Nudity in Oreo Ad

           Recently an extremely controversial Korean Oreo ad was leaked and went viral throughout the states. It has got so much attention from the media because it is an image of a baby breastfeeding and holding an Oreo, with the caption “Milks favorite cookie” ( The Ad ). Any ad that contains nudity will get people talking but no one was expecting this kind of racy content from Kraft! Turns out that this ad was never supposed to be released; Kraft told TMZ that it was not even created by them but rather by Cheil Worldwide ad agency in South Korea. Nonetheless, the ad has raised some questions. Why was the tinniest bit of nudity such a problem? The ad was really not sexually suggestive, but yet came across as very offensive to many people. Breastfeeding is a natural thing but today’s society has been taught to fear any type of nudity. This ad wouldn’t have been nearly as controversial in more isolated cultures where breastfeeding is completely normal and not something to be ashamed about. Breastfeeding in public is a right in Canada but often time’s people are still offended or uncomfortable when they see it. A friend of mine was at Disney World a couple of years ago; a place filled with young children, and was breastfeeding while waiting in line for a ride with her family. She had nothing exposed, but the man ahead of her in line asked her to stop, saying it was not an appropriate place and time. She refused to stop feeding her child and continued breastfeeding because she had every right to do so. When has something so natural become a problem? Has our society criminalized nudity to the point where something so innocent is a problem? 

Reactions to Gay fruit

                  For the past few weeks we have been working on our video project which has been an interesting experience. My group members and I have never attempted a task like this one and one of the hardest parts was coming up with an idea for the video. We ended up deciding to do a stop motion short film about same sex marriage, portrayed with fruit. This concept has gotten us some strange looks and I have to say most peoples reaction to it so far have been unexpected. From my time at EDSS I have noticed that there is a lot of homophobia among a large percentage of the students. This has been changing but a lot of people are openly against gay people and particularly gay marriage. Because of this, our film may be on the more controversial side when we present it in class but so far students reactions have been much more positive than I expected. For example, the other day when we were filming a scene of the oranges meeting, two grade 10 male students came up to us and asked what we were doing. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting them to say but when one said, “Why can’t gay people get married anyway? Its not bothering anyone, its there choice, I’m not gay but it doesn’t effect me at all, why can’t they be happy?” I was surprised. Then his friend responded with an extremely immature comment and called the boy a “homo”. They walked away arguing and I was impressed that this student stood up for himself and what he thought was right. Other students have been having similar reactions. Some think the video is a really cool idea; others ask why we would ever even think about doing our project on same sex marriage. I’ve realized that Elmira is a little less homophobic than I thought and more people have been on the gay rights side, but there is still a major problem with homophobia at our school. I hope this video continues to make people think about where they stand on same sex marriage and I hope more people realize that homophobia is not ok.

Representation of Teen Girls in the Media

                Teen girls are everywhere in the media, we see them in T.V. shows and movies, magazines and advertisements. Generally speaking, teen girls are represented similarly in all situations. We have been labelled as moody, boy crazy drama queens. Normally they are also shown as being obsessed with their appearance and wardrobe. If teen girls are not given that stereotype they are either goths with tattoos and piercings or a nerd who doesn't care about her wardrobe. There are exceptions to this but in general teen girls are divided into those three categories, the materialistic drama queen, the goth and the nerd. As a teen girl there is some pressure to fit into one of these categories, but the real problem is that society clumps girls into these categories by telling them what they are supposed to like through ads, magazines and T.V. I think many girls understand that they aren't a nerd if they are smart and for most teen girls boys and clothes are not the most important thing in their lives. But yet the media tells girls that thats how we all are. A good example of these categories being shown is in the show "Modern Family" where the two teen girls are drastically different. One is a humorously stupid, fashion forward stereotypical popular girl while the other is a smart, nerdy and opinionated. Both fall into the typical teen girl image, and there is so many more examples of these stereotypes! The other day when reading a teen vogue magazine I saw a quiz called "what type of girl are you?" the 4 options were drama girl, preppy girl, sporty girl and emotional girl. Girls are being taught that they are original but the media is telling them otherwise, you  can be one of 4 things so choose wisely ladies. If you want to see what type of girl you are you can take this quiz The What Kind of Girl Are You? Quiz. This quiz is one of many that just enforces the idea that girls can have one of 4 personalities even though they are at the same time being told to be original. Overall the media has taken the general outline of a teen girl and made it common knowledge that that is how girls are and should be.