Headed to work? Think again.

A few days ago. I was in the car when I came across this billboard for Bay Alarm. I laughed immediately.

Now I'm not quite sure if they were going for a humorous look or are being serious. Regardless I had never seen an ad for an alarm system like this before.

After seeing this ad, I'm not going to lie, it actually made me think. Now I'm sure Bay Alarm wasn't  trying to be deep or anything. But I would definetly say that they successfully broke through the clutter. 

All of the aspects of this ad relate to Bay Alarm. The two colors of the background, red and black, tie back to the colors of the company. We see white letters on a dark red background which makes the words stand out. Lastly on the bottom right corner is the Bay Alarm logo, because what is an ad without the companies logo? 

This ad uses the "need to feel safe", because I mean if the burglars are going to work.. then you need Bay Alarm. 

This ad is also a very simple one. The billboard is not busy and it gets to the point. For this reason it connects to advertising technique of "plain folks", that Bay Alarm is for any average American. 

All of the parts of this ad are meant to catch the consumers attention and make them remember Bay Alarm. It definitely worked.

"Climate Change"? Think again..

We've all heard about global warming, right? This thing that's been slowly happening to the earth, that humans have pretty much done themselves.

The definition of global warming is "a gradual increase in overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere".
         
The definition of climate change is "a change in global or regional climate patterns".
         
Sound familiar? I wonder why...
         
The phrase "climate change" is one that we began to hear in the 20th century as a way to put a less negative spin on "global warming". But has the planet all of the sudden stopped warming? No.

If you look at any government run websites like whitehouse.gov, you will see that global warming is always referred to as climate change. And then our "energy economy" that goes along with it.

Then, if you take a look at sites putting together petitions to stop global warming, warning people of it, or even telling them what they can do themselves to prevent it, the word "global warming" will be plastered all over the page.

Overall, the constant theme that is seen by looking at different sites is this:
If the site is run by the government you will see "climate change".
If the site is run by activists or anyone fighting to stop climate change you will see "global warming".

This leads us to the question: Why?

George Orwell's article, Politics in the English Language, shows us why.

Orwell says that today, language in politics is "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable". Now that may be a little much to connect to the topic at hand, but what Orwell is trying to say is that words are twisted in order to give them a different meaning that may not necessarily be true.

So in this case, the government could be using the phrase "climate change" in order to make it sound less severe then it is. This would be done to make the reader seem less worried.

At the same time, activist groups and organizations could be using the harsher term "global warming" in order for the reader to get worried and step up.

Which one is actually being used? Up to you to decide.

How does social media affect you today?

          Media shapes my day to day life very much. My day is shaped around Netflix, Twitter, Instagram, and my friends. I wake up and the first thing I do is check my phone, see who's texted me and respond to some texts, maybe even send a few good morning texts. Next I get on twitter and read the rest of the posts. This is how I wake up, every day. Throughout the day I constantly check Instagram, my Twitter feed, and Snapchat stories. When I get home, before I start any homework I check all my social media. While I do homework I am constantly texting friends, sometimes face timing, and I will admit that Netflix sometimes plays in the background while I do my math homework or textbook questions.    

          I am very thankful for social media since I cannot imagine a day without this routine. With social media I am connected with all of my friends. Because of social media, I am able to know what my friends in Canada and my friends in Argentina are doing and stay connected with them even when in different countries. With social media I also share my photography. I go out and take pictures with my Canon camera almost every week and then I come home, upload them to my computer, and post them on Facebook. Then, my favorite pictures get added to my Instagram issues. This is something I really enjoy doing and something that I would not necessarily be able to do without the help of social media. Although some might call my relationship with social media unhealthy, I welcome it with open arms.