Mental Illness and Stigma

Alicia T. sent us this promotional material for "Psycho Teddy." I can't tell if it's an actual stuffed bear, a cartoon character (see video below from youtube and purchase the ring tone if you so desire), or both.



Text:

We’re letting our Pulse members in on the latest craze… he’s cute, he’s cuddly, he’s a great dancer, but he is also insane… don’t call him at a bad time, or you may trigger a psychotic episode!

Apart from that, he really is a very sociable, well traveled, well connected Teddy, who is storming up the charts and fast becoming the world’s favorite bear.

I think he goes psycho about 1/3rd of the way in. Enjoy!



Thanks Alicia T!

Also in mental illness: kipnapping ads get pulled after protests.

Map of Child Well-Being Rankings

The Every Child Matters Education Fund has an interactive map that allows you to click on a state and see where it ranks in terms of several indicators of child well-being.

Safer Sex In Spain: Differing Opinions

Alex in Spain sent us some links to this safer sex ad campaign. I think the image below is particularly interesting. In the U.S. anyway, we rarely see safer sex principles being applied to oral sex. Also, I much prefer the musical instrument metaphor to the gun metaphor.


Thanks Alex!

More safer sex campaigns: Milwaukee, New York, the United Kingdom, and France and Germany.

GWEN ADDS: I want to point out Oxydo is a sunglasses company. I think these images are advertisements for their sunglasses, not a safe-sex campaign. Here are two more posters:

Notice that in all of these, the woman is a faceless body to have sex with, whereas the guy is presumably supposed to be cool because he's wearing sunglasses. I'm not sure it's an AIDS awareness campaign at all--I think it's actually an ad campaign for Oxydo, and "protected" sex means wearing their sunglasses. They add the AIDS ribbon at the bottom to make a connection to anti-AIDS campaigns. See Copyranter's discussion here. Did anyone else notice the musical score in the first image is for "The Magic Flute"?

So there you go, folks--polysemy in action. People read images differently, and not always as the creator intended. This might be a unique AIDS-awareness campaign, or it might just be an ad that makes a superficial nod to AIDS awareness.

1908 Schlitz Ad: Beer Is Good for You!

This ad is from April, 1908:


Beer as a healthy tonic--I'm surprised beer companies haven't returned to this, now that we're obsessed with whole grains again. Apparently they also used to call Schlitz "liquid bread."

Thanks to Larry H. at the Los Angeles Times Daily Mirror blog!

Cord Blood Banking: Playing on Parental Fear

I found this ad for an umbilical cord blood storage company in the April 2008 issue of Healthy Las Vegas.


It provides a list of all kinds of very scary-sounding diseases as reasons you should pay to store your baby's blood cord. It's another example of scaring parents into buying expensive products to protect their kids--and, obviously, if you won't spend the money to store your baby's umbilical cord blood for years, you aren't a very good parent.

I went to the company's website. Under the heading "You Only Get One Chance to Bank Cord Blood" it says:

Banking a baby’s cord blood could prove invaluable should you ever need it. You only have one chance to collect this vital fluid and minutes after your baby is born. This sample has the potential to not only help the baby in the future, but also to blood relatives such as parents and siblings. It offers a powerful medical resource in fighting devastating chronic and acute diseases. Think of it as an investment in your family's future.

It costs $1,850 for the kit to collect the blood from a single birth, plus $95 a year, or $1600 for 18 years, to store it.

Just for fun I looked up the prevalence of some of the diseases listed in the ad. Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome occurs in about 1 out of every 380,000 people. For amyloidosis, it's about 1 in 100,000. Less than 1 in 200,000 people have Wolman disease (these are all NIH estimates).

To put this in perspective, according to some calculations, a male African American child has about a 1 in 20 lifetime chance of being killed by gunfire. I don't know what it is for white kids, but I bet that, risk-wise, you'd be better off buying your kid a bullet-proof vest than banking their cord blood.

Representing International Disproportions

Worldmapper offers maps in which the actual land area is morphed to represent various disproportionalities across the globe. The website has over 300 maps! Thanks 73man for the tip!

I borrowed a few examples and pasted them in below. The first map is an actual land area map for reference.

Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide net exports of toys (in US$) that come from there. Net exports are exports minus imports. When imports are larger than exports the territory is not shown.



Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide net imports of toys (in US$) that are received there. Net imports are imports minus exports. When exports are larger than imports the territory is not shown.



Territory size shows the proportion of carbon dioxide emissions in 1980 that were directly from there.



Territory size shows the proportion of all territory level decreases in carbon dioxide emissions between 1980 and 2000, that occurred there.



Territory size shows the proportion of state military spending worldwide that was spent by that territory in 2002.



Territory size shows the proportion of species worldwide that became extinct between 1500 current era and 2004, that became extinct there.



Territory size shows the proportion of all people over 15 in the world living with diabetes who live there.



Territory size shows the proportion of all people aged 15-49 with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) worldwide, living there.



See more alternative maps here.

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Thomas Beatie, The Pregnant Man, In The Public Sphere

Thomas is a female-to-male transgendered man without "bottom" surgery. He is legally a man and legally married to his wife, Nancy. He stopped taking testosterone and was artifically inseminated. He is now about six months pregnant:



I'm not sure what to make, sociologically, of the attention that Thomas' pregnancy is receiving in the mass media, but it is ripe for analysis. Below I've collected a bunch of different takes from various media outlets. I'd love to hear what ya'll think.

CNN:



Fox News:



On David Letterman:



MSNBC:



More MSNBC:



The Oprah Promo:



The Beginning of the Oprah Special:

Do Breast Exams Because Boobs Are Hot

These two images were part of the campaign to raise awareness about breast cancer at my college this year. I think it is fascinating that, even when spreading a message about women's health, the images include sexualization and objectification (on the right) and a woman posed to look insecure, vulnerable, and maybe slightly scared (on the left).

MIssissippi Law Would Ban Obese People from Eating at Restaurants

Click below to download the text of Mississippi House Bill 282, which would prohibit restaurants from serving individuals defined as obese by the State Department of Health guidelines.

DOWNLOAD FILE

A summary with a link to the complete text is also available here. MHB 282 is currently before the State Legislature. The author admits it is unlikely to pass but that he is bringing attention to the issue of obesity.

This could be useful for a discussion of our views of fat people, how it is ok to ridicule or openly stigmatize fat people in a way that is not acceptable for other social characteristics, and the way fat has been turned into a sign of a weak character (i.e., a fat person just doesn't, or won't, have the self-control to stop eating).

Thanks for the tip, Kelly V.!

The Gap Between The Life Expectancy Of The Rich And Poor Is Increasing

Perhaps related to increasing wealth and income inequality in our society, the gap between the life expectancy of the rich and the poor is also increasing. This image is from a New York Times article on the topic:



Dr. Singh, who was part of the study, explains:

In 1980-82... people in the most affluent group could expect to live 2.8 years longer than people in the most deprived group (75.8 versus 73 years). By 1998-2000, the difference in life expectancy had increased to 4.5 years (79.2 versus 74.7 years), and it continues to grow.

"Sex with a Child is a Crime" HIV Awareness Poster

Christine M. sent in this photo of a poster she "took in Zambia in May 2006 while I was visiting the compound of a child sponsoring organization called Children International. It speaks for itself in a country that has a high rate of HIV infection. The very fact that such a poster is needed is chilling."

Is the child at the top supposed to be Asian? I can't tell.

Thanks, Chris!

Promoting A Date Rape Drug?

If not, why the martini?


Found here.

VD Is For Everybody

Heather from HeatherShow, who uploaded this gem, says:

This infamously botched Public Service Announcement from 1969 confused an entire generation of children into thinking that they too can be attractive, successful, and happy, if only they could get their hands on VD... whatever it is... Sign me up! I want some too!

Sperm In Space; Or Sperm Wars

Apparently, if you use Viagra, your ejaculation will be so powerful that you will shoot sperm into space to aggressively penetrate Planet Egg:

This ad was made by a firm in China. Found thanks to copyranter.

Energy Drink for Girls

I saw this energy drink this morning at a gas station. Notice that it's sugar-free. According to the website, a portion of proceeds goes to fight breast cancer, though it's unclear if they mean a portion of the profits of the drink, or just things bought at the online store. Another example of the idea of doing good through consumption, not by just donating money directly to an organization addressing an issue you care about (for other examples see here, here and here). Also, the website says Go Girl is not a rehydration drink (such as Gatorade), but a "functional beverage," whatever that is.

Mental Illness Steals Your Child's True Self

The images below are fake ransom notes designed to encourage parents to get their children into treatment for autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, asperger syndrome, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (click image to enlarge). They were commissioned by the New York University Child Study Center, but quickly attracted enough outrage that the campaign was abandoned (see a summary of the controversy at Mental Illness Watch). They are interesting to me as a sociologist because of the way they construct mental illness (like a kidnapper who steals your child... so the child you have is not your "real" child), pharmaceuticals (the only way to get your real child back), and parenting (you are a bad parent if you don't do what the experts tell you). It's fascinating the way they use threats to "help" ("ignore this and your kid will pay,"this is only the beginning," and "It's up to you now").

Text: We have your son. We will make sure he will not be able to care for himself or interact socially as long as he lives. This is only the beginning. -Autism

Text: We have your daughter. We are making her wash her hands until they are raw, every day. This is only the beginning. -OCD

Text: We have your son. We are destroying his ability for social interaction and driving him into a life of complete isolation. It's up to you now. -Asperger Syndrome

Text: We are in possession of your son. We are making him squirm and fidget until he is a detriment to himself and those around him. Ignore this and your kid will pay. -ADHD

Ritalin for Moms

Before ADD/ADHD, ritalin was prescribed to tired, overworked mothers. This 1967 ad claimed that ritalin could cure "Tired Mom Syndrome":



Amazing!

Thanks to my friend, Jake L!

Comics For Contraception

The image below is the cover of a comic book designed to teach adults about birth control (it seems to have been published in 1956 and again in 1962). Find it all online here.



Found here via copyranter.

A Long Way Since Comstock

New York City Department of Health thinks we should all get some... and they don't mean condoms, if you know what I mean (wink, wink).



In case you don't believe me, check out the commercial.

Found at copyranter.

Fear Mongering And Objectification...

...for a good cause, of course.

Part of this campaign.

A comparison of these with some of the other more and less objectifying PSAs might be an interesting class exercise.