Colin Kaepernick is a controversial National Football League Player who has faced public backlash since 2016 for kneeling during the national anthem at football games to protest police brutality and the mistreatment of people of color. Colin Kaepernick partnered with Nike for a campaign and released the advertisement pictured promoting the message of standing up for one believes in no matter what. The advertisement displays the American civic duty of standing up for what is right in society. Colin Kaepernick sacrificed his reputation and career through his controversial actions and did not waiver because of the importance of the message behind his actions and the need for change in society. This subject is worth investigating and studying because the topic of police brutality is very relevant today and exploring Kaepernick’s actions and his impact is important for studying civic.
In 2017, the makeup company, L’Oréal, launched a new advertisement strategy which focused on the diversity of skin colors and complexions. L’Oréal emphasizes inclusivity of all people in their makeup line through their wide range of makeup shades and their advertisement messages promoting equality and pride in diversity. L’Oréal’s advertisement strategy and the specific advertisement shown above highlight the American civic duty of including others and being fair to others despite our differences. The advertisement should be studied because companies that use their platforms to promote meaningful messages such as “because we are all worth it” promote change in society. The specific advertisement highlights how we are all equal in society and promotes equal treatment.
The meme shown above was created in 2018 to promote voting among the young adult population. The meme features a picture of Dwight from the Office and utilizes his way of speaking to clearly state how the voting of the young adult population does matter. A major civic duty of Americans is voting in elections and the meme emphasizes the need for young voters. This subject is worth studying because many young people who can vote choose to not vote which is ridiculous because voting is important and a civic duty as American citizens. This meme utilizes humor and a popular figure to display the message which reinforces it’s meaning.
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I think you chose great artifacts! The Nike campaign with Kaepernick would be very interesting to analyze, there is definitely a lot you can do with it. His actions were extremely powerful, and he definitely gained support from people who are also affected by racism and police brutality, as well as people that agree there needs to be changed. It might be interesting to research the groups that were with him versus those against him. You could also do research on other athletes who have made a similar statement.
I think the L’Oreal campaign is a great one to study! There is so much misrepresentation in the makeup business, and it’s nice to see a company that is inclusive of all people. This would definitely appeal to people that want makeup shades to represent them. It would be interesting if you found other companies that do not have a wide range in skin makeup shades, and compare your findings.
I really like the last meme! Not only does it convince young people to vote, but it is appealing to people that like The Office. In order to make your argument stronger, I would definitely include voting statistics based on age group, and other categories. You could also find other campaigns/memes that influence the younger generation to vote.
I loved all your artifacts and believe they all had pwoerful meanings and a lot to learn from them! For the first one, you can look into the backlash he received and how it inmpacted the NFL as a whole and him as a player. I know he faced many repurcussions but you can look into how it changed our society and how he used his platform to make a difference.
For you second artifact, you can look into how other companies followed theirs and the impact it had on people of color. It is very important to have representation and before that it was lacking in society.
For the third, I think you can make a connection on celebrities and their ability to encourage young people to vote. Many young people look up to influencers and regardless of their political opinion it is still important to vote.
The first artifact has a very strong commonplace and ideology. This specific commonplace is athletes across all platforms for the call of justice and the ideology of justice and standing up for what is right. You can most likely find more information through his personal accounts as well as various interviews he has done.
The second artifacts the commonplace of unity beyond race and that all are equally as beautiful. The ideologies surrounding this artifact is equality and that everyone is worthy and beautiful. This artifact probably has a lot of information on the L’Oreal website along with different conversations the owners have had with the press about this specific artifact.
The third artifact has the commonplace of calling upon youth to vote. It calls on the ideology of civic duties, as you stated, and the need to have your voice heard. This specific artifact will have information in government documents regarding votes during a time period and probably tons of articles discussing this specific artifact’s topic.