Living in an Talking Culture

"Many scholars believe that we have moved from living in a “print culture” to living in an electronic media culture that is in many ways more similar to an oral culture."

I do believe that we are turning away from books and newspapers and I believe it has a lot to do with our culture. We seems to be constantly on the move and our attention span is decreasing as the years pass which is why we prefer to hear information rather than read it. Reading take more concentration and cognitive effort. As a society we want things be quick, easy and efficient.

Just think about it. On the way to work you can listen to the morning radio and catch the main events in the news for the day instead of sitting down to read the news paper. Its a win-win. You get have more time to get ready for work, possibly get to sleep in longer, and you can listen to it while you are in the car (it may even entertain you as you are stuck in traffic). The best part is the radio isn't going to include many of the pointless things the news paper does. They are only going to cover the top stories because their main focus is on the music. 

Old technology is constantly being updated and companies are also inventing new gadgets at the same rate. The internet has created a base for a variety of new advances in technology and some of them include video or audio to send information to multiple people. For instance, YouTube and podcasts. Since these things are new people are intrigued more by them. Anyone can upload a video to Youtube or can create their own podcast on the internet. A podcast typically only include audio but may contain pictures as well. 

Another technology that has helped us move into a oral culture is the MP3 player. It's apparent that music has become very important to many peoples lives with the iPod boom in the last 10. Even though MP3s aren't a way to receive information but it shows how we want to constantly be listening to something while we workout chill, run errands, and the list goes on. We like to hear things. But read? Not so much.

Cell phones also have shaped our culture today. It would be rare to find someone that doesn't have a phone. Even elementary school children own cell phones. They let us quickly call someone to let them know something new or urgent. Calls are inexpensive compared to decades before. Previous to phones, telegrams and telegraphs were used to communicate which would be considered written more than oral even though the taps were heard between to parties. 

For years local paper used to be published on a daily basis. In the last year it went down to only two days a week (Wednesday and then a weekend edition). This was all because of subscriptions were falling quickly. That is a prime example of how today people don't value reading as much as they used to or they have found other sources to get their daily news from whether it be the internet or TV.

Maybe we go through cycles of gaining information by mouth or by written word. At first it was oral, then we slowly moved in to a written era and now we are back in the oral stage.

Maybe.

Nike Ad Analysis

I grew up playing sports. I loved getting a runner’s high or coming home after an intense volleyball practice. Though as a girl, I always felt pressured to be slim and that really hit my freshman year of high school but I started an unhealthy cycle of binging and purging. My self-esteem was a roller-coaster along with how happy I was with myself. It began to control me. I withdrew myself from the most important thing to me, my friends and family. My grades that year were an all-time low for me as well. I thank my mom for caring enough about me to seek help.

I first saw this series of advertisements in 2006 in a Teen Vogue magazine a few months after I was finally reaching the recovery stage. They grabbed my attention immediately. I quickly ripped them out to save them because they had inspired me so much. I felt like it was finally someone telling me it was okay to enjoy working out, that an athletic toned body is seen as beautiful and it’s embraced. Today I have two of them in pictures frames hung on my wall. There are 4 different advertisements created by Nike that are very similar. They each have a similar abstract watercolor background with a close up an athletic woman’s body along with what I would consider a poem. One focuses on hips, another thunder thighs and the other two are on a woman’s butt and knees. My personal favorite is the thigh advertisement because I can relate to it the most.

I have thunder thighs.

And that's a compliment
because they are strong
and toned
and muscular.
And though they are not welcome
in the petite section
they are cheered on in marathons.
Fifty years from now
I'll bounce a grandchild on my thunder thigh
and then go for a run.

In today’s society models, celebrities, and movie stars resemble stick figures compared to the rest of the world who doesn’t have a personal trainer and chef at their side. Women believe if they lose weight, they will gain happiness or the only way they will be happy is if they are 3 dress sizes smaller. These advertisements go against what the media tell women about how they should look. Nike wanted to reach out to the active girls so they can finally accept the feel like society says it’s okay to have bigger biceps than the guy sitting next to you or that scars criss-crossing your knees from softball should be a sign of hard work. They believe it’s great to see your body as an unbelievable machine. They want females to finally have positive thoughts about their body.

My butt is big and round like the letter C. And ten thousand lunges have made it rounder but not smaller and that's just fine. 
It's a space heater for my side of the bed. It's my ambassador to those who walk behind me.
It's a boarder collie that herds skinny women away from the best deals at clothing stores. 
My butt is big and that's just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it.

The location of where the ads weren’t typical. Most advertisements in Teen Vogue consist of high end department stores or stores where buying one item would eat up an average person’s pay check. Most exercise related companies would only place their ads in a health and exercise magazine because that’s the one place where their message is accepted by 100% of the readers.

Nike wants the readers to change their mind set that it doesn’t take your jean size to determine if you are happy and healthy. Nike believes that a woman who exercises regularly and eats well-balanced meals as part of a healthy life-style are what we should be idolizing, not the verge of anorexia skinny super model body. These advertisements might be the beginning of a new era for the ideal female body. Marilyn Monroe has been an icon for decades yet she wore a size 12. Today in most clothing stores, a size 12 is the last regular size before a lady would have to jump to the plus size section. It is said that model Twiggy started the society’s spread for the need to be slim. In these times, women were supposed to be the housekeeper. They weren’t supposed to work hard and sweat. Times have changed; we now see it as a healthy acceptable lifestyle for a woman to hit up the gym a couple of times a week. Many reality TV shows follow the cast into the gym. They are promoting the healthy lifestyle to their viewers. I think all of these reasons are pushing America to soon define beautiful quite differently than in recent year.

This series of advertisements would consider someone who strives to push their body farther, someone who unconditionally loves their body, someone who doesn't feel the need to be dainty or someone who doesn't define happiness by what their shirt tag reads as successful. They show a new side of success across the globe. Hopefully other women are effected just as I was and will begin to love their body