Everyday Problem.

11/20/12
Nicole Amaral
100257087

Media is a big part of our everyday lives, whether we realize that or we don’t, and the consumption of media is also a big part. As the textbook mentions “Media consumption is an integral part of our everyday lives.” This statement is true, it is a part of all our lives, but more so likely to young children and teenagers. The media is constantly putting images into our brains without us even knowing.  Food comes into play with media consumption on a regular basic daily. Some of the examples of this might be watching television in the morning and seeing a breakfast commercial or walking down to the cafeteria or stores in the mall for lunch and seeing various pictorial advertisements. We are being bombarded with subtle messages that we cannot even being to understand. 

Credit: Ron McArthur

While there are young girls around world being bombarded with pictures of models and celebrities showing them the “true” beauty in being skinny? There are also counter advertisements showing us pictures of fast food restaurants, hamburgers and greasy food which tend to influence the young children in America. This in turn could lead to obesity.

Credit: [x]

 Another big example of media consumption for children and teenagers are the television shows and movies they watch. According to the International Journal of Obesity, one third of G-rated movies, more than half of PG-rated movies and almost three quarters of PG-13-rated movies and television shows have had brand appearances. This would definitely include clothing, electronics and most importantly food. In the journal it also states that, “six companies accounted for almost half of all brand placements [in movies rated G, PG or PG-13] – Pepsi-Co, Coca-Cola, Nestle USA, McDonald’s, Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group and Burger King. These by my knowledge are all junk food and fast food.

Sure once in a while giving your children fast food or junk food is okay, and its normal. But if media consumption like this keeps on happening and we keep on ignoring it, child obesity in America and other parts of the world would not be a problem. But because children do not tend to think about what they want to put into their bodies and eat whatever they feel like, obesity is a main concern for the new generation. As I have mention in the beginning, media consumption is a humongous part of our daily lives, it’s everywhere we go, all around us, yet it is so subtle that we hardly realize we have been absorbing all these messages. 

Related Links

The Influence of the Media on Food Consumption and Body Image
Media and Disorders

Speed shopping.

11/06/2012

Nicole Amaral

100257087

Credit: [x]

Speed has become one of the main factors in almost everything we do in modern day life today. In societies throughout North America, and other parts of the world, the acceleration of communication has shaped the society. With communication devices and tools such as the internet and cellphones, we instantly and unknowingly demand of everything to be at our fingertips, and within our reach, in the blink of an eye.  The society today has been shaped in such a way that we can virtually do anything with our handheld devices, cellphones, computers, laptops, tablets, anything that can connect us to others, may it be someone who is 5 meters away from you, or 5000 kilometers away.

So how would the topic of speed relate to food one would wonder? Well, while I was away on my trip to the United Kingdom, London to be more specific, I came to a realization that everybody there shops online. Not only do they shop online for clothing or electronics, but also for their groceries. Almost every well know grocery store there had an option where customers could do some online grocery shopping.

 I then proceeded to ask both my aunties and my cousins that live there if they shopped online for their groceries. 3 out of 4 of them said that they do, only because the amount of time it took them to go on the internet and order for the food hardly took 10 minutes, as compared to going to the grocery store and shopping around. Even the delivery of the groceries comes right to the doorstep and it arrives within 4-6 hours of your placed order.

Credit: David Pearson/Alamy

This is a play on the cycle of production, distribution and consumption. As mentioned in the textbook, “businesses manufacture a product or a service [in this instance]; the product or service is made available to consumers; consumers purchase the product or service; and the profits from that sale are directed back to the business owner.” So the faster there is a sale made, the faster profits are delivered to business owners.  

Credit: Super Delivery

Credit Super Delivery

Like I mentioned previously, speed is becoming a main factor in the way we live life in this society today. There are various stores in Vancouver itself that have an online grocery shopping option; technology is advancing at a high speed level, no pun intended, and there is hardly anything we can do to stop it from integrating itself in our everyday lives.

Related Links: 604 anytime ; The new age of online grocery shopping

Tradition and Cultures around Christmas

Winter is coming, soon enough, and with winter comes Christmas, well for those who celebrate it. Christmas means different things to different people. For some people it means celebrating the birth of Christ with family or loved ones and for others it’s an opportunity to bank in on presents, this is a great example of parole. Dr. Richard P. Bucher says that, “the word “Christmas” refers to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the most important part of the celebration of Christ’s birth.” 

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Christmas is a traditional celebration among Christians and Catholics. And while I myself am Catholic and do celebrate Christmas, one thing I can’t get away from at that time of year is food. Everywhere I go, every house I visit, every party I go to, even when I go shopping, there is always a variety and abundance food. Cookies, candy, hot chocolate drinks, traditional Christmas sweets, cakes, traditional drinks, lunches and dinners, the list goes on. It’s quite overwhelming at times but every year on Christmas Day, my whole family sits down at the dining table and we have a traditional Christmas dinner.

Credit: Ronaldo F Cabuhat

Credit: Shutterstock

What makes a Christmas meal successful? Women in Kentucky who participated in a study by the Department of Occupational Therapy say that is “is just having family all together and sharing.”  I agree with this statement because I definitely think that the ideology behind Christmas is community and family. Working together with family and friends to make meals, shop for others or just spend time together is a big part of the tradition and culture of people who celebrate Christmas. That time of year is very important to people who value tradition.


However, these days tradition at Christmas time is changing. The world is changing how we see Christmas. For example, the economy during the week before Christmas is booming due to the fact of people buying presents. This is because to a certain extent many people these days don’t think about Christmas in a traditional way.  They don’t think about celebrating the birth of Christ and what that means, or going to church. They think about it as giving gifts and receiving even better ones in return. This could be a cultural discourse because we are shaping the way we will think about Christmas in the future. Eventually tradition might even die down because of how the generations today are thinking about cultural events. 

Related Links: What does"Christmas" mean?

Misleading Labels.

9/24/2012
Nicole Amaral
100257087

Video credit [x] ; Gif Credit: Nicole Amaral

Grocery shopping is one of those things that are done weekly or more than that for some peoples. But have you ever chosen a certain food item over another simply because of what the labels look like? Well, it might just be time to reconsider some choices made. That’s because terms like “fat free”, “trans-fat free” and “all natural” that we usually tend to see in abundance on food labels these days, might not be healthy at all.

Credit: Nicole Amaral

Annoyed? Bothered? Frustrated? Well I kind of am. Not because I’m being deceived by certain products that I thought were good for me but also because these are actually some of the food items that I love to eat! One of my favourite things to snack on during class or throughout the day are granola bars, or Nutri-Grain bars to be more specific. Even though on the box and label it says “more of the whole grain your body needs” and “made with real fruits/ fruit filling” it’s not true. These types of statement are put on labels in order to grab customer’s attention and it’s done this way on purpose. I found this out by reading the nutritional facts that are on the back of the box, which some people don’t tend to read. There are about 13 grams of sugars and 100 milligrams of sodium in every bar, that doesn’t seem as much when written down on paper, but it does add up.

Credit: Nicole Amaral

I am certainly not trying to bash on any food items but this is just an example of why people should definitely check out the nutritional facts and ingredient lists on all the food products they buy. Buying food based on just packaging and labels could potentially be harmful, and in order to cut down on that checking the ingredients and nutritional facts are a great start.  According to a Nielsen Survey and Health.com nearly 59% of consumers have a hard time understanding nutrition labels.

Food labels like this mislead the public into thinking they are getting an organic and healthy product, when in reality they are getting an opposite of what they want.  Miscommunication like this between companies and customers could be harmful not only to the customers’ health, but also towards the company.

There is a common saying “don’t believe everything you see and read” this statement factors into the essence of grocery shopping. Customers buying various food products often get deceived or have the wrong information on what they put into their body on a daily basis.  That’s why miscommunication between what people think they are eating and what they are actually eating isn’t a big surprise. Therefore people should definitely not believe all the labels they read on food products, that is, if they want to have a healthier life.

Related Links: Healthy or Hype? , Theory of Food Labels