Celebrity Endorsements: The Lie for the Buy

Did the last L’oreal ad you watched, make you want to go to your nearest Drug store and buy the product, just so you could rinse and repeat as sexy as Beyonce did in the commercial? What about seeing your favorite basketball player on your box of frosted flakes every morning; did you think you would be able to dunk just like them if you ate it daily? HmMm maybe not, but wait, I bet seeing your favorite rapper, with no shirt on, sweat beads dripping down him and tattooed arms made you want believe your favorite drink was that much cooler!

Unfortunately, I’m not sure if any of these things actually ever happen; but for the price that the advertisement campaigns of these companies pay, at superlative budgets of over $400 million, they must believe this will benefit the sales of their products. Rapper and hip hop entrepreneur, 50 cent, is one of those fine examples of celebrity endorsement for brands. 50 cent, whom is the face of advertisement for Vitamin Water, is that rapper with tattooed covered arms and an attitude that is supposed to make you want to drink more of this product! After designing his own drink, “formula 50,” in its unique grape flavor, 50 cent seems to be the face of this label.

I don’t think that this rapper, whom has lost much popularity in the hip hop community due to the transition and evolution of style, will gain any popularity by endorsing this beverage. As 50 cent said “You can find me in the club, bottle full of bub, look mami I got the X if you into taken drugs…” I don’t think he means Vitamin Water when he says bottle full of bub, I don’t imagine they sell that in the club next to Lil’ Wayne’s ‘Lollipops’, and the array of drugs like “X” or ecstasy as 50 Cent speaks of in these lyrics. I’m sorry Vitamin Water, but unless formula 50 is served in red cups at parties on college campus’ it’s a little hard to believe that it is giving me any type of benefit—let alone vitamins.

& remember hip hop heads & health drinks shouldn't be under the same label

Against Gay marraige? Never!

In the age of a new presidency, a fresh face, Obama, whom in itself shifts the social landscape of America; one would think that the civil liberties of LGBTQ’s would be a high priority for our generation. Too bad we have old farts with wrinkled ethics still in the majority of power.

One article I recently read in the New York Times, Some Democrats Back Off Bid to Legalize Gay Marriage in New Jersey, discussed how the usual supporters of gay-marriage issues, the democrats, continue their fight. But have backed down in the state of New Jersey since the election of Christopher Christie, a Republican who opposes gay marriage. Being that I am from the East Coast, it surprised me that such a liberal and socially involved state as NJ would drop the fight. Luckily efforts are still being pushed by civil liberty unions as the article states, “Gay-rights groups have been campaigning extensively for years to win legalization of same-sex marriage and announced Monday that they would release two new radio ads highlighting the stories of gay couples who have been denied health care coverage and other legal and social benefits granted to married couples.” So tell me that gay marriage isn’t important to society, from health care to legality to the economy, we live in a relevant world.

Another article, Foe of Gay Marriage in New York Says It’s Nothing Personal , which opposed some of the democratic fights for pro-gay marriage issues, was an article on New York state senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Once again, where is my noble East Coast, a man in my own state opposing gay marriage, pshh, NEVER! Mr. Diaz who admits he had two brothers who identified as gay, said “The people of the nation don’t want gay marriage…” The article goes on to discuss how he believes there are other more important issues to attend to.

I guess the value system of our current politicians caters to a prehistoric social face, and not the over 700,000 admitted same sex couples that exist in America today. Hopefully the efforts of of the civil liberties unions in the first article will continue; Obama, East Coast, NYCLU, somebody, stand up and HELP!

& remember the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow.

Demonstration Speech: Participaiting In a Poetry Slam

My demonstration speech was very effective in displaying both the culture and essence of what a poetry slam consists of. At the beginning of the speech I introduced myself and the topic with enthusiasm; engaging the audience with an introduction and hook. One thing that I noticed that I could work on throughout the speech was my body language, although I gave eye contact and had high energy, I let that energy escape into moving my hands too much which may have distracted from the words coming out of my mouth.

When you are standing in front of an entire class and you have to talk often this can lead to the excessive use of habit.My habits were hard to hide within my speech, such as talking with my eyes closed sometimes and moving my hands a lot. As a poet though this is something I should get away with, because poets are always deep in thought, JUST KIDDING. Another flaw in my speech was the length of time, I definitely exceeded the 5-6 min. assignment, although I do think within the 5-6 minutes I conveyed the important information; the extra time was spent on actually spittin' my poem, which I believe was necessary only for the class to get the full affect. I think I did a good job of capturing the attention of both types of learners, those that can listen and those that need visuals, as I was active with my body but also had a picture which I referenced as my visual, and involved the class in several parts. The speech was a good way for me to witness my behavior, I don't mind public speaking, but I know that I am definitely long winded; as when writing essays, my favorite thing is semi-colons. I think I need to work on being able to articulate myself without over-thinking what I am going to say. Although I planned my speech a head of time, it was very challenging for me to minimize my thought process, but for the convenience of the audience I think this is something I will keep in mind for next time.

Overall I think I did a good job of taking a complicated topic and sizing it down; I should have done only a min. long poem for sake of time, but I am happy that I was able to keep the class engaged for 9 min. as well.

-Toy guns shoot further than real ones when you are speaking to juvenile adults