different turns and points of view, and they all made me think of home. I chose these ads because I'm family-oriented, and knowing that the ads would amplify the home values, I was very interested in them. These various ads appealed to me because they showed how diverse cultural identity is and can be. The ads amplified that there can be a change of perspective and point of view.

Sevie post

The four advertisements that I chose were all from the list provided and were:

1. Brands Vietnam | Colgate "Sink Child" Commercial – YouTube
2. The Whirlpool Every day, care™ Finding Time Commercial – YouTube
3. Woman's Room Print Advert By Imago: Stand strong | Ads of the World™
4. Revlon: Charlie

I chose to examine four ads that featured women as the main characters, although each woman was portrayed in quite different ways. In the Revlon and Whirlpool ads, the main women are portrayed as strong, “take charge” types. The Colgate ad’s woman character appeared a bit selfish and perhaps even indifferent to others. The Woman’s Room ad portrayed the woman as a helpless victim. Viewed through the U.S. cultural lens, all of these portrayals exist in our current society but there is an expectation for women to be strong achievers who are admired and women who are helpless victims are pitied and sometimes even blamed. It was interesting to see how women's roles were depicted, how they were stereotyped in the ads, and how our perceptions of women's roles in society change over time. 

Once aspect of these ads that I found interesting was that the two ads (Colgate and Woman’s Room) were from other countries and focused on issues (environmental resource/water management and domestic violence) whereas the two ads (Revlon and Whirlpool) from the U.S. focused on selling products and promoting the concept of women taking charge. As an individual, I was surprised by the Revlon ad since it seems to portray that sexual harassment from a woman to a man is acceptable and even a goal in this ad. The Colgate ad and the Woman’s Room ad both made me reflect on the issues portrayed, guilty for my level of privilege and my own selfishness or disregard for others as portrayed in the Colgate ad, and questioning about the Woman’s Room ad – although it is fantastic that the Croatian Rugby players are advocating against domestic violence, it seemed a bit hypocritical since the ad portrays stopping one violent act with another. Although the mother in the Whirlpool ad was somewhat relatable in her “busyness” of everyday life, the ad itself made me think, “Who’s day is so busy that they can’t wait to preheat the oven?” Yes, having the ability to not have to wait to preheat the oven could be a handy feature, to me it just screamed “first world problems” but I don’t know if that is because I watched the ad after I had watched the Colgate ad, which does it’s part in highlighting the difference between first world privilege and an impoverished area’s natural resource challenges.