On account of I always get really excited...

So, I was doing some research today and I found a company I'd really like to work for. It's called Edelman, it's an public relations firms with offices located all over the world. It's the largest independent global PR firm and it employs over 3,000 people. Anyways, they handle so many different clients who represent so many diverse areas (entertainment, government, travel, public affairs, etc) and created "Environmental PR".

Anyways, so in a perfect situation, my dream situation (if you will): I'd graduate next May, right? I would have already secured an internship at the Los Angeles branch of Edelman and I'd either a.) rent Amy & Henry's guest house or b.) stay with Emily in her house (*both of which are located in Canyon Country, CA, about 40 minutes from Los Angeles*). Either one of them would probably give me a great deal... Kessler lived there for 6 months rent-free (now I'm getting overzealous). But I'd learn a whole lot at Edelman, it would be a 6 month internship. I'm not sure if they pay their interns, so I might have to get a job somewhere more local to Canyon Country to pay for gas and such. I would kick bottom and take names, then at the end of the 6 months, I'd either a.) Stay on at the Los Angeles branch or b.) Transfer to the Austin or Dallas branch. And hopefully I'd get to specialize in Environmental PR! That's so up my alley.

Anyways, I know you're the only one who reads this, so check out their website:
http://www.edelman.com/

You might not be able to click that link, you might need to copy and paste it into your www bar thing.

Also look at this, it outlines their intern program:
https://www.edelman.com/careers/want_to_join_us/internships/secure/index.asp


Love you!
Kel

Cause my mom tagged me...

I want you to know, I nevvvver do these things on myspace when people "tag" me. BUT, I love my mom & it looked like a fun little questionnaire... so I'm on board.

What Was I Doing Ten Years Ago: May, 1998 - I was 12. What grade are you in when you're 12? Well, I can pretty much guarantee I was bffs with my multi-cultural friends from Hedrick Elementary. We might have just been getting ready to move to Flower Mound before the start of my 5th grade year. At that point, I had a new bff - Danielle Williams! I was probably also antagonizing my brother on a semi-constant basis... and letting him play video games "with" me while his cord was unplugged.

Things On My To-Do List Today: Finish Well, I was in class from 8-12. This just in: I heart Marketing. It already feels really natural to me, and I'm excited about the class content. Really excited. Other things, I went and bought the USED text book at Voertman's and it was $112!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found the same book for 17 on half.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I've gotta copy the first few chapters someplace so I can return it before the 14th (while I'm waiting for my $17 copy to come in the mail)! What a rip. Pretty much for the rest of the day, I'll be reading and perhaps watching my first Blockbuster movies (that should be in the mail when I get home - fingers crossed!

5 Places I Have Traveled: California (a few times), New Mexico, Florida, Puerta Vallarta, ...

5 Snacks Or Treats I Enjoy: Mmm, it changes on a daily basis. But my staples are Oh's cereal, strawberries, some sort of tasty granola bar; Kashi Chocolate Cherry as of late! I also drink lots of Vitamin Water. Texas Roast Coffee has a delicious blueberry muffin, that sounds good right about now!

What Would I Do If I Were A Billionaire: Pay off my college loans, so my parents and I (post graduation) wouldn't have to worry about it. I'd probably buy everyone in my family a car or house, or both. I'd take gooooood care of my immediate family and bestest friends. I'd buy an old classic muscle car, a house in California and one in Wyoming (I hear it's BEAUTIFUL), and maybe one somewhere else. I'd go to FRANCE for a few months, and New York and ANYWHERE else I got a whim about visiting. I'd put a lot of it away so that I could take care of my future family.

Places I've Lived: Winnsboro, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Justin

Jobs I've Had: Mr. Jim's Pizza, Sonny Bryan's BBQ, Alliance Airport (gag me), Tia's Tex-Mex, Hastings, Davanti Aveda Salon & Spa, Tangerine Salon & Spa


Love you!

Published Works!

Not going to lie about it, I just gave my blog a little makeover... I'm lovin' it. :) 

I figured I'd post links to some of the articles I've gotten published this semester. Some are definitely better than others, but I'm proud of them all. Enjoy! And let me know what you think; good, bad or ugly (I'm learning that you've gotta have tough skin to be a writer, it's a good lesson)!

This is about an art exhibit in Carrollton:

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/04/22/ArtsLife/Student.Art.On.Display.In.Carrollton.Art.Center-3340340.shtml


This one is about liberal Christians:

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/04/11/News/Students.Balance.Their.Faith.Political.Ideologies-3323520.shtml


This is about the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Denton (and the prom they held at UNT this semester):

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/04/08/ArtsLife/Gay-Lesbian.Pride.Associations.Team.Up.For.Prom-3309173.shtml


This is about the Get Out the Vote event at UNT:

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/02/27/News/Fmla-To.Get.Out.The.Vote.At.Nt-3237065.shtml


This is about the Mike Huckabee rally at Collin County Community College:

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/02/21/News/Huckabee.Fans.Left.Out.In.Cold-3224908.shtml


This is about the NT Republican trip to DC:
http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage/paper877/news/2008/02/06/Life/Republicans.Travel.To.Conference-3190728.shtml


This is about the band Kessler :) ...

http://www.nbc5i.com/dfwscene/15898499/detail.html



Much love!
Kelly♥

Final Project

Title: Suggestive Selling, How Magazine Ads Increase Body Exposure as Readership Ages

Two sentence summary of findings:

Models in advertisements tend to be more exposed, having one or more body parts associated with sexual display visible and unclothed, in adult oriented women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan. However the presence of exposed models in advertisements is not exclusively restricted to magazines meant for an older audience, and they oftentimes find their way into teen-oriented magazines.

Summary of previous study:

The previously published content-analysis I chose to shadow is by S. Plous and Dominique Neptune (“Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising,” 1997, Psychology of Women Quarterly). Among other studies within their content analysis such as body position, racial/gender representation, and clothing worn in advertisements, Plous and Neptune coded male and female models in magazine ads. They deemed all persons in fashion advertisements, fashion layouts and fashion related magazine covers as being either “exposed” or “unexposed” according to which portions of their bodies were visible in the ads. They chose to survey two magazines with a predominantly white female readership (Cosmopolitan and Glamour), two magazines with mostly black female readership (Ebony and Essence) and two magazines with mainly white male readers (Esquire and Gentleman’s Quarterly). They found that white women were exposed in 42.5% of all magazine advertisements they appeared in, black women were exposed in 37.7% of all advertisements they appeared in, along with 13.3% of black males and 9.9% of white males. The study also found that the amount of overall body exposure of white and black women increased significantly over the ten year period of magazines studied, as well as the amount of breast exposure.

Most important foundation literature and how it relates to your own project:

The most relevant study that set the foundation for Plous and Neptune’s study was the first content analysis of gender biases in magazine advertisements by Alice E. Courtney and Sarah Wernick Lockeretz in 1971. Courtney and Lockeretz found that magazine advertisements generally placed women in one of four stereotypes: (1) “A woman’s place is in the home,” (2) “Women are dependant and need men’s protection,” (3) “Women do not make important decisions or do important things,” and (4) “Men regard women as primarily sex objects, they are not interested in women as people” (Plous and Neptune 628-629). In the last 40 years, women have infiltrated the workplace, and whereas the “women belong in the home” stereotype is not as relevant in present times, the lack of that stereotype is made up by the explosion of ads that use women as sexual objects Plous and Neptune 629).

Corpus and method:

I used the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan, Cosmo!Girl and Teen Magazine and the April 2007 issue of Seventeen to conduct my research. My method was qualitative and quantitative in nature. I went through all four magazines, and coded each individual in every full-page advertisement (including fashion spreads), as a “1”, “2” or “3”. To qualify as a “1”, the model had to be very modest in dress, the neck or shoulders could be showing, but both could not be shown at the same time. Persons receiving a “1” had little to no skin showing, and were counted as “unexposed”. To qualify as a “2”, the model was deemed “semi-exposed.” All models receiving a “2” had both the neck and shoulders unclothed and visible at the same time. To qualify as a “3,” the model’s stomach, buttocks, upper-legs, back and/or cleavage had to be unclothed and visible. The model was also counted as a “3” if special attention was paid to the mouth or lips. All models who earned a “3” were deemed “exposed”. In Plous and Neptune’s study, they used only a “1” and “2” in their coding system – each and every person in the ads they viewed were exposed or unexposed, there was no middle ground. I incorporated a “semi-exposed” element into my coding technique, so that I could better differentiate between the levels of body exposure. I also chose to use Hearst Magazine Company’s line of female oriented magazines to code (Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Cosmo!Girl, and Teen Magazine), instead of comparing white female oriented, black female oriented, and white male oriented magazines.

Findings:

In the December 2007 issue of Teen Magazine, 16 out of 18, or 88.9% of both male and female models were coded as a “1” – unexposed. Zero percent of the models were coded as “2s” – or semi-exposed. Only 11.1%, 2 out of 18, were coded as “3s” – exposed. In the December 2007 issue of CosmoGirl!, 43.6%, or 24 out of 55 images, were deemed as unexposed “1s” while 25.5%, or 14 out of 55, were coded as being semi-exposed. Seventeen out of 55 models were exposed, and were coded as “3s” – which amounted to 30.9%. In the April 2007 issue of Seventeen, 27 out of 69 advertisements had models who were coded as “1s”, this counted for 39.1% of all models. Just under 12%, or 8 out 69 models were coded as “2s”. Almost half, 49.3% - or 34 out of 69 models were coded as “3s”. In the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan, only 32.6%, or 29 out of 89, were coded as “1s”. Nearly a fourth, 14.6% - or 13 out of 89 models were coded as being “2s”. Over half, 52.8%, or 47 out of 89 models were coded as being “3s”. From Teen Magazine to Cosmopolitan, the number of “3s” gradually increased from 11.1% to 52.8%.

Conclusion:

My study verifies that as young women age, the Hearst Magazine Company provides a publication which theoretically ages with them, at least in respect to advertising content. Teen Magazine appeals to girls in their pre-teens and young teen years, Cosmo!Girl and Seventeen both reach the young adult crowd who are theoretically seventeen years or older (Seventeen has the edge on adult content in stories and advertisements, from what I observed), and Cosmopolitan appeals to every 20something and 30something-year-old woman. Although these magazines are meant for a specific readership, nothing confines young teens from reading older-teen oriented material, or older teens from reading something like Cosmopolitan. I believe that advertisements, many of which are not just exposed men and women, but exposed celebrities, play an integral role in the shaping of our youth, engraining in their mind what is right and what is wrong. Collectively among all four Hearst magazines I surveyed, 43.3% of models, men and women combined, were rated as having exposed body parts that are commonly associated with sexual display. Magazines have the power to provide our young women with evidence that sexual activity is the preferred pastime of sophisticated, alluring and glamorous protagonists (Platt Liebau 76). One journalist who shadowed at twelve-year-old girl estimated that she had been exposed to about 280 sexy images in the course of a day, and we wonder why age compression is rapidly occurring – why our sons and daughters go from children to adults in the blink of an eye (Platt Liebau 8, 145). Over time, pre-teens and teens receive the message that it is expected, even desirable, for them to present themselves as overly sexual beings, long before they are old enough to handle or understand the accompanying responsibilities (Platt Liebau 145). I do not believe that fashion should be reduced to an almost completely naked model who is trying to get our pre-teens and teenagers to buy a particular lip-gloss, pair of jeans, or deodorant.

References:

CosmoGirl! Magazine December 2007.

Cosmopolitan Magazine December 2007.

Platt Liebau, Carol. Prude. New York: Hachette Book Group USA, 2007.

Plous, S., and Dominique Neptune. "Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising." Psychology of Women Quarterly (1997): 5-9.

Seventeen Magazine April 2007

Teen Magazine December 2007

Attachments:

At least one example of a “1,” “2,” and “3” from Teen Magazine, CosmoGirl!, Seventeen and Cosmopolitan.

My shadow study: “Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising,” 1997, Psychology of Women Quarterly

It all comes together...

I've gone through about a million ideas when trying to decide what I'm going to do for my final project. I don't think that it actually be that hard to come up with a topic, there's literally just so many interesting options! I think I've finally decided though. I'm going to do: Sexual Ads in Teen Magazines. I'm going to look at as many current teen mags as possible, including Cosmo!Girl, Teen, Seventeen, ... and look at their ads. I'm also going to look at older oriented magazines and see if there's a contrast between the amount of sexual ads. I'm going to come up with a set of guidelines to help decipher what is sexual and what is not, and go from there. :)

Project Stuff...

This final project is coming up quickly:

I've started thinking more along the lines of print ads. I would love to do face-ism or random girls in music videos, but I think constructing the guidelines for a moving medium would be really tricky.

I could either do ads or content.

I found this really cool book at Barnes and Noble that I'm going to try to use in my study! Here are some quotes from it (Prude by Carol Platt Liebau):

Page 8 - From all of this, one message emerges: Sex is everywhere: Everyone ‘s doing it, and that’s just the way it is. This message is disseminated to young girls through almost every element of their lives. One journalist who shadowed at twelve-year-old girl estimated that she had been exposed to about 280 sexy images in the course of a day.

In short, today’s girl world has become saturated with sex. Even girls standing only at the threshold of adolescence are forced to absorb information, confront issues, and handle situations that, in past generations, would have presented themselves much later in their lives, if at all.

Pg 76 Magazines too often today present sexual activity as the preferred pastime of sophisticated, alluring and glamorous protagonists.

Pg 78 In fact, judging by many of the books and magazines aimed at teen girls, sexual restraint is almost the only behavior that’s portrayed as aberrant. Doing what’s right becomes a conviently elastic concepts, best understood as doing what’s “right for you.”

Pg 108 Loveline’s Dr. Drew Pinksy has observed, “It’s mortifying that it’s so hard to find a female rolemodel… in the culture, there’s just not much that you want your young female to hang on to.”

Pg 142 Taken as a whole, the influence of such ads is substantial. In fact, 30 percent of teens ages thirteen through eighteen have bought clothes because of seeing a magazine ad about them.

Pg 145 these ad campaigns – and others like them, some going so far as to flirt with bestiality – represent what critics have called “the increasing coarseness of commercial discourse,” and their effects on American culture as a whole are unfortunate. Over time, confronted with ever-more-outrageous sexual images, consumers’ collective tastes become degraded and their sensibilities are dulled, as a part of a marketing race to the bottom. Eventually, smutty advertising loses its shock value – the over the top sexiness celebrated in the ads begins to seem normal. And our common culture is vulgarized as a result.

Pg 145 The effects of sexy advertising are profound. Retailers’ efforts to create a market among young people for even mature products have resulted in age compression, in which tweens and younger teens are encouraged to want products once exclusively reserved for adults. These ads designed to drive demand for these products (and public acceptance of them) teach inexperienced teen (and younger) boys and girls that exaggerated, sexualized attitudes, fashions, and behaviors are a standard part of mainstream culture. Over time, teens and their younger siblings receive the message that it’s expected – even desirable – for them to present themselves as flagrantly sexual beings, long before their old enough to handle (or even understand) the accompanying responsibilities.

Bamboozled

Last week in class we watched Bamboozled.

It was a really disturbing movie - and although it was meant to be a satire, which it was, it was also deeply disturbing. I felt weird watching it.

Also, scratch the movie poster idea. Looking through movie posters online felt kind of pointless... I'm not sure if anyone cares about the dynamics of a movie poster. It would be cool to see if there are any trends... but that probably all goes back to the genre, and I'm not an avid enough movie watcher to delve that deep into it.