Svedka Ad: Sexy Female Robots

Larry H., from over at The Daily Mirror, sent these Svedka ads along. They have weird sexualized female robots in them.

I don't know what this even means:




I wonder if Tom Cruise knows about this one:



This fembot's boobs are rather drastically out of proportion to the rest of her body:

Thanks, Larry!

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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"Shop Victoriously"

Consumption as sport:



Thanks Miguel!

A Metaphor For Gender Relations

Our reader, Elizabeth A., drew our attention to this ad and she does a great job of describing what, exactly, is so disturbing about it:

The sexism at work here is nothing new. It's just your tired, old, run-of-the-mill objectification of women as inanimate objects [robots] whose sole purpose is to sacrifice their own desires so that they may cater to the tastes [for draught keg contents] of the implied male viewer. In fact, the image in the commercial of a woman emptying herself for a man while keeping a constant smile is actually a disturbing reification of many women's experience. Socialized to abnegate themselves, women may try and try to please other people, draining themselves of energy, until they are as empty as used beer cans. While the images used here are distractingly sexy, the underlying message is a terrifying turn-off, yet another example of how Heineken's execs underestimate their target audience [hey, hetero men, you don't want female companionship, just a fembot-like servitor!], insult women and leave everyone feeling demoralized and worse for wear.

More from Elizabeth at her blog: Blog of Stench.

The Post-Industrial Economy

This figure demonstrates the shift from an economy dominated by manufacturing, to one dominated by information and services. As I understand it, it is this shift that is driving the shrinking of the middle class.


Image borrowed from http://www.whosyourcity.com/.

Gender Politics In Life And Time

This famous Life Magazine cover from 1971 trumpeted the feminist movement:

Six years later, in 1977, Time Magazine reminded us that gender difference (and inequality?) was genetic and, thus, out of our control:

And don't miss the famous 1978 Hustler cover that appeared the very next year!

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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.

Differential Use Of E-Networks Across The Globe

Apparently we don't live in a global e-village, so much as some regional ones (click the image to enlarge, fake your French to figure it out).



Is there a social networks person out there who could speculate on implications?

Thanks to John L. for this one, via Le Monde!

A Quick Lesson In Production And Consumption

Click here for a 20-minute video by Annie Leonard called The Story of Stuff. It it, using animation, she explains how "[f]rom its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad."

Using Sex to Sell Microsoft XP

"DDT Is Good For Me-e-e!"

DDT was a pesticide marketed to housewives (and many others). We later discovered it to be a horrible environmental toxin. Below are two of the propaganda posters (Via Mindfully and KnowDrama and noticed thanks to John L.):

Text:

“The great expectations held for DDT have been realized. During 1946, exhaustive scientific tests have shown that, when properly used, DDT kills a host of destructive insect pests, and is a benefactor of all humanity.

Pennsalt produces DDT and its products in all standard forms and is now one of the country’s largest producers of this amazing insecticide. Today, everyone can enjoy added comfort, health and safety through the insect-killing powers of Pennsalt DDT products . . . and DDT is only one of Pennsalt’s many chemical products which benefit industry, farm and home.

GOOD FOR FRUITS – Bigger apples, juicier fruits that are free from unsightly worms . . . all benefits resulting from DDT dusts and sprays.

GOOD FOR STEERS – Beef grows meatier nowadays . . . for it’s a scientific fact that compared to untreated cattle beef-steers gain up to 50 pounds extra when protected from horn flies and many other pests with DDT insecticides.

FOR THE HOME – Helps to make healthier and more comfortable homes . . . protects your family from dangerous insect pests. Use Knox-Out DDT Powders and Sprays as directed . . . then watch the bugs ‘bite the dust’!

FOR DAIRIES – Up to 20% more milk . . . more butter . . . more cheese . . . tests prove greater milk production when dairy cows are protected from the annoyance of many insects with DDT insecticides like Knox-Out Stock and Barn Spray.

GOOD FOR ROW CROPS – 25 more barrels of potatoes per acre . . . actual DDT tests have shown crop increases like this! DDT dusts and sprays help truck farmers pass these gains along to you.

FOR INDUSTRY – Food processing plants, laundries, dry cleaning plants, hotels . . . dozens of industries gain effective bug control, more pleasant work conditions with Pennsalt DDT products.

Food And The Environment

This graphic from the New York Times illustrates the different environmental costs of meat and vegetable production (click on image to enlarge):

Framing Genetically-Modified Food

The coining of the term "frankenfood" to refer to genetically-modified food is an excellent example of the way in which words matter. As of today, a search for the word in google returns about 57,000 hits. It's been quite an effective frame for the anti-GM food activists. Here are some examples of their work:




Sources, in order, Green Acres Farm, Monsterzine, and Democratic Underground.

Big Pharma

Click here for a humorous music video about prescription drugs and the pharmaceutical industry.

Awesome Irony

This is the face of James Watson. He won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering the structure of DNA. He's a pretty big deal.

The other day he said some very unfortunate things. The article from which I stole this information summarized those things as follows:

The controversy began with an article in The Times of London in October that quoted Dr. Watson, who was on a book tour, as saying that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.” According to the article, he said that “there are many people of color who are very talented,” and he hoped people were equal, but that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”

Well, it turns out that a test of his DNA revealed that he has 16 times more African origin genes than the typical European person: "about the same amount of African DNA that would show up if one great-grandparent were African."

That's some awesome irony.

Here is a nice discussion of the scientific merit of his assertion and it's testability by Janis Prince Inniss from the Everyday Sociology Blog supported by W. W. Norton & Co.

Dentistry

I'm sort of obsessed with the recent escalation in the standards for "good" teeth. I saw a film from the 80s the other day where Keifer Sutherland had yellow teeth. Yellow teeth! I am so well-adjusted to the new bleaching practices that I was genuinely disgusted. I'm not proud. Adding to all this bleaching are new technologies like veneers and invisible braces and whoknowswhat. As each becomes more and more common, it becomes more and more unusual to have less-than-perfect teeth and the pressure to undergo these cosmetic procedures becomes less about being extraordinary and more about being ordinary. Anyway, I found this in the New York Times (see source in image):


Any guesses as to who it is in society that is disproportionately cavity-stricken?

Or... anyone interested in critiquing the line graphs? That is a really rapid change between '99-'02 and '03-'04 and there are a lot of years strangely lumped together. Could it be an artifact of bundling?

Feminism For Men

Men, don't let men be jerks.


Thanks to my feminist man friend, Jason, who found this here.

Graphic Manipulation

Here is a blog dedicated to showing how graphs and charts can be misleading, either intentionally or unintentionally. The examples are all graphs actually published (most in major media outlets), and the author points out deceptive distortions in axes, etc.

Fake TV Commercial...

...promoting coal that illustrates how manipulative commercials are (also funny).