Wild Animals Taken Out Of The Wild

I have always wanted to have a pet monkey. My sister always wanted to have a baby kangaroo. I am pretty sure it wouldn't be horribly wrong to assume that when we are young all of us have dreamt of having an exotic pet as an animal. I was assured multiple times by my parents that people don't have these kind of animals as pets because they belong in the wild. They are, of course, animalistic and would always have the basic instinct of an animal. I accepted this because it made sense and we got a family dog.






This logic, however, has not registered with families across America. National Geographic has just come out with a piece looking into homes that have a wild animal as a pet.






One family has a deer that actually has its own room in the house. Another house raised a monkey since 1980. The animals range even further into really dangerous situations with one house having a  cougar and another raising a python.






The piece has obviously caused some controversy about the respect for the animals and their place in the wild. I have to agree with this because they are wild animals. When the majority of a species is not domesticated I do not think it is right for certain ones to be taken out of the wild.


I have included some pictures from the piece and encourage you all to look into it further seeing as there are many arguable ideas that have come up.

Grocery Shopping Turned Mobile

   

              Believe it or not I still make grocery lists on a piece of paper using a pen or pencil. I can barely believe it myself. Interestingly enough, I find it very difficult to keep this habit going without major inconveniences. I find myself holding my paper and pen to constantly check which isle I need to venture down next and to cross off things I grab off the shelves. The problem with this is I am also text messaging my friend about our upcoming plans for the night, picking up my purse strap that keeps falling off of my shoulder, and pushing the cart with basically my stomach. As fun as it is to challenge myself to this extent of multitasking each time I enter the store, I need a change.

             This much needed change is actually around the corner for myself with the app stores introduction of multiple application geared towards easing the timely task of grocery shopping.

            Here are a few of these apps that you, and I, should check out to prevent people wondering if you belong in a circus the way you are juggling all of your belongings with your mere two hands.


Big Oven:
Big oven is a free app that is not only a grocery list where you can check off items you have gotten and keep track of what you still need to get, but it is recipe book as well. You can enter what items you have and it will provide a list of recipes and what other ingredients you need to pick for each.

Checkout 51:
Checkout 51 almost seems too good to be true. The app tells you the discounts and coupons available near you. Once you purchase the items you send in a picture of your receipt you get cash back once your account reaches $20 dollars. The best part, the app is free!!

Peapod:
This app is actually a dream come true. It is only offered in a handful of states but if you happen to live in one of those states you are a lucky lucky shopper. You send in your grocery list and have it delivered to your doorstep!!! This is the future for grocery shopping. The app is free and is not only offered as an app. Peapod has a website and everything. I have a feeling this type of service is going to take off.


These are only a few of many apps that will exponentially make your trip to the grocery store easier and more bearable. I have already downloaded all of these apps and am so excited for my next grocery run.

Marketing Campaigns and Humor

Everybody loves a good funny ad. We enjoy the creativity and originality that comes with a well executed humorous one. Unfortunately, however, sometimes these sought after humorous ads can go too far. They can use stereotypes of race, religion, and gender past the point of funny venturing into offensive.

I included some print and video advertisements that have received backlash from audiences around the world.


In this ad Ashton Kutcher plays an Indian man in a Pop Chips commercial. Many people thought his "brown face" and stereotypical Indian portrayal was extremely offensive. It was especially noted that the commercial had nothing to do with Pop Chips in the first place which made the problem even worse with some audience members.

Women in advertising still has a long way to go. They are still being used as sexual props in advertisements that don't call for a sexual prop at all. Even in this ad a woman is portrayed as a prop for a man.  

This was a video advertisement for Mountain Dew created by Tyler The Creator an African American entertainer. It was about a crazy goat who beat up a young white woman. This is a screen shot of the lineup shown to the white woman. Many people were very offended by the whole commercial but especially this shot. The entire lineup is comprised of young African American men. 

So when is humor in marketing and advertising a smart strategic move and when is it not? In my opinion, it is the marketers job to have the sensitivity of race, religion, and gender when creating or allowing ads to run. These kind of advertisements show that there is still a lack of sensitivity with many issues that our society has been facing for far too long now.  

A Pandora Without Commercials?!

It never fails. You are driving in your car listening to a Pandora station that is consistently feeding you the perfect songs when the current song comes to an end. You can't wait to see what song will qualify within the metrics Pandora has set, upon your request, and play next when a commercial comes on. Some annoying voice is blaring through your speakers telling you to get your prescriptions through Walgreens. It's a horrible occurrence that one company has an answer to.


Samsung has just announced its creation of Milk Music. Milk Music is an ad-free radio service with a library of over 13 million songs. That's right, ad-free!!! Another characteristic of Milk Music that is sure to excite the music lover is that you don't have to sign up through Facebook or create an account to have access to the service.


This seems too good to be true, doesn't it? Well it might very well be for some. Milk Music is only offered through the Google Play store if you have a Galaxy smartphone or tablet.


As a Pandora and IPhone user this fact was not easy to accept. This is just another reason Samsung and the Galaxy brand keep giving Apple a run for their money.


Samsung has not dismissed whether it would be offering the service to non-Galaxy phones in the future or not. I, as well as all of you ITunes Radio, Pandora, and Spotify users I'm guessing , pray it will be in my near future. If not, my curiosity of changing to a Samsung phone might just get the better of me.

Crime in Crimea

The situation in Ukraine has been going on for a while now and it can be difficult to understand. Throughout my research on the topic I found helpful "lists" on the important factors to remember when trying to understand the happenings.


I decided to combine the many lists and share with the hopes that this will clarify more effectively.

• Crimea is a part of Ukraine but hasn't always been.
• Three ethnic groups in Crimea: Ukrainians, Russians, and Tatars
• The Ukrainians and Russians do not get along
• The Russian Navy has a fleet in Ukraine
• Ukraine's parliament has called for action by the U.N. claiming Russia is threatening Ukraine's sovereignty
• Russia has sent in troops in an attempt to protect Russian citizens
• Russia and Ukraine had a treaty saying Russia would respect Ukraine's borders while Ukraine would give up its nuclear weapons

It is something to think about seeing as if Russia is going to detach parts of neighboring countries through impunity, other countries like China could decide it is okay.




So should the U.S. become involved and if so, how?


The possibilities include

• President Obama not attending the G-8 summit and ask other countries not to as well
• NATO consider talks of providing assurances

This situation is riddled with a long and intricate history. Hopefully this list of important facts to consider make what is happening much easier to comprehend.

Social Media and the Olympics

I have recently stumbled upon an article that refers to the 2012 London Olympics and the tight restrictions towards social media despite the publics prediction of it being the world's "first social media Olympics".


It caught me interest and I decided to look further into it and how the restrictions carried unto to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.


Two of the big restrictions put in place during the London games is 2012 were the following:


1. Athletes were prohibited from posting pictures to twitter with brands that were not official sponsors of the games


2. Athletes could not post pictures or videos from inside the athletes village


Even fans could be barred for posting videos and pictures to Facebook or Youtube of themselves.


The circumstances for these tight restrictions are a result of recent legislation at the time on brand protecting.


So are the same rules and regulations on social media use during the game implemented at Sochi?


What I found was that pictures on social media are welcomed but videos of the events are looked at closely because of the broadcasting rights of the games.


There are still rules on what you can post and share but for the most part it is relaxed compared to the London 2012 Olympics.


There is still the question, however, if marketers and brands have too much power in sports events today.

Is Media Contributing to the Public's Strong Reactions to News Coverage About Murder Trials?

News stations, newspapers, the internet, radio, and even entertainment shows "news" segments cover a wide a ray of topics but a particularly controversial topic they cover is murder trials.


From Casey Anthony to George Zimmerman and now Michael Dunn, the news media has followed these cases not only letting the public view every part of the trial but letting the public become invested in it by promoting conversations and debates about them.

I do not personally think this is a bad thing, letting people be involved in what is going on in the world. The only concern I have is the manner in which these trials are covered.

Because news is shared so easily today I fear that such intense coverage on matters of this nature do more harm than good.


There are many questions we have to ask about how these trials are covered:

1. Are they covered with politically motivated coverage?
2. Are they giving these murders a sense/reality of fame?
3. Is the coverage doing the public a service of information or an unnecessary instigation of violence and backlash?

When watching coverage about these sad and at sometimes devastating incidents, I encourage everyone to watch with intent. I personally do not like to mindlessly watch these as entertainment which I am afraid some people do. I watch to learn and at the point I do not feel I am learning anything I turn it off.