The email from President Crutcher, which included the statement from the Board of Trustees, feels very much like an empty gesture. Over and over again this year I have watched people, in many different situations, make decisions that just cover themselves and try to eliminate criticism instead of actually doing the things that are for the good of the community. The same applies here. While I understand it may be difficult to address all of the concerns being voiced, I think the least the university can do is not pretend they are making positive changes when they clearly are not. In both the letter and the statement, it talks about progress, advancements being made, care for the students and faculty, and other things that don’t seem to me to be the reality of the situation. President Crutcher urges “students and members of the community to continue to participate in this work to inform”, but individuals and groups are informing the university about what needs to change, and no advancements are being made. I do get that some decisions are difficult to make and change can be hard for a number of reasons, but I find it kind of hard to understand how they expect the UR community to take those letters in a positive manner when they are basically being told all of their work, informing, and advocacy are for nothing.

Just Mercy is not just the story of one man wrongfully incarcerated, it is the story of many black people who have all fallen victim to our failing justice system. The disproportionate incarceration of black people at a rate that is vastly higher than their population in the U.S. is a problem that stems from stereotypes and prejudice and a history of exclusion that has shaped a significant portion of our society. Ideas about black people being different or more “dangerous” are unfortunately still prevalent in American society today, perpetuated by films and popular culture that present black people and other minorities in a negative light.

For example, the practice of redlining which was designed to keep certain “undesirable” groups in specific residential areas still affects the racial and socioeconomic distribution of people, who have been trapped in a cycle of poverty, incapable of building wealth because of the area in which they live. Areas with higher minority populations are subject to significant over-policing, which in turn leads to higher rates of incarceration and “confirm” existing stereotypes about minorities, worsening the prejudice against them. The impact of incarceration for minor that likely would not have happened if the person was white is that it prevents black people from being able to get jobs and vote and have any impact on the system that has been failing them from the very start of our nation.

Not enough is being done in order to reshape the way that we (often unconsciously) think about people who are different from ourselves. In order to help address this, people should consume content that goes against their preexisting ideas, and they should educate themselves on the struggle of black people in America. Although this summer was a turning point for a lot of people, it is extremely important that the issue of racism does not continue to get swept under the rug the way it has for the past few hundred years.

I am very disappointed with the boards email. I think it shows a lack of concern and what they are prioritizing. In the email, you are also able to see how President Crutcher is clearly sating that it was the Board of Trustees decision and he has to share their choice by stating in the email, “The Board of Trustees has determined it will not remove names from campus buildings.” I felt bad for President Crutcher as I am sure that is not the response he was hoping for and he has to in essence be the messenger and puppet of what the Board of Trustees wants him to do.

First off, I think it is rude of the board to make President Crutcher deliver the message that they made the decision on. The lack of responsibility taken by the board for inaction that is harmful to many student on this campus is childish. If the board is going to be the one making the decision, they at least need to be the one delivering the message as well. I also think the email really provided no way forward. It mentioned honoring our history and such but really did not acknowledge or specify how that would be done in a way that condemns slave ownership. Honestly I think our class has put more thought into the question of whether or not to remove or alter the building names than the board has.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP0DaZBmwQI

I found this Dos Equis commerical very interesting- and also amusing to say the least. The commercial has the ever recurring “Most Interesting Man in the World” appearing in it, a staple of Dos Equis commercials. Commercials featuring him ran for 12 years between 2006-2018. Clearly, it was an effective ad campaign if they kept the same style of commercial running for 12 years. The continuing presence of him in these commercials alone proves that he wasn’t just successful, but that he was popular with viewers as well.

When you think about it, who is the target audience of beer commercials? If you said younger men, you’d be right. All of the Most Interesting man commercials are very clearly aiming towards younger men- this commercial is no exception. This commercial features a man jumping off a high cliff to impress women, and being very macho while recovering from injuries and swimming with monkeys. The whole time the narrator is saying things like “He is the life of parties he never attended” and “Sharks have a week about him”. Clearly, if you drink Dos Equis you will be as macho, sexy, and cool as the most interesting man in the world. In fact, you will be the most interesting man in the world- as the ad ends with “I don’t normally drink beer, but when I do I drink Dos Equis”. Dos Equis knows that this will get in the heads of younger men watching the commercial, to great success. It is an equivocation fallacy, but it is nonetheless effective. It is trying to seduce you with sex and alcohol to make you seem like a greek god, a sex object, but that is exactly what many young men want to be.

The commercial may be macho, relying on predisposed toxic masculinity to be effective; but given the length and success of the ad campaign, who can blame them?

I really enjoy this Progressive ad about not becoming your parents. I like this one because it shows us what we all fear, becoming our parents as we grow older. Even though we don’t usually want to become our parents, this ad makes our lizard brain connect Progressive with having the stability to own a home, something that a lot of millennials and Gen Z really want but do not necessarily have access to at the same level as their parents’ generation. Like Dr. Bezio discussed in her podcast, even if the ads don’t talk explicitly about the details of what they’re selling, they are probably trying to sell us the fantasy of what the product could do for us. In this case, it’s definitely meant to be a funny ad, and they say that Progressive can’t stop you from becoming your parents, but they can help insure new homeowners. Progressive is able to make fun of some “Boomer” stereotypes while also making millennials see themselves as potential homeowners one day, and progressive markets itself as an insurance agency that’s in touch with pop culture’s critique of the “Boomer” generation. 

Every couple of years, this Thai Life Insurance Company puts out an advertisement about small acts of kindness and how much of an impact they can have on your life as well as others. These videos go viral because they are incredibly emotional, this one is one of the less sad and more uplifting of the ones I’ve seen from them.

What I think is so interesting about this ad is that it does not feel like one, it feels like an inspiring self-help story with an ad slate thrown in at the end. This was obviously done on purpose so that the viewer’s lizard brain automatically connects the company with this inspiring and kind ethos. Rather than try to push life insurance, a very unsexy product to market, this company tries to connect its values to the values of the customer: community, kindness, and helpfulness. This resonates with all viewers, not just Thai ones, and bolsters the company’s standing throughout the world. As Dr. Bezio mentions in the podcast, we know cerebrally that this actor most likely does not use this company for his own insurance, (and even if he does, that does not make him lovely and kind automatically) but our lizard brains associate the company with these attributes and think that we will gain them too if we use their products. Overall, I think that this kind of manipulation is acceptable because even if it’s promoting the company, it’s doing so in an incredibly positive way that spreads a valuable message about being more self-less in everyday life.

I am pretty sure that half of the people who watch the Superbowl watch it for the halftime commercials. And one of the commercials that stuck with me the most this year was the Squarespace commercial featuring one of Dolly Parton’s most popular songs, “9 to 5”. As Dr. Bezio points out in the podcast- music is one of the most effective ways to get us as humans to remember something. Squarespace takes this very famous song and twists the lyrics, changing them to “5 to 9”.  Now they have you thinking about your time outside of your day-to-day job, the time when you can use their service to work on your passion, and they get that idea stuck in your head through a song. You can even listen to the full song which is 2:21 minutes instead of the shorter 39-second ad shown below. I found that this ad was very effective, I had the Dolly Parton song stuck in my head for days and it always reminded me of their commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWs5eq1B34Y

I think one of my all-time favorite advertisements would have to be the “John West Salmon: Bear Fight” ad that shows a fisherman going up to duel with a large grizzly bear. The entire advertisement feels like a crazy moment captured on camera to give it a more realistic and spontaneous feel.

I think this advertisement also shows us how humor and laughing play such a significant role in appealing to our lizard brains; when we laugh and find something funny, we release serotonin and associate it with happiness and relaxation. This ad makes us crack up because it’s a bear fighting a fishing dude as if they were in a cage match, and the perfectly-timed yelps and kicks had me in tears the first time I saw this ad years ago. And you wanna know why it stuck with me? Because it’s hilarious and it brought me joy.

Furthermore, there’s an underlying theme that John West Salmon is willing to go above and beyond to get fresh, great quality salmon, even if it means fighting wild grizzly bears. At the end of the advertisement, it shows the fisherman walking away with a large fish in his hands, we make the audience assume he was successful and that the company really does put this much work into getting good salmon just for us (which makes us feel special).

I think that humorous advertisements that make us laugh are some of the ones that stick with us the most, which is why so many people are obsessed with Super Bowl ads; the majority of them are aimed at making us giggle and has us looking forward to the next year’s advertisements.