A Sad Existence

Topic: Rumors of the death of Tab are not exaggerated. It's last call, and if you want some, you better do it now.

I have never heard about Tab, then again I am devoted to Dr. Pepper and all the weird off-brands that taste like it. Also where do we think the majority of women being concerned about their weight has come from? Looking at you male marketers with disdain. You know in history, the bigger the woman the more desirable she was. As the bigger she was, the richer she probably was and the wide hips were considered perfect for breeding purposes. While I do not think we should consider a woman on how many babies she could pop out, what happened to being okay with larger weights?

Happy white families in commercials and billboards, or art that are portrayed skinny. The ideal. Even the golden age of Hollywood liked a curvier figure. Justice for all body types, is what I'm saying. All this negative stuff associated in these diet commercials and products is gross.

Nothing wrong with wanting to diet. This is where we get mental disorders like body dysmorphia, where a person fixates on a "flaw" they perceive with their body. A "flaw" they may become aware about because of the media or the people around them. Anorexia, bulimia, and a plastic surgery disorder are some other disorders caused by this idea of a mainstream norm of what a human body is supposed to look like to be attractive.

Like shaving, in the 1910s Gillette started marketing their razors to women as the clothing they used to wear started to shed layers. They shamed the women in their ads for having armpit hair, making them feel embarrassed for something so natural. Let me tell you this, I think men's armpit hair is disgusting. If they don't have to shave their hair, why do we have to shave ours, same with leg hair. "Hairlessness is Classy and Feminine," screw the people who came up with that tag line. Screw the people who deemed that to sell razors to women they should shame them to do so. Screw the normalized behavior of constantly shaving to be accepted as attractive to whomever deems it important. Damn the man and damn society for morphing this outlook on life.

Also, news flash, ever heard of pink tax? This is where women's products are more expensive than their male counterparts. What in the ever loving gender discrimination is that?! Also women's products tend to last less than male products in order to sucker us into buying more and replacing them more frequently.

I am upset! I am angry! Stop it with your preconceived notions about how the human body should look! The human body should look like a human body, with all it's little quirks in each of us. Never make someone physically change for you, if they want to change how they look it should be their choice. Making someone feel bad for how they look either consciously or unconsciously makes you an absolutely trash person.

Marketers, a big nod to you for making us all feel so bad that we cannot live without some of these products or body changing services.

Furthermore, I was even upset with you mentioning you men being insecure. But I remember the push for masculinity y'all experience from a young age. So, I'll give a screw you to the people who force you into thinking you are any less of a man for not liking the mainstream manly things. Or for denying you the emotional vulnerability we as females are allowed.

Screw everyone we all suck.

Topic:  Just when you think the Walmart-Microsoft purchase of TikTok is a good idea, along comes a wrinkle: Instagram isn't taking and of this TikTok stuff this sitting down.

Innovation when it comes to cool and fun new content (videos, pictures, memes) has seemingly come to a dawdling halt. The Internet has been around for about 30 years. 30 years worth of user generated content, 30 years worth of website and social media site building. Anything you see on the Internet or post on the Internet probably isn't original because literally for 30 years we have been seeing the monotonous and not so monotonous lives of people all over the world.

However, people will continue to post their pictures with their friends or hanging off of rooftops, because while it has been done before, it is unique to them. Now the same can almost be said of company marketing strategies. It is so hard to come up with an idea that another company hasn't already used, so when they see something that is working for another company, why not copy it.

You see it often enough with the good Doctor's examples for Pepsi v. Coca-Cola, Apple v. Samsung, Sega v. Nintendo, Google Home v. Amazon's Alexa. And the list goes on and on, because the best way to try and beat your competitors when they are doing really well, is to simply try and beat them and their own game. Maybe try and give a fresh new advertisement trashing them (looking at you T-mobile and AT&T).

https://hbr.org/2012/05/when-you-cant-innovate-copy . Article from Harvard that talks about just this, I recommend it, it is an interesting read. The idea presented by the author from the point of a Nigerian venture capitalist, that innovation was not the way to go for startups could be dangerous. Innovation is always dangerous, do you think the creator of Keurig is happy that his k-cups are polluting the environment? No, but that is what happens sometimes with new innovated items and ideas, some unforeseen (or seen) aspect could in someway cause more harm than anticipated. Wanting to be innovated is awesome and a great idea, but the reality of it you being innovative is slim. Trying to figure out how to create something completely new to the market could cause a person to go mad.

Hence companies rely on the shoulders of those who have succeeded to in turn help them succeed. A another good example of creating new, never before seen content, is YouTube. Sure you will find that when a new video game has come out every major and less major gaming YouTubers will be playing it. However, sometimes we see content others haven't done yet, usually from the perspective of sketch comedy creators. I literally watched a video last night of a man pretending to regress into a caveman and run naked into the woods (it was blurred out). His friend and partner then proceeded to be interviewed as if this was a Hunting Bigfoot episode.

Where else in the world would you see a video like that? The channel is Unus Annus, a channel created with the purpose that everyday would be a new video, and after one full year, they would delete the entire channel. Their catchphrase is memento mori, or you must die in Latin. Unus Annus literally means one year. So far, the adventure has been extremely successful and each video in my opinion is unique. So you see innovation can be done, the problem I think most companies and content creators have is the mindset.

Topic:  One of the greatest paradox in business is playing out right now, and Walmart is finding it out the hard way.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliewu/2020/05/31/grocery-stores-and-the-effect-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/#5c83e7b8f974

Another good article to look at if you'd like to know more about the affects of COVID on grocery shopping.  I'll be honest, I am not to into the idea of buying my groceries online and having them delivered. The article mentions how consumers like to fondle, or handle a fresh fruit or vegetable they are wanting to buy. Just like how we open up an egg carton to make sure none of the eggs are cracked. I am that fondler, and I don't trust another person to pick out the best grocery item for me if it is supposedly fresh.

Works for other people, not for me.

Other than that, Walmart losing market share isn't a big deal, and it seems the CEO of Walmart US agrees. Once this pandemic ends we will see people going out more for food, a again local grocers will see a decline in their sales. Walmart is doing great now, and will probably continue to do great in the future. I haven't much on this because it doesn't seem like a true problem for Walmart. Or at least a problem that will last, revenue and stocks for Walmart are still positive.

Topic:  TikTok may be going away soon, if its owner doesn't sell its US branch. That is, unless a certain surprise duo doesn't follow through on their plans to buy it.

This isn't the first time Walmart has tried to use social media to increase revenue. Walking around, especially the toys area, you will see many games or items made famous by YouTubers. Such as CaptainSparkle, JoJo Siwa, Ryan's World, Collins Key, Blippi,  FailFix, etc. Even marketing toys based off widely popular games like Minecraft (which I also admittedly love).

To be honest TikTok is trying to accomplish what Vine did, and in my opinion failing. However, millions of people would disagree with me saying TikTok has accomplished way more than Vine ever had. The content in a sense is the same, so why is it that TikTok has grown while Vine was left behind?

Well, I will admit, it probably stems from it being easier to create content on TikTok (I'm just going to put TT from now on). Combined with musical.ly, TT offers a wide range of settings and tools to make your content the way you'd like. From the get-go they provided unique tools right at the user's fingertips without forcing to download and pay for editing and photoshop apps.

Humor is also a very mysterious thing nowadays and completely subjective to the person. I know for me, i have a very odd sense of humor. I find it very hard to genuinely laugh out loud as the years go by. When i was younger a simple knock knock joke was all I needed, now after 12+ years of exposure to YouTube and other social media apps, it is harder. For example, I watched a video where a person had to be sprayed with liquid fart as a punishment. Everyone in the room was gagging and screaming because they could not leave till the game was over. The whole time I was crying with laughter at the gagging sounds that filled my ears. While my mother was absolutely disgusted and annoyed at the video, then again she finds the Golden Girls funny.

Self-deprecating jokes are also hilarious given certain context, my generation is depressed but lightening the mood with a few jokes. Others would find this behavior odd and worrying. For me I find it nice to be able to associate with my fellow depressed and socially anxious brothers and sisters.

Anyway, back to TT.  Yes it is a music thing, but largely we see a huge cry for humor based content on the platform. Here is one now,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcg-SuCXLr8. Something I find completely hilarious on the mobile platform, when in reality it is little else than four guys yelling in a car.

The platform brings together all sorts of groups of people whom share a same sense of humor.

Topic:  Malls had already been dying a slow death, but now the pandemic is pushing them to the brink of their own health crisis.

A mall can mean many different things to everyone; a hang out space, primary source of clothes and accessory shopping, source of entertainment, or all three of these. Now with COVID, people's definitions of what a mall means to them has drastically shifted, specifically to a hotbed of germs just waiting to kill you and your family.

Depending on how much longer this pandemic lasts, will determine the longevity of all of America's malls. There currently are over 116,000 malls in the US at this moment. Including both strip malls and enclosed ones, as well as abandoned centers that continue to take up space. However, the drastic closure of malls has been upon us for sometime, even before COVID. For the most past due to gaps in the retail space (i.e. stores closing down a location or closing down business forever).

Some of the major retail gaps come from stores like Dillard's, Sears, Macy's, and JCPenny. Whom almost consistently occupy the largest retail sections in malls and drive most of the foot traffic. There is also the problem with smaller malls who's tenant's failed to pay the ever increasing rent when a mall owner needs to make upgrades or when one of the anchor stores close down. Causing them to have to make up the slack.  Click this link to see what exactly is happening to malls whom have been abandoned:  https://www.businessinsider.com/american-retail-apocalypse-in-photos-2018-1#some-of-these-mall-closures-are-less-recent-dixie-square-mall-in-chicago-which-was-once-home-to-60-different-stores-including-jcpenney-and-walgreens-was-left-vacant-for-33-years-before-being-demolished-in-2012-49 .

In another article I read, I discovered that most of those anchor stores I listed are going bankrupt or have already filed for it. Penny's filled for bankruptcy in May this year and closed 240 store locations! Which doesn't surprise me as this happened when I was in 8th grade, they ate to much they couldn't chew and closed down several locations. One being the one in my hometown, which caused the rest of the stores in the strip mall to close.

Mall owners rely heavily on these anchor stores so much that one closing can determine the fate of all the other tenants. It is no surprise when these big retailers occupy over 65% of all retail mall space in the US. So much pressure is put on these stores to keep the average American mall open, so much so that if there is a rumor of one closing in your mall, you will start to see smaller tenants leave. In fear of losing money from a location that will start to see a decrease in foot traffic.

However, I am one to strongly disagree that this means the average American mall will disappear completely in American society. E-commerce will continue to grow, yes but, the experience of going out with your family and friends to these venues will stay fresh in our minds. I have not stopped going out just because of COVID, call me stupid whatever, I have been tested negative.  I will not stop going out to eat or go shopping with my friends. Many people also feel the same way, I will follow all hygiene rules and spacing signs.

Topic:  Somehow we managed to survive the toilet paper rush earlier this year, but now there are shortages of paper towels and aluminum cans. How are we ever going to survive?

I remember the day before the crave for toilet paper hit, my parents started to hear rumors about the supply shortages soon to come. That very day they split up: my mom to Walmart and United, my dad to all the Dollar Generals. Coming back with a massive haul in not only toilet paper, but canned food, spices, water, soda, and other miscellaneous products. The next day, boom, everyone was struggling to buy products they needed from the stores. While we sat at home for the next couple weeks as kings. My mom even ordered this toilet paper from Asia (it was 3 ply and glorious).

But, why did we panic? Why, suddenly did everyone rush off to buy toilet paper? Why are some people still panic buying during COVID?  Well because everyone else is doing it, so that means we should too. Mimicking others during a time where you have no control can help to alleviate fears and anxieties we have about our current situation. But what about the first person who thought, "Huh? Maybe I should stock up on toilet paper now, as I won't be out and about during quarantine."  These people, or person, was thinking possibly about the future scarcity of certain products.

Panic buying is a common thing in the world. We do it during particularly harsh winters, before hurricanes and earthquakes, and other natural impending disasters. Heck, my mom panic cleans out a certain closet in our house when there is a tornado warning. In our case, COVID caused panic buying based on a rumor.  One that sort of turned out to be true in some areas, that we would start to see things close down and instead of being able to get our resources at a wide variety of places, only a small number of places would remain. The other kicker in our metaphorical rear end, is that we had no idea how long quarantine would last. Weeks, months, years (hopefully not!)?

Having to forgo all our options causes a stir, and suddenly we feel compulsed to stock our house to the utter brim (doomsday preppers  must have been laughing into the night). Like I said in another post I did, people want to feel in control of their lives and this rapid social change punched them in the face. The panic buying mindset is a complex and harmful consumer behavior fueled by a set of multiple and non-overlapping motivations and psychological processes.

Topic: People wanting things to go back to normal.

I agree with things changing into a new form of normal. What I think everyone's problem (not specifically people getting infected and dying), is that people HATE change. Any type of change, good or bad. No body is happy, unless your one of those weirdos who don't do the same thing everyday.

There are hundreds of reasons why a person may dislike a change or even resist it, but there are some basic reasons why.

Loss of control. Nobody likes it when they can't control what is happening to them, unless they put themselves into that situation (sky diving, running with the bulls, etc.). People what to be in control of their lives generally. That is why we keep hearing all these things about customers refusing to wear masks and other things going down.

They are refusing to move forward with the rest of society, still stuck in what used to be normal. A lot like the Civil Rights movement, you had your racists who were so stuck in their head about past views and you had your activists who knew the thinking process of the past was outdated. Shouldn't have been a problem, I honestly don't understand how one race or religion can say they are better than another. We are all equal, we are all human, so we should treat each other as such. That is for another time, however.

Anyway, when change involves a dramatic shift in sociocultural and political strategies people who are lets say successful, may have a hard time moving forward. "I was doing so well! What happened? Why can't you be more like me" yadda yadda yadda.

"Why does everyone have to change? I like how things were." Well sucks to suck,  regression isn't the answer, especially now. If we were to regress back to how things were before COVID, the infection rate for one would skyrocket. With that, more deaths.

Let us look at the structural functionalist theory, which basically theorizes that society is a complex system of parts that all work together. Like a stack of odd shaped blocks, each block is a social structure (i.e. a mom, church, a student, grocery store). Now, since society can be seen as a tower of all sorts of blocks, teetering on the base (which is the home).

Now, imagine something big happens (COVID, restaurants going mobile for example), now we start to see blocks being removed from our societies tower. If, to many blocks are removed structural functionalists may propose that society will collapse on its self (rapid social change if I am correct). If too many blocks are removed, if society isn't able to adapt to all the changes thrust upon us, we will self destruct.

Is this a rant? I can't really tell, I am going through a passionate teaching session!

Something like COVID is considered a rapid social change (imagine someone punching our tower). So, far I find that society has been able to adapt, for the most part, rather well. I already posted about my thoughts on unemployment, so not diving into that.

However, the thing with rapid social change is not everyone is able to adapt as quickly as everyone else.  Lets go back to March, back to the sudden acceptance of zoom calls and Google classroom. Suddenly BAM, everyone is on line. Teachers had to immediately learn Google classroom and put all their assignments on line. Students had to figure out how to do assignments without normal lectures and hands on help. Parent's suddenly took the role of teacher and were forced to manage their kids time on the computer for school work (if they weren't before).

Topic:  American Airlines just announced that 19,000 front-line employees are losing their jobs. And air travel may never be the same again.

"Take a look in the mirror. We may all have just lost our wings as well," hit me hard. I have not been a very frequent flier, but have traveled some for work and fun. In May I was actually supposed to go to the Philippines with my friend to visit her family. I had been invited every year since we were 14, and only decided last August to go for it. They didn't cancel our flight, so we had to come to the decision yourself, go and get stuck abroad or cancel. I lost so much money ($1500, a lot for me okay) on that ticket.

Absolutely devastated.

COVID is shaking everyone's lives up, for better or worse, that is for them to decide. My friend Ivy had just gotten a great, good-paying job and now learns she will have to lose the opportunity because she is being deployed to Fort Hood (she is in the Army Reserves). She'll be there to test people on base for COVID, and if you have been reading the news on Fort Hood, you can tell some shady stuff is going on. Murders and disappearances of soldiers alike.

This world is a gloomy place as of late. While unemployment is around 10% right now, its numbers should be around 4-6% (unemployment also counts those who are transitioning to another job). If your curious about the unemployment rate in America as of August,  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm . What I am seeing does not sound too bad honestly, in my opinion.

There are roughly 328.2 million registered citizens in America, and a possible 16-29 million illegals. I don't know if that number is added already to the 328.2 mil. or not. So, let's assume there are 350 mil. for the sake of this argument. 24 mil. of our population is working in part-time, and 119.5 mil. are full-time. 8.4 mil. of those are included in involuntary part-time work because of cuts to their full-time job (hours or furloughed). 665,000 are discouraged and think there are no jobs available to them out there. And roughly there are only 30 mil. claiming unemployment benefits (just about 9% of the population). 567,715 are experiencing some form of homelessness, however, not entirely all are unemployed. Filler numbers go to those transitioning between jobs, unemployed yes, but for long? Likely not, these fillers are most likely people who just quit their job to: a. start their own business, b. unhappy in their field, or c. got another offer somewhere else. So, saying that a good number for unemployment is 5% (cause most numbers are taken by those fillers) they additional 5% we are experiencing now may go up or down depending on how the virus carries out these next few months.

I am not to concerned with unemployment at the moment for America has jobs in leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care. Those fields have been gradually been increasing since March. There is something out there for everyone, and sometimes, even if you don't like a job, maybe you should suck up your pride and take it. That or be unemployed and leech off the government like some people do. I feel harsh, but I feel my words have some truth at least. The good outweighs the bad in some cases, and everyone needs money to survive in this world.

Topic: Hotels and motels, trying to keep us safe and dying out.

This made me really look at some articles because I had completely forgotten about hotels till this point! While hotels are experiencing some of the lowest occupancy numbers in years, there are still hotels opening during this pandemic! I thought it crazy, but when you take into account that these hotels can take years to build and then some to find the perfect staff, then there is no other answer. They have to open. One quote from  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17/why-new-hotels-are-still-opening-during-the-pandemic, that I really enjoyed was "Delaying operations is therefore, a costly proposition. “Even if it’s unsuccessful at launch, a completed project is a heck of a lot more valuable than an 80% completed one,” Hennessey adds. “You have to jump into the fire and hope for the best.”"

Isn't that what we are all trying to do? Hoping for the best as we dive into the shaken up society COVID has thrust into?

Another thing these hotels are doing to stay afloat is working with local businesses around them. Let's say a bar is just down the street, now the hotel knows that there are those that may get to drunk to function. So, they work with the bar, saying "I'll send patrons down your way, if you recommend those who are to inebriated down mine." That is exactly what they are doing! It is not only bars, but restaurants and local events.

Staying safe while traveling may be hard, so taking necessary precautions can definitely help. Maybe bring your own cleaning supplies, or try to minimize your exposure to high contact surfaces in your hotel. Make sure to know the laws surrounding COVID wherever you are going, or you may get stuck in a two week long quarantine before you can actually enjoy your trip. Contact the hotels and establishments you'll be staying in about what they are doing to combat COVID.

Maybe now is the time for people to get really into camping, a do it yourself hotel. Bring all your own equipment and hike out into the middle of nowhere. Just to be extra cautious, or you can go to a camp ground if your not into hiking.

I have been having to do a discussion board for my college class, and I think I’m doing pretty good on my views of society. So, I’m gonna start posting them.

Discussion 1 Topic: Taco Bell’s Go Mobile 

In all apps like Taco Bell's Go Mobile seem to be popping up everywhere as of late with the COVID-19. However, they have been appearing in app stores before this world wide pandemic. Apps such as Postmates and Uber Eats have been allowing people to order food from their phone without having to even leave their homes since 2011 and 2014 respectively.

While I would agree apps like these do promote laziness within our society, as well as increase gas emissions. In the current state of things, they allow people to still have that alternative to cooking as well as helping to stimulate our economy. Although, fast food joints and restaurant are not the only ones benefiting from mobile or online transactions. Retailers as well, be it from selling their goods through third-parties such as Amazon or through their own websites and mobile apps. There have been numerous businesses that have been participating in the by online pick-up in store (BOPIS) craze such as Hibbett Sports or Maurices. Where once your order is complete all you have to do is drive to the store and an employee will be waiting to hand off your purchased items.

We have no idea when this pandemic will cease or at least slow to the point where COVID-19 could be considered almost harmless like the flu. So, companies finding ways to adapt through the use of apps or online access are smart. Since, I agree with you, if they do not manage to find a means to move forward, they will close down either by choice or by filling for bankruptcy.

We should see problems start to arise from these ordering/delivering services if they have not already. Such as the nightmare of handling orders. Bigger cities especially, it will start to get harder and harder to sift through mass orders as well as trying to handle those who chose to just go through the drive through to order. This can get orders to be all in all forgotten about or looked over and the quality of the food can suffer seriously as they try to mass produce. This can cause a restaurants view with the public to become either sour or liked depending on how well they are able to deal with these challenges.

Another problem to look at could be fees placed upon these food businesses by the apps used to order from them. Unless the company makes their own app in response, smaller chains could see a loss in profit from having to pay these third-party websites and apps. Also, to elaborate on your take of the possibility that the whole dine-in experience could become obsolete. The customers now are not able to experience the whole aspect of the particular restaurant they are ordering from. They can not get a feel for the tone this particular restaurant creates, they instead only get to value the food created by said restaurant.

I have known some less delicious tasting restaurants, but, the overall mood and experience brought upon by the staff can make it in your mind a quality restaurant to hang out with friends or family.