"My Hearts a Stereo, it beats for you so listen close hear my thoughts in every no-o-o-te." The preceding sentence is of no actual relevance to this post other than that of the "Stereo" was my sorry excuse of an intro as I have unfortunately run out of quippy ways to say, 'Hi.'
Alas I digress as it is time for a segment that will never run out, and that is the WOW word of the day. The English language though not limitless is finite, however that being said it is still rife with enough words to span my entire lifetime. In fact there is an approximated 1, 025, 109.8 words in the English language (An estimate made by the Global Language Monitor), #themoreyouknow. I don't even know what the .8th of a word is but I'm still amazed by the sheer number of words that define this complex yet free language that is not privy to any specific sect of people. That being said this posts word of the day comes courtesy of a nifty new app I downloaded and it is "Irascible." The word describes exactly what I am when I don't get enough sleep or when I feel burdened with numerous amount of superfluous tasks. Similar to previous entries within this illustrious bit, the word is akin to other words such as 'truculent' and 'belligerent,' and by its literal meaning describes a person having or showing an tendency to be easily angered. An example of this would be, "The woman as a result of her irascible disposition turned to yoga as a source of relief." The aforementioned sentence was by no means a stereotypical generalisation of women as I myself am a keen feminist.
However speaking of stereotypes, a topic that been an integral and underpinning quality of our unit study of advertisements is in fact stereotypes. A ploy used by many Advertising agencies when marketing to different cultures and races stereotypes are a widely controversial issue that in the media has garnered a lot of heat. However my view on it and its use in persuading consumers is one that is entirely equivocal as whatever I imply can be misconstrued therefore making it much wiser for the reader to infer for themselves. The idea of stereotypes entails a sweeping generalisation by which an entire group of people can be associated. This is present for both cultures, race and gender. Opinions on many of these stereotypes are subjective as some view them in good humour while others perceive them to be blatantly offensive. For example an Indian stereotype would be the alleged proficiency all Indians are privy to with computers. A use of this in the media and specifically advertising would be if I creatively compared to the 'Help' bar of a computer to that of the services of an Indian IT guy. Other commonly found stereotypes include Jews and change, men and hard-work, women and there inherent belonging in the kitchen in addition to the the act of terrorism being made synonymous to that of an Arab ethnicity. My view on this as stated is conditional as when used appropriately without crossing any cultural boundaries, the use of stereotypes can be very effective. For example an ad I remember watching growing up showcased a stereotypical nerd ordinarily shunned by girls becoming the hit of the school once he applied some fancy deodorant. This though an extenuated example perfectly embodies my view on the use of stereotypes as I find the blatant use of extreme stereotypes for just selling a product to be in bad taste. For example an ad that showcases stereotypes that are of sensitive roots i.e. black people and crime or arab people and terrorism, can yes probably appeal to some specific audience however this incredibly inaccurate stigmatisation reflects poorly on the views of society and ostracises and offends a great majority. That is why I believe that yes advertisers do not have moral obligation to avoid using stereotypes but instead have a responsibility to use it wisely, thinking about what they are conveying rather than arbitrarily showcasing something in the hopes of a laugh or an immediate sale than in the longer term harbours a greater backlash than the intended purpose it was made for.
I hope this post was well received and I do hope to break out of this late night blog post trend as I should probably start valuing my sleep.
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