Michael Phelps Bong Hit

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2009/1/31/20/michael-phelps-bong-5821-1233453346-4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.buzzfeed.com/akdobbins/michael-phelps-bong&h=688&w=516&sz=84&tbnid=3q6kFyvSI5hz8M:&tbnh=139&tbnw=104&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmichael%2Bphelps%2Bbong%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=michael+phelps+bong&usg=__m06TtmhJXebO2rTAjxrOmQ0TIDI=&sa=X&ei=mbgmT5fuFZGGsAKP67GNAg&ved=0CBYQ9QEwAQ

6 months after having one of the best Summer Olympics ever in China, Michael Phelps drew heavy criticism for a photo that got leaked of him smoking a bong at a party. Phelps later apologized and was suspended for 3 months by USA Swimming. It was a big blow to Phelps as he was very popular in the U.S. Would you want your to child to use Phelps as a role model even after this incident? How would this incident affect younger children and their perception of marijuana? Or, should athletes or celebrities even care what their actions might do to affect the minds of people that look up to them?

Quit Smoking Advertisement

Many people continue to smoke these days disregarding all the warnings about the dangers of smoking. Many people think about how smoking effects themselves and the smokers but people usually forget about the children having to live in the same house as the smokers. Smoking kills many people everyday and when one of those smokers dies and leaves a kid behind it is very sad and hard on the kid's life. If that was a single parent then that child has to live in a foster home and most likely has health problems from breathing in all the smoke from their parent. Is smoking in a house with a child being responsible? Should it be illegal because it endangers the child? Should smoking become illegal because it makes kids lose their parents everyday? Children deserve to live in a safe house where their parents are caring for them and not dying because of smoking. Is smoking more harmful for the child in the long run than it is for the actual parent that is smoking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAxUpeVhCg

Zach Galifianakis smokes weed on live television

Zach Galifianakis, the well known actor from the movie, "The Hangover," appeared on the Bill Maher show. Showing his support for a current piece of legislation, he took things to the extreme. How does an act like this, from a man of Galifianakis' standing, influence voters? Does this portray a message that celebrities are 'above' the law? Towards the end, Galifianakis eludes to hallucinating to show how peoples perception of the drug are far from his perceived reality. He downplays weed to seem harmless. How does this affect the minds of younger viewers? adult viewers? Finally the woman who takes the joint seems to be in complete shock. What would have your response had been in her shoes? How does her reaction affect the viewers opinion of Galifianakis' stunt?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY2BlM0YmyE

Substance abuse consequences

Many people do not really think of the consequences of drugs when they take them. This image pushes those limits of consequences. The fact that this image includes children and whether their father loves them or not makes one wonder how could people want to take drugs if the consequences can be so extreme as this? Do people even think of consquences anymore since everyone is left off easier now compared to before? Are consequences a factor anymore since the goverment are thinking about making some drugs legal?

The tag on this image is "alcoholism."

I think it is a very thought provoking poster because it takes things that everyone experiences such as nerves, anger, and regret and states it in ways that the reader may be able to relate to having done the same thing at some point in their lives. This does not mean every person who has used alcohol to calm themselves is an alcoholic but it does cause the debateable question of what separates the people who have a problem from those who don't? What's to say that one drink is one too many? I also think that the picture does a very good job of backing it up to with the unusual setting and a woman that seems to be very well put together and doesn't look as though her life is in disarray. Why do you think the producers chose a picture like this one? How does it relate with the caption underneath? How does this ad's uniqueness appeal to you? Or doesn't it?

Stampede Beer Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpnG_oNekU

Stampede Beer is a relatively unknown beer, however, this commercial, like many others, presents beer complemented with sex. The advertiser wants the audience to think that if they buy this beer then a "sexy" woman will come as well. The last part of the advertisement reads, "Stampede Beer, Plus." The "plus" clearly indicates the woman; if you buy this, regardless of what you look like, how old you are, or your economic stance, you get hot woman. The advertiser is directing this commercial to a male audience mainly. The woman does acts sexually and her poses and gestures have undertones of sexual actions. Why does sex sell beer? Does it only sell it to men? Another key detail of this video is that the man does not have to move. The woman takes care of all of his needs, while he gets to sit on a couch watching her perform sexy gestures. A thing that only men can relate to once again choosing a sexist point of view. The man does not even have to open his beer; the most sexually visual part in the whole clip. The woman opens the beer with her mouth in a manner resembling fellatio. Do beer marketers only target males? Do women respond violently to this type of advertisement? Does this influence people under the age of 21? Is beer associated with sex, is sex associated with beer, or are they independent of each other?

Substance Abuse & Music

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2008/02/05/drugs-and-alcohol-and-your-kids-music

As noted in many other posts, substance abuse is a serious problem in the world today. There are many factors that come into play when diagnosing why someone becomes dependent on drugs and alcohol. Could music really play a big role into substance abuse? As the article mentions, many of the songs we are listening to everyday are loaded with references to alcohol and other drugs. The average teenager listens to about two and a half hours of music each day. If three-fourths of the music they are listening to reference drinking and partying, could many teens be testing it out because of the lyrics they are listening to? Obviously, these artists who created the music made it big by conjuring up lyrics heavily associated to these illegal activities, so how bad could they be right? Are kids realizing that not every lyric they hear is the truth? What message do you believe songwriters are attempting to get across with their substance abuse filled lyrics?

BACARDI STRONG ARM

Alcohol abuse in teenagers is a serious problem. Before graduating high school, students will spend about 18,000 hours in front of the television—more time than they will spend in school. During this time they will watch about 2,000 alcohol commercials on television each year. Alcohol advertisements reach youth not only through television, but also through other varied media, such as billboards, magazines, sports stadium signs, and on mass transit such as subway systems. In all, youth view 45% more beer ads and 27% more liquor ads in magazines than do people of legal drinking age.

This is a commercial advertisement of Bacardi. How attractive are the alcohol advertisements to teenagers? What elements in the advertisements do teenagers find the most attractive? How can we eliminate the negative influences of alcohol advertisement on teenagers? 

Drug Wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhMobuDCzPQ&feature=related

In today's news limelight, one would normally see headlines related to the Middle East, Immigration, the Republican nominees, and various Pop culture scandals. While all are obviously strong points for further inspection, no one truly hears about the close-to-home issues we have to our Southern boarder. Why has no one given more attention to the drug wars in Mexico when such a threat looms so close? Perhaps due to more immediate concerns, this has been pushed out of the view of our society for some time. Sometime soon, this issue will rear its head into national policy and will raise major questions. How will we handle death caused over money and drugs? How can we deal with the drugs that come into the United States from these cartels? Why haven't we stepped in to stop the corruption and control so openly flashed about?

Anti Smoke AD 5!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecAEJTsvyas
Nowadays, an increasing number of people become to smoke, especially teenagers. Although, it is universally acknowaged that smoking has bad influence on people's health, people still cannot quit smoking. But why do they still smoking even though they know it is harmful to themselves? Besides, what cause an increasing number of teenagers began smoking? Since it is cool or other reasons? How can we reduce the number of smokers effectively?

Sex and Alcohol

Alcohol ads almost never fail to have some kind of sexual thought portrayed in them. Most have a much stronger appeal to men than women, since you only relatively see a very attractive woman hanging all over a guy with a beer in his hand. In this ad however, you see the opposite, where it is instead meant for a female audience. Why is it that alcohol almost always come across as sexually related? Is that the main attraction, the hope of "getting it in" with a stranger? More than 50% of all sexual assaults happen while under the influence of alcohol. Why is it that alcohol company's put such a positive note on the connection between sex and alcohol?

David After the Dentist

David After Dentist

Yes, the drug was administered by a doctor, but it would appear as though he received it in excess. Abuse is debatable, but use is for certain. I'm wondering if all the positive posts on this Youtube video is rhetoric? It seems to portray "tripping" in a positive and humorous light. What if someone had taken this same drug recreationally? Would people view it in the same light?

Crop Fail Central Africa

http://activistnews.blogspot.com/2010/08/millions-at-risk-as-crops-fail-in.html

Mother kills intruder to protect her 3 month old son

http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/oklahoma-mother-18-kills-intruder-breaking-into-her-home-while-on-phone-with-911-27777235.html

Pro-Life Ad

U.S. soldier held by the Tailban

http://news.yahoo.com/family-u-soldier-held-taliban-hopeful-over-qatar-064342848.html

Pathos Assignment

This is Group 6's video for our assignment.
It contains profanity.

Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc