Pepsi Publicity Stunt?

Pepsi is planning to remove all of their full calorie sugary drinks in primary schools in over 200 countries by the year 2012, according to CBS News.  The company is trying to promote healthy choices in children by only providing water, low fat milk and sugar free juices. 

But is this just a publicity stunt?

Pepsi's new plan reminded me of Monsanto's sponsorship of PBS.  Monsanto was just trying to create positive connotation with their name, is Pepsi trying to do the same by encouraging children to have a healthier diet?  By removing some of their drinks, is Pepsi actually trying to promote healthy choices or are they just trying to advertise? 

New Mural to go up in Times Square

Images can be found here of a new mural to be unveiled near Times Square at the end of this April.  The mural painted by Sofia Maldonado is a depiction of African-American and Hispanic women in New York.  The mural is a rather gritty depiction of these women and it seems that many people find this piece of art to controversial to be displayed in a area with as much traffic as Times Square.  This statement was made in a release by the protesters:  "not one business or professional woman is represented in the mural for balance."  This is what is bothering them, along with the fact the African-American women are "depicted in a negative light"  and shows them as "cheap looking."

Take a look at some of the images.  How do you feel about them?  The protesters are arguing that a mural of a more high class woman in a buisness suit would be more appropriate.  What do you think?

Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers

This newsweek article titled Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers argues that the teacher in a classroom is more important than the curriculum and textbooks. So it would make sense to hire more good teachers and just fire the bad ones. However, the reality of this situation is not that simple.

In many places, teachers are given lifetime tenure after just a few years of working at a school and it is nearly impossible to fire them. In the United States, almost no teachers are fired for bad performance depsite the fact that many teachers are under performing. It seems that all the worst teachers are concentrated in the poorest and lowest class regions in the United States, and nothing can be done to get the bad teachers out and the good ones in. There are programs such as KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) set in place in poorer areas that are trying to better educate students despite the bad public school system, but these students are still at a huge disadvantage. 

What can be done to get better teachers into lower class school sytems?  Is it even possible to do this or are these school system just a lost cause?

Black Children are an "Endangered Species"

Recently a series of billboards like the one above have been put up in Georgia to promote an anti-abortion campaign.  More information can be found from this article.  

This ad certainly grabs one's attention, but many feel that it is an absolutely inappropriate to target the African-American community in this way.

How do you feel about this ad?  Is it fair to target a certain group like this ad does?

Laws of Power

In this CNN article, the author tells the reader about book called The 48 Laws of Power.  Its title pretty much sums up the book.   It's written by Robert Greene and is a list of 48 laws, that if followed, will give a person power.  Greene supports each law based on the lives of powerful historical figures.  It  is clear that humans are obsessed with power, and many people lives their lives as one huge power struggle.  Greene and many of his readers claim that these laws actually work and will help a person gain power.

But can just a list give someone power?  In class we heard a man named Phipps say: "that's the tribal belief, that you either have it (high class) or you don't."  You are born a WASP, you cannot become one he argues. Can the same thing be said about power?

The Decline of Status Markers

An article titled When the Joneses Wear Jeans:  Status Markers in the United States of America, explored the decline of "status markers" (a way in which one can determine another's social class by outer appearances).

Unlike the past, it is becoming harder to determine the social class of a person just by seeing their clothing or their car.  It seems that the range of people who own handbags or jeans or cars with designer labels splashed across them is becoming wider and wider.  People in the middle class have flat screen televisions, luxury cars, high end jewelry and jeans that cost $200 a pair, all of these items were once associated only to people of the upper class.  According to this article, %81 percent of Americans feel social pressure to buy high priced goods.   

The author of this article sates : "Social class, once so easily assessed by the car in the driveway or the purse on the arm, has become harder to see in the things Americans buy. Rising incomes, flattening prices and easily available credit have given so many Americans access to such a wide array of high-end goods that traditional markers of status have lost much of their meaning."  Although status markers may have lost their meaning, there are of course still differences between the lifestyles of the classes.  The article states that although higher end goods may be available to different classes, that personal services (chefs, maids, chauffeurs etc.) is the real difference between classes.

Are there any other ways that we can determine a person's social class other than their appearance?  If today the classes seem to blending together in outer appearances, how will the differences in social class continue to change?

In class we have been discussing the change of advertising in America's history.  Generally, higher priced brands have been targeted at the upper class.  If the middle class is catching up to the upper class in their material possessions, how might the advertising of higher priced goods change?

Class Differences in Marriage

In the New York Times Class Matters series that we looked at in class (the graph that tells you what class you fall into) I found an interesting article that discussed the marriage of two people from different social classes.  Both of these people had been marries once before and had two children, but the woman came from a very wealthy background and had received a good education whereas the man was not wealthy and had only made it through high school.  Although this article is specific to this certain couple's relationship, it is quite interesting to look at.  

The article says "In cross-class marriages, one partner will usually have more money, more options and, almost inevitably, more power in the relationship." Traditionally, husbands have the most power in a marriage but money and education seem to automatically switch the roles. Social class, as we have discussed in class, seem to have more power than a person's gender or race.  After the quote above, the article stated: "While most of those marriages used to involve men marrying women with less education, studies have found, lately that pattern has flipped, so that by 2000, the majority involved women...marrying men with less schooling - the combination most likely to end in divorce."  So, it seems that women with more money and education, and therefore more power, seems to cause more trouble in a relationship than when the man holds more power.

So, what has a greater effect on the power holder in a relationship?  Gender or social class?  Why is it that more marriages fail when the woman is of a higher social class?