Sigh, we're overdue for a plague

I hope I don't die, but so many of us need to. It is sad - there are too many people, not just too many for the earth to feed, but too many for us to logically understand. Maybe it is that our government is too big. European governments seem to care for their people better than ours. I hope I don't live long enough to see the water wars. Oil wars are bad enough.

Marketing

Posted by: albrechtkrausse on Oct 23, 2007 3:07 PM

Obviously. Companies of all types target their marketing. If cigarettes/tobacco are bad then please ban them. Or, at least, put REAL restrictions on thier purchase by minors. If, however, they remain legal, and there is no sign from the Democrats -or Republicans- that they will be banned then the businesses will target 'key demographics' like anyone else. Yes, it is morally wrong to sell a death-product but right now it is legal.

ps: alcohol companies also target key demographics like: euphemistically called 'urban markets' (malt liquor), 'price conscious market' (fortified wines), yuppies (expensive grain alcohol vodka in nice bottle), rednecks (NASCAR-themed Busch tallboys), hunters ('hunting edition' 30pack beer cases), college kids (cheap beer), drink-drivers (iced down tall-boy singles in gas station convenience store coolers), girls (alco-pops), etc. Again, morally bad but 'its legal'?!?

This commenter has a great point, in response to an article titled The Tobacco Industry Targets Black America, but I'm left in a conundrum. Do I reply to the commenter, indicating her own ingrained othering of women by identifying "girls" as just another niche market like "hunters" or "rednecks", in an attempt to help educate that user or not post such an off-topic comment.

As a woman, I obviously identify with a number of groups on that little list - interestingly, both the price concious market and the yuppies - but that last example makes me wonder, does albrechtkrausse think women are multifaceted enough to fit in those other groups too?

As a woman that was raised to naturally assume that we're all equal, I have a very hard time even imagining that someone could identify an entire economic or social class that had no women, but then I see news accounts of the "Iranian people rioting over gas shortages" with no women present. I think, "that't not 'people' - 'people' includes women, how can you have 'people' without women?" I wonder that every time I hear anything about the Afgahn "people" supporting the Taliban. Are they talking about "people" or are they talking about men?

But that is very tangential, back to my point.

The choice I've made is obvious. My window for commenting is small - in a day or two, we'll all have moved on to something new, and the impact of a comment will be over. Anti-feminists ready to pounce on any and all weaknesses in an argument are all over Alternet. One only has to read the comments on any and all feminist posts on that site to learn that. I don't even know if I could write a comment that was both brief and made the point about the othering of women that I am trying so hard to make here.

Of course, this ignores the fact that a lot of those alco-pops feature guys drinking them in their advertisement - actually, a lot of alcohol ads seem to assume that men are the primary buyers, at least in bulk, of alcohol. Women, at best, drink the booze, usually while trying to be sexy (for men), as opposed to just for having a good time. Then again, thats not based on any study I did.

Have any of you seen that Coors [Light?] commercial? Both woman and man are excited that something turned blue, the woman about the pregnancy test, the man about his beer. The woman then walks off, slamming the door. The man shrugs and drinks his beer. My thought is "oh, she's off to call the abortion doctor" because thats what I would do if I found myself in a relationship with someone like that. Maybe that makes me a humorless feminist, maybe it is a stupid joke, maybe it is the promotion of male irresponsibility that the entirity of the mainstream media seems to be shoving at us thats making me mad. I'll say it, any man that cares more about some stupid beer than his wife/girlfriend's pregnancy doesn't deserve to procreate. But there, I guess, is an example of alcohol marketing to "guys".

And that does it for tonight.

The Britney Spears Show

This show has gotten really interesting lately. I was in the airport and I checked out a story about how Britney doesn't care that she no longer has custody of her kids. We're all supposed to be shocked, I guess. But like it or not, the act of having kids doesn't magically transform oneself into a mother. Men abandon their kids all the time, and women who don't want their kids often give them up for adoption. It doesn't make the kids any less valid as people, and these kids have one caring parent (their father) and are set for life. Honestly, so what if Britney wants to abandon that life and move on? The kids won't starve, in fact, they'll probably want for nothing.

If I were Britney, and in this state, I'd forget singing, I'd forget kids, and invest a good chunk of money in some stock, and make money that way, then live my life the way I wanted, read books, have parties, and have a good time. She'll never be able to run for office, thats for sure, but who the hell are we to judge her? If she never wanted kids, then she never wanted kids. As long as she helps pay for them (which I'm sure she is), then why the hell does it even matter?

stupid people do not change

by andrushka

Could you tell me what 's that has to do with President Carter? Further, thank God President Carter has grown into what he is today, that is a man of great humanity. Only stupid people do not change as they grow older. Too bad for you!

President [Me]

For a brief time in my life, and possibly always running under my surface, I've wanted to - I've thought about - being the president. I like to run for office, be in power over something, be responsible for something important.

award that they can't buy

by Jeanne

The right wing and their mouthpiece are green (not ecologically) with envy. When was the last time any one from that side of the intellectual or political fence has been recognized for anything that had to do with peace? It's an award that they can't buy, so they have to denigrate it. Fox Noise and all they represent are pathetic, backward and bellicose.

Get the Lead Out.... Of Lipstick

I'm inclined to believe the claim that humans injest more lead by drinking water, but really, do cosmetic manufacturers need to add to our lead consumption? Especially when it concerns women? Where are the pro-lifers complaining about such harms to fetuses from lead in lipstick? Oh, its only because whores wear lipstick, and their kids don't matter.

Too Many Consumer Lipsticks Have Lead, Consumer Group Says

Feminism on the ground

As a society, we've actually had the means to allow women to be free from the stricter confines of raising children for years - the condom was developed hundreds of years ago, in fact. Childcare as a profession is hardly new. I don't know much about breast pump technology, but it can't be that complicated.

The change now is the desire, mostly by women themselves, to be free from these confines. Yet women remain to be pressured by society to make unreasonable sacrifices themselves in order to reproduce.

This article, about the hostile environment that women face when they do reproduce illustrates an important point. More than an important point, a crucial one for feminists. For women to gain real equality in this society, we need to pay attention to reproduction. Business does not need to be so inflexible. It actually isn't that inflexible that it cannot allow an employee time every two or three hours - at most, three times during an 8-hour day - for people raising infants [the next generation of Americans, btw] to produce breastmilk.

The attitude of hostility to breastfeeding women is held even by other women, sometimes even by women who wouldn't otherwise think they were sexist, but it is the very epitomy of sexism. Women should not be obsessed with pregnancy and pregnancy should never hold women back. After all, men do not get held back when they want to have kids. If we, as women, are committed to ending the bullshit known as sexism, we need to make it a lot easier for women to maintain careers and reproduce.