Apple and multicultural advertising

Apple. The products are great, people all over the world love them. In the U.S. we wait in line for hours to get them. We just have to have the coolest new gadget all the time. But there are some problems I see with Apple. It's a huge corporation with an international market. That means, the little guys get forgotten. With so much demand for the products, they just had to go out of the U.S. for production because god forbid a huge company with soooo much money can't afford to spend too much on its workers or the production of their merchandise, it's gotta be cheap cheap cheap so they can keep making there billions. So they take it to other countries like China, just like all the other huge corporations and every other product we have in the states, and they get there product made at a way cheaper price via the use of slave labor in giant, dangerous factories. 

And many of us know that. We know that nothing is made in the states anymore because it's cheaper to do it somewhere else. Some of us might know the costs that come with that too and how it affects the people that make our products. And yet, we still buy all of our iPads and iPhones. I'm guilty of it too. It's a part of our consumer society and our instant gratification mindset. There needs to be more transparency with such corporations, and more research on the consumer end.

Now all of the accusations about terrible working conditions came to light a few years ago. Since then Apple has vowed to try to correct the conditions and make things better for their out-sourced employees. They were going to spend $100 million building a manufacturing factory in Arizona, to create jobs in the U.S. and what not. But they canceled it. In 2013, it was revealed that there were 73 underage workers at one of the apple facilities. In 2014, they found 23. That's better.... I guess..

But for all the things Apple isn't doing right, lets talk about one thing they are doing right. This advertisement for the iPhone 5c is pretty cool. It shows people from all over the world enjoying their new iPhone 5c.



So I like how they're incorporating different cultures and people, showing that their product is for any and everyone. They made the 5c a little cheaper than the other iPhones as well, so they could widen their market reach. But this wasn't long after all the backlash about the factory working conditions. So could it have been just a Public Relations ploy? It's possible. But I think it worked. I know all the allegations against apple, and yet I still prefer their products. And watching this ad, I loved it, it made me feel good. The ad team definitely did their jobs right.

Now, we can appreciate the good things Apple is doing, but we still need to be critical and know what's going on. We can't be blinded by our consumerism. We still need to be smart and recognize the bigger picture and how what we do is important.

"Rape: It's Your Fault" - Satire

So this video is ... interesting. It's a great example of using satire to get a point across. The purpose of satire is to criticize in order to shame a target, person, group, idea, attitude, institution, social practice, etc. into reform. This video is using satire to shame the victim blaming attitude towards rape in order to bring awareness and reform to the idea. Any rape victim, whether they identify as male, female, or any gender in between, is not at fault.

I think what slightly bothered me about this video was how extreme it went, but that was the point. You are supposed to be bothered by it, that's why they showed the women looking more progressively beaten up throughout the video and actual instances of being attacked.

An example the video begins with are examples of "clothing that could cause rape". The outfits vary from a shirt and shorts to a full on astronaut uniform. The commonality they point out is that all of those outfits were worn by women. This was to get the point across that what a woman wears should not be blamed as the reason for rape. Women should be able to wear whatever they want without anyone attacking them, verbally or physically. If someone gets raped, it's not their fault. Period. This video gets that point across, if you didn't get it in the first 3 minutes, it clearly states at the end, "Stop Blaming the Victim".

Juvenalian is a form of satire that is biting and doesn't necessarily make you laugh. It's angry and points out things that make us uncomfortable. This video definitely uses juvenalian satire. I didn't crack a smile while I watched it, but that's because I understood the point the creators were trying to make. I have also had education in women's studies and learned about sexual violence and victim blaming, so to me it is a serious subject that people really do need to be more aware of.

However, if someone has not spent time learning about sexual violence and survivors, they may not understand this video. They might get the fact that it's a satire, that's pretty obvious. But they might not get the full extent of the point being made, and they could agree with the reversal of the truth that is presented.

This is why I've always had a bit of a problem with certain satirical television shows, like South Park and Family Guy. They say that they make fun of everyone so it's even. But it's still offensive, and if someone doesn't understand that there's a bigger point to such sarcasm, then they buy into the often racist, sexist, classist, and homophobic "jokes" and stereotypes. Therefore, i'm not entirely convinced that certain showcases of satire are more helpful than damaging. But in the case of this video, I would say that the message is portrayed in such a way that it is successful.