politkin

2004-01-29 @ 7:44 p.m.

So yes it has been a while but there are several topics that have been brewing in my mind as of late. Topics that others have tackled but are so disturbing I need to add my 2 cents:

1. Diversity in media and marketing.

Working for a major entertainment company this is a major topic of discussion in our weekly team meetings. Recently we discussed the industry news that Media Marketing companies across the board are switching gears completely and beginning to use Racially/Culturally ambiguous models in their ads to better sell products to the overwhelmingly growing mixed population...hmmm this wasn't a surprise to me just a matter of time but apparently to the rest of the world its new and ingenius! It's just a sign of the times people, move with it.

But, heres what gets me...right after discussing this evolvement in marketing we spoke of a recent article in the NY post specifically talking about the fact that the average size of women is a size 12. In fact a startling fact is that "the average woman in America is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140 lbs. (in contrast, the average American model is 5-foot-11 and 117 lbs.). But not all retailers seem to care, especially high-end designers." Come on now 5'11" and 117? That's sick. Now, i work with retailers and are working on a new aspirational lifestyle brand for children yet for some reason our manufacturers won't make plus sizes (because retailers like Wal-Mart won't buy plus -size) in these childrens clothes nor do any of the icons for this brand (which is supposed to universally identify with each kid out there) are really diverse.

All have the same body type and each girl's facial features are exactly the same, save the skin color (mind you there is no Asian, because as it was told to me, "Asian girls don't buy Asian dolls"...I wonder why, ASS! That's why I fricking bought Hawaiian Barbie cause it was the only one that looked like my Mom...supply and demand ASSES) and the backgrounds for each icon is so incredibly stereotypical! How is the black girl gonna be from a single parent home?

Coming from a mixed average chick in NYC I try soooo hard to be heard (which aside from being guilty of needing a paycheck is part of the reason I am still working here), so much so that I have been labeled "urban" by my co-workers cause I'm so different from all of them that half the shit that should be common sense I have realized is not so common to most.

Anyways I guess my point is that we seem to be making moves but are they all really just on the surface...on the skin? Because it seems as far as the deep tissue is concerned, we haven't even made a mark.

2. Wal-Mart is the WORST!

Having to deal with them on a daily basis I know first hand they are the worst. Here we all know they are the worst too as it was another recent subject in our team meeting. Yet as much as we would like to cut them out the picture our licensees would lose too much $ if we lost their buy. It is sad. Mass Consumerism at its best and worst. They will destroy us I tell you because all of us greedy gangstas out there in Middle America can't resist saving a buck.

And now they are entering the online music business undercutting iTunes by selling their non-explicit lyric songs for 88cents. Is it THAT serious? Come on yall go to Target. They have better product, and are nicer people to deal with.

3. On another note...

inspired by numerous other entries out there I find compelled to urge anyone i can to please read the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine, specifically the Howard Dean articleand the article on the Alskan RainForest. This rainforest article pissed me off... how can people be so dumb. I mean really do you really think that your justification for cutting down an ancient, and might i note ONLY, temperate rainforest is smart? No. How are you gonna want to go to the Moon and Mars but you cant even preserve your own damn planet?

In blunt-ass Dean's words himself "When the energy industry writes your energy bill, and the pharmaceutical companies write your Medicare prescription benefit, you've got a big corporate-culture problem in this country." Let's not forget to throw the logging/timber industry in that mix.

Now, I don't mean to get all hardcore on yall but all in all I say Dean is who I'm rolling with and I say at least go vote.

There I did my part.

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