HCRHS Media Lit

"Beauty pageants should go the way of the corset. They're outdated and restrictive and perpetuate a damaging link between real world success and a woman's capacity to cultivate a very specific, stereotypical definition of beauty."

"A Chicago Tribune photojournalist says another newspaper's single photograph of a star high school basketball player seeming to "flip off" the opposing team's fans was taken out of context. And Tribune photographer Scott Strazzante released all of his raw images capturing the incident as proof that the player did nothing wrong. Now, the photographer who posted the image that caused an online firestorm, and nearly cost the player a chance to play in a tournament, says he should not have used the image."

One company has found a way to do some emotional branding around the issue of the photoshopping of models and celebrities that are prevalent in the media. "The sister brand of American Eagle markets bras, panties and sleepwear to girls 15-21-girls in high school and college who are notoriously bombarded with the message "You need to be hot." Lest you think I exaggerate, surf Tumblr or the hashtag #thinspiration on Instagram, and you'll see what I mean. Aerie's new ads are unretouched. The girls you see in the ads are what they look like in real life, which is, sadly, groundbreaking. The models are wearing makeup, they look healthy, the poses are flattering, and the lighting is perfect. But theres's been no Photoshop-surgery removal of skin folds or digital slimming of thighs and stomachs. The copy on the print ads declares, "The girl in this photo has not been retouched. The real you is sexy.""

"Yesterday, Mar. 18, Huffington Post writer, Stacy Bettison, wrote a piece about seven take-away messages from recent photoshopping extremes by major companies and how to work against the insecurities that these alterations attempt to instill. With Target's retraction of a poorly photoshopped swimsuit model - to the extent that whole chunks of body parts were missing - has come a heightened realization of just how far companies will go to create the 'perfect' model."

"Why are we so drawn to these stories? anchor Suzanne Malveaux asked me in a few different ways, perhaps wanting an emotional take on how the plane crash scene in the TV series Lost or the film Alive could have ended Flight 370's mysterious voyage. Instead, I tried to talk about an odd feedback loop we're experiencing in media, where those fictional scenes were created precisely because they reflect our worst fears about air travel. Then an actual event occurs that seems to mirror the fiction, and we can't look away - which only makes media want to feature it more, regardless of the information available. But the problems with runaway media speculation go beyond a lack of basic information on the missing plane. Information given publicly by Malaysian officials and leaked to journalists is also sometimes seriously unreliable, leading to more untrustworthy reporting."

"BuzzFeed's new video, "If Women's Roles in Ads Were Played by Men," swaps the genders in three commercials-for GoDaddy, Hardee's/Carl's Jr. and Doritos. (Only the first two were approved ads, however. The Doritos ad was a fan-made entry into the 2011 Crash the Super Bowl contest, and didn't advance to the finals-though it has gotten more than 2 million views on the director's YouTube channel.) BuzzFeed recreates each ad and plays them side by side with the originals. "

"New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said placing corporate logos on player jerseys is "inevitable" -- and will probably happen within the next five years."

"No matter how old they are, people surveyed for a new study by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute were "more than twice as likely to express high levels of trust about what they learn directly from a news organization (43 percent say they trust it mostly or completely) as they are to trust what they discovered through social media.""

"Melissa Coker, 35, the founder and creative director of the clothing company Wren, commissioned the video to showcase her clothing line's fall collection for Style.com's Video Fashion Week. Style.com had created the video series for brands that might lack the financial wherewithal to put on a runway show during Fashion Week. The video's outrageous popularity had the web abuzz all week, with some industry experts suggesting that it could force major designers to think more expansively about how to advertise future collections."

"Did you hear about the "wolf" that was allegedly roaming the halls of a hotel in Sochi, Russia, during the Olympics? Turns out, it was a Jimmy Kimmel media prank, just like his viral prank last fall of the twerking girl who caught on fire."

"Humor is Vine's dominant category, so brands looking to reach consumers on the platform need to tap into it to have an impact. But it's so different, they're still figuring out how to use it effectively. "Traditional media and marketing simply does not translate on Vine," said Rob Fishman, CEO of Niche, a platform for social media creators and brands looking to connect with them. "This is a new medium, with new players.""

"Many people assume important news will find them online, but don't understand the algorithms defining how"

"Of course it's good to encourage girls to be leaders. But not all leaders have extroverted personalities. In fact, some of the best ones are quiet, shy loners who were likely never called "bossy" in their lives. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama have all been at various points described as introverts.  The anti-bossy movement aims to encourage girls to speak up "even if you aren't sure about the answer," but introverts prefer to process their thoughts and form solid ideas before expressing them."

"Calling all student artists, illustrators, graphic designers, creatives, newshounds! Women's eNews is hosting a competition for 12 - 19 year olds to create a logo for Teen Voices, its new girl news website! We need a logo that speaks to the nature of the site - amplifying and empowering teen girls through journalism. All logos should contain the words "Teen Voices." The winning logo will be part of all official Teen Voices materials - including the website, press releases, news advisers, fundraising campaigns and social media profiles. It will be seen around the world.  Entries will be judged by team of marketing and visual design executives. The winner will be invited to Women's eNews' annual gala held in New York, May 6 where their logo will be revealed. The creator of the winning logo will receive personal mentoring and tips from the judges and be featured in any press notifications about the relaunch of Teen Voices."

"When a little boy asserts himself, he's called a "leader." Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded "bossy." Words like bossy send a message: don't raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys-a trend that continues into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead."

"Confident girls are often called the other B-word, and it can keep them from reaching their full potential, write Sheryl Sandberg and Anna Maria Chávez"

"Sheryl Sandberg doesn't like a word a lot people and parents use to describe little girls. In an editorial for The Wall Street Journal, she called it "the other B-word." She says as a kid, she didn't really play with other kids, instead the current chief operating officer of Facebook used to organize their play. In junior high, Sandberg recounts, a teacher stopped her best friend and told her: "Nobody likes a bossy girl. You should find a new friend who will be a better influence on you." In an interview with All Things Considered, Sandberg says she is launching a public service campaign aimed at getting rid of the word. "This is a very negative experience for girls, if you look at my childhood, if you look at the childhood of most of the leaders we talked to, they lived through being told they were bossy," Sandberg said. "And it has such a strongly female, and such a strongly negative connotation, that we thought the best way to raise awareness was to say, 'This isn't a word we should use. Let's start encouraging girls to lead.'""

"DoSomething.org is all about empowering young people. The organization, one of the largest non-profits for teens and young adults in the United States, connects 13-to-25 year olds through a wide variety of social causes. It didn't take long for DoSomething.org strategy leaders to realize that Snapchat users fall within that exact age demographic. The organization has since focused on building a strong Snapchat following. By creating charismatic Snapchat stories, DoSomething.org has been able to connect to their followers in an entirely new way. "

"The fourth annual Viral Video Awards will be presented April 1 at Ad Age's Digital Conference in New York City. Now's your chance to help us decide who gets a VVA trophy. Up for voting are candidates for funniest viral campaign of the year. First, a word about the selection process: There are plenty of funny branded videos out there, but these were picked because they're both funny AND they performed really well, making us laugh and achieving a brand goal in the process."

"There is so much fake stuff on the Internet in any given week that we've grown of tired of debunking it all. Fake Twitter fights. Fake DHL ads. Amazing viral video? Nope - a Jimmy Kimmel stunt! In these heady Internet times, it's all too easy for a fictional story to gain traction in the span of a few hours. More perniciously, it's easy for news organizations to slap a sexy headline on a story, or pull the juiciest nugget from a study, and drop it on the Internet - forgetting that, in many cases, social-media users don't actually click through and read the whole thing. So rather than take down each and every undeservedly viral story that crosses our monitors each week, we're trying this out - a quick, once-a-week debunk of fake photos, misleading headlines and bad studies that you probably shouldn't share over the weekend. "