There have been many terrible advertisements since the beginning of the use of propaganda, but this infamous Pepsi commercial starring Kendall Jenner is one of the most recent monstrosities. This ad simplifies the motive of the BLM movement by offering support towards the police force, it poorly depicts what a protest looks like, and it white-washes an issue that impacts black lives.

For context, this advertisement was released in 2017. Throughout 2016, there were many protests regarding the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, leading to a rise in the Black Lives Matter movement. The BLM movement and the use of protests were becoming more prevalent throughout the United States. This advertisement tries to fit into the rhetorical situation of the time by portraying a protest, but it ultimately fails by inappropriately depicting the events that were occurring at the time. This commercial seems to infantilize the issue of BLM by showing how easy it is to bring peace– it is apparently as easy as offering a Pepsi can to a police officer.

The BLM movement specifically targets the police force in the United States. Police officers are not taught how to calm down a situation– they are taught how to react. This makes it extremely easy for innocent citizens to be shot and killed, especially black men. This commercial reduces the significance of the movement and the necessity for there to be reform by promoting the idea that there can be “middle ground”; however, this is not an issue where middle ground can exist when so many black and brown people are dying from police brutality.

In this video, the protest that is happening in the background seems to be… joyful. The people do not show real emotion– they are simply yelling. Towards the end of the advertisement, everyone smiles and hugs each other. Any photograph of a real protest shows how angry the people are, how sad they are, how pained they are. A real protest has deeper meaning and significance, whereas the video makes it seem as though it is just some sort of “act”.

Not to mention, the people in the video are overwhelmingly white. The white-washing of a movement that specifically supports black lives seems extremely bizarre and misses the point. Kendall Jenner’s appearance is also a miss. It was an odd placement for her to be the face of this advertisement, when she has no understanding of the BLM movement as a wealthy white woman.

Pepsi Protest

BLM Protest

Overall, the advertisement was extremely off-putting and faced a lot of backlash. Pepsi pulled the advertisement, and Kendall publicly apologized. However, this commercial really does make one question– What were they thinking???

All Black Mirror episodes have the ability to leave the viewer in shock, but this episode in particular leaves the audience in a sense of paralysis, which all comes from the extremely vile twist in the last 2 minutes.

Black Mirror is a series of stand-alone dramas on Netflix where each episode focuses on the negative impacts of a futuristic world on individuals and overall society. As this is one of my favorite TV Shows, my passion blog will be my review of the most notable episodes and my view of the deeper meanings behind them. In my third blog, I will be looking at Season 3, Episode 3: Shut Up and Dance.

The episode follows Kenny, a shy teenager who works in a restaurant and is seemingly sweet to the patrons, especially the children. After Kenny’s sister uses his laptop to watch illegal movies, Kenny downloads a software system called Shrive. This system begins to videotape Kenny through his webcam without his knowledge. One night, after Kenny finishes masturbating in front of his laptop, he receives an anonymous message which reads: “WE SAW WHAT YOU DID.” The email requests that Kenny does certain activities, such as robbing a bank, delivering a mysterious package, and even having to kill someone. If Kenny refuses, the “video” of him will be leaked. The episode follows Kenny completing these various tasks. In the end, the Shrive hackers ended up releasing the video. The twist is that the video was not of Kenny simply masturbating– he was masturbating to child porn.

This episode shows just how dark Black Mirror can get. Throughout the entire episode, the audience finds themselves rooting for Kenny, hoping that he is able to deter away from the hackers. His personality is portrayed to be likable– his character manipulates the audience and demonstrates the idea that people are not always who they seem to be.

There also seems to be a grey area of whether the use of technology in this episode is either good or bad. Shrive (which actually is an archaic term for confessing to a priest) seems like they are the bad guys by forcing Kenny to do illegal activities throughout the episode. But in the end, Shrive has turned out to be the hero for punishing a child predator. This is a rare episode where technology is actually seen as somewhat of a benefit. Yet, this leads to an ethical discussion– is it alright for government and independent agencies to invade personal privacy if it means ending certain crimes?

The most significant message from this episode is that you never know who is watching. Be careful on the internet.

The artifacts I am examining for my essay are opposing pieces regarding the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom. As an intersectional feminist, I have always been drawn to movements that support women’s rights. More specifically, I am an activist for supporting the individuality of women and fighting against the patriarchal view of what “womanhood” is. These two pieces captured me with the caption– “The Appeal of Womanhood”– and the imagery around it.

The first piece is a postcard designed by Harold Bird, who created this to announce an anti-suffrage meeting for the National League for Opposing Women Suffrage in 1912. The rhetorical situation of this image corresponds to the political climate of the time period. As the women’s suffrage movement surged in the U.K., Bird appealed to the public in order to get more support for the opposing side. Bird specifically tried to target supporters of the anti-suffrage movement so that they could gain more traction in opposing the extension of voting rights to women.

The second piece is a poster designed by pro-suffragist Louise Jacobs. She created this piece in 1912 for the Suffrage Atelier, a group of artists who promoted the Votes for Women campaign through art. The rhetorical situation of this image also corresponds to the political climate of the time period, where the women’s rights movement in the U.K. was at its peak due to increased sex trafficking, use of sweatshops, and child labor. Additionally, the situation was the creation of Bird’s postcard. This poster is a direct response to his anti-suffrage message.

Because of this, there are many parallels that exist between Bird’s postcard and Jacob’s poster. The woman and the bottom banner are practically identical, along with the silhouette of the British Parliament in the background. However, the colors vary, along with the background members and the upper banner. There could be significant elements to analyze within both the differences and the similarities. Is there a reason why the bottom text is the same? Why is the “appeal of womanhood” emphasized in each picture? Why are the background characters different? Do the different colors evoke different emotions? Do the different art styles convey a different message? There are many perspectives I would like to consider as I compare these similar pieces to each other.

For my Civic Engagement Speech, I would like to delve into the poster designed by Louise Jacobs. Her poster is more appealing to me and I feel as though I can analyze more with the additional background characters and writing on the banner.

Mothers are protective– we all know that. But how protective is too protective? Arkangel shows just how far a mother’s love can go.

Black Mirror is a series of stand-alone dramas on Netflix where each episode focuses on the negative impacts of a futuristic world on individuals and overall society. As this is one of my favorite TV Shows, my passion blog will be my review of the most notable episodes and my view of the deeper meanings behind them. In my second blog, I will be looking at Season 4, Episode 2: Arkangel.

After her daughter, Sara, got lost when at the park, single-mother Marie decides to sign up Sara for a free trial at the company Arkangel. Sara’s brain is chipped, allowing Marie to see her visions and even blur out negative imagery. However, Marie comes to realize how controlling she is, so she stores away the tablet, up until Sara enters high school. Sara goes through the rebellion of any average teenager– drugs, having hook-ups, and staying out late– which leads to Marie using the tablet to spy on her daughter once again. When Sara finds out, she snaps, taking the tablet and smashing it over her mother’s head before running away. The episode ends with Marie stumbling out of her house with the broken tablet, sobbing as she tries to chase after Sara.

The entire episode is a commentary on “Helicopter Parents”, who are so overprotective that they cannot allow their child to grow as an individual. The Arkangel device prevented Sara from being able to understand emotion, which ultimately led to her rage at the end of the episode. 

I would like to highlight the parallels that exist throughout the episode. At the beginning of the episode, there is a vicious dog that lives next door and barks whenever Marie or Sara pass by it. After Marie stores away the tablet, we see Sara becoming more confident as she passes by the dog, demonstrating the impact that experience (whether positive or negative) has on a person. There also is a parallel to when Marie is calling out for Sara when she is missing in the park versus when she runs away, showing the desperation that Marie (and all mothers) have when it comes to protecting their child.

My favorite part of the episode was when Sara smashed the tablet on her mother. The biggest kick was that Marie programmed Sara to not see violence, so as Sara hits her mother, she cannot see her own rage. The irony brings the episode full circle, making this a very enjoyable episode (and one I would recommend if you think your parents are strict).

Even as arguably the most disliked episode of the series, The National Anthem to me is perfect at catching the attention of viewers in this anthology series.

Black Mirror is a series of stand-alone dramas on Netflix where each episode focuses on the negative impacts of a futuristic world on individuals and overall society. As this is one of my favorite TV Shows, my passion blog will be my review of the most notable episodes and my view of the deeper meanings behind them. In my first blog, I will be looking at the pilot episode: The National Anthem.

The plot of The National Anthem is quite bizarre and very off-putting: Princess Susannah, a publicly loved figure of the Royal Family, was kidnapped and is threatened with murder unless Prime Minister Michael Callow has sexual intercourse with a pig live on all British networks. Again, extremely off-putting. However, there is meaning in the episode, hidden deep under the obvious bestiality.

Many viewers do not believe that this first episode fits with the overall theme of the show, but in my opinion, this episode does a great job at introducing the world of Black Mirror— the unimaginable can become a reality. Throughout the entire show, we see government officials denying that this request from the kidnapper is a real ransom. There is also a relevant conflict in understanding whether the personal humiliation of one individual is worth the saving of another. But the main takeaway is the behavior and structure of the overall society. The citizens of this fictional Britain were entirely absorbed in the drama that was occurring that they hadn’t noticed that the princess was released before the act of intercourse was done– the entire situation could have been resolved if the public was not so influenced by social media. 

In today’s society, we easily become distracted by events that are behind a screen, especially with real-life events that are far removed from Western society, like current conflicts occurring in the Middle East. This episode of Black Mirror is a direct commentary of this phenomenon, where we privileged individuals seem to have a disconnect from actual events that occur in our society. The people in the show are treating the “event” as some sort of entertainment, which can be seen as people host parties to watch what is going on, every person indoors and watching the intercourse take place. Some laugh while others look with disgust, but nevertheless, they still look, staring even while the princess is freed. No one notices that she has been freed because everyone is too busy watching their screens– a perfect, yet distasteful introduction to the show, Black Mirror.

“These aren’t people. These are animals.” –President Donald Trump

The “land of the free” was built on the wonderful ideal that the people here could obtain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And yet, as we look at what rhetoric is used when we talk about immigration, about the people who wish to come to the United States in hopes of finding a better life, it is utterly and entirely disappointing.

In previous American history, immigrants were mostly white Europeans wanting to gain wealth in a new land. Even though their skin color was so-called “superior” compared to black and brown people, the Italians, Irish, Poles, and Hungarians all faced prejudice and had to overcome it. There was a certain rhetoric back then that still exists now: immigrants were going to take away jobs from the real Americans. However, this presumptuous stance was not as nearly as prevalent as it is today.

In our present-day and age, the vast majority of immigrants are people of color. Already in our society, POC are seen as less than. When we see news outlets show videos of Mexicans climbing up the fences to enter the States, people view them as criminals. When we see the videos of Afghanistanis climbing on airplanes to escape their war-torn country, people view them as savages. There is a distinct negative undertone that the media and society have when talking about immigrants, especially those who are people of color. We can see this clearly through the language that is used by our government officials, with former President Donald Trump referring to immigrants as animals.

However, the concerns of Americans are still valid. Many people still wonder if there will be fewer jobs or housing offered due to an influx of migrants. Yet, it has been proven that where there are large waves of immigrants, the economy blooms with more job opportunities, leading to the creation of more housing developments. A U.S. Department of Labor study even noted that “the perception that immigrants take jobs away from American workers is the most persistent fallacy about immigration in popular thought”(https://www.aclu.org/other/immigrants-and-economy).

To move forward in better understanding this issue, there needs to be better communication about immigrants entering America. The media can stand to do a better job at portraying migrants, and politicians and government officials should be more particular about their language use. The connotations of words can have a bigger impact than one may imagine.