Unplugging the Nation

Unplugged tvs do not equal better health, education and independence in society. Being healthy consists of more components than exercise alone; eating right, getting proper amounts of sleep, and so forth. Education is not influenced by television- it is our job to be focused on material and knowledge, our job to resist the sweet temptation to pick up the remote and indulge in some Family Guy or the latest episode of The Simpsons, to instead put your nose in a book or that pen to paper. Independence is learned from our experiences on our own- so how does television affect independence?

If you want to unplug all televisions to promote good health, why don't we remove all other sources of bad health? Let's get rid of McDonald's, alcohol, cigarettes. DIspose of butter, all fatty foods. Might as well rule out computers as well, laptops, Gameboys, and other handheld games. Education depends on us- it's called prioritizing. TV isn't to blame for these issues the parents who allow television to take over a kid's life are to blame.

Advertising.

Advertising: it's inescapable. We see brands and products being promoted everywhere we turn. Advertisements are plastered on our television sets, our buildings, our literature, our clothe. "Spend your money on this!!!" the ad is telling us, but perhaps through a different yet more appealing message; "Wear this. It will make you sexy!", "Eat this and lose weight fast!", "Drive this and you'll save so much money on gas!" A good deal of the time, the actual quality of the product has little to do with its success, and more to do with how it is promoted. A crappy product with excellent advertising will create profit, but an excellent product with mediocre advertising will be easily overlooked. It takes a careful balance of quality goods and eye-catching promotion for a product to be successful.

Earlier this week, my father showed e a magazine article titled, "Top 100 Most Successful Businesspeople". Want to try and guess who snagged that number one spot? I'll tell you- Lady Gaga was number one.



The article explained how she had built her empire strategically at the young age of twenty-four. The magazine article also went on to say that her name is something that catches people's attention. SHE catches peoples attention, through her sophisticated, unique lyrics and different style. Her uniqueness, her charm maybe why her products are so successful. She is a spokesperson for MAC makeup company (notice her makeup is always very bright and stands out), has her own branch of headphones ("Heartbeats" by Monster), and in her popular music video for her hit "Bad Romance", she promotes the HP Envy 15 Beats Limited Edition Laptop. As stated in the article, "When she promotes something, it's a million eyes on her."