Elizabeth's English 3241 Blog

In Dr. Crovitz’s article, an in depth look was taken upon both Slim Jim and Doritos in order to explore the relevancy between their websites and appealing to teens. I loved how the article encouraged us to think about how nothing is there by accident and to what lengths advertising campaigns will go to appeal to target audience. Both products addressed are products that I personally eat, and yet have never taken the time to visit their website. In a much more technology advanced world, however, marketers would sincerely have to address the internet just as much as television and radio ads. The attempted connection between the companies and teens in not necessarily an accurate one.  These sites use “hip” lingo as well as images that they believe will appeal to a teenager as “cool”. While both “hip” and “cool” vary depending on what teenager you are talking to, the attempt is still clear and probably successful considering these are billion dollar industries.

Sarah, Ashley and I created a blog for this project. Check it out here.

I chose to visit Barbie’s website because the doll has been a staple in young girl’s lives for generations. Mothers buy them for their daughters, much like their mothers did for them. The website, however, clearly is aimed for young girls and not towards their parents. The site is completely pink with various links to other games and products, all designed for young girls. Their is a section designed for adults who still choose to collect the iconic doll. Little girls see the site as a place to create. Parents probably view this site as safe, with interactive games to hold the child’s interest. You can shop for the dolls, yet the prices are not clearly displayed. Barbie holds many jobs and has material things that many people don’t, such as mansions and convertibles. It’s as if regardless of a child’s social status she can achieve a  higher class by owning all the things that make Barbie so “successful”.

Wikipedia is an interesting resource because as “wiki” implies, it’s quick. Wikipedia has a ton of information at your fingertips and it’s very easy to look something up on such a well known website.

I appreciate that the falsities of Wikipedia are acknowledged in this chapter. According to the texts, truth is strived for, although it cannot always be accomplished. Let’s face it, there’s always going to be someone who decides they will alter information. It’s a fact of life. Sidenote: Has anyone seen the episode of Colbert Report where he changes Wikipedia? It’s actually quite relevant. In fact, I’m going to put it on here.

Wikipedia is interesting in the realm of classroom use because it’s people interacting with one another. It’s not a group of experts editing every single entry but rather every day people supplying what they know.

I don’t think I would suggest Wikipedia as a resource for a research paper in my class, but as far as looking up needed-to-know information quickly, it’s definitely a useful resource.

I decided to alter Wikipedia’s page on Ringgold, Georgia. This is my hometown, so it seemed fitting. I altered a few comma splices as well as some misspellings.

Sarah and I basically just flipped open the Encyclopedia Americana and discovered Guy de Maupassant. According to the text, he is famous for “revolutionizing” the short-story, so you would think as English majors we would have heard of him. Yeah, not so much.

To take our studies further, we looked him up on Wikipedia. While most of the general information is the same, under discussions we discovered that apparently Maupassant had a taste for sexual encounters and enjoyed a rather large appendage. Yeah, not so appropriate for the classroom, but I’m merely reporting my findings here. Also, he was interested in Syphilis and sought after women who had the disease. Flaubert, his mentor, apparently didn’t believe Maupassant’s sexual conquests so Maupassant hired someone to follow him around and detail his encounters to send back to Flaubert as proof. My, how times have changed.

According to Britannica, Maupassant knew Flaubert through his mother. This information isn’t really presented anywhere else. If you can manage your way through the extremely obnoxious pop-ups, I’m sure there’s more for us to learn.

Wikipedia’s entry was certainly the most entertaining, but also most likely the more incorrect source of information on the topic.