Elvis Presley, Barbie and Dora the Explorer

Elvis Presley is the undisputed King of Rock and Roll. He began his singing career in the mid 1950’s and quickly gained national recognition. Presley’s accomplishments include awards for 150 albums and singles, 14 Grammy nominations with 3 wins and 33 successful films. (Elvis Presley.com, n.d.) His death in 1977 is still mourned by his fans internationally.
Barbie is an international icon that took the world by storm in the form of a toy doll fashionista. Launched in 1959 by Mattel, the doll was named after creator Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara. (Wikipedia, 2009)” It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that two Barbie dolls are sold every second.” (Wikipedia, 2009, p. 1)
Dora the Explorer is a cartoon series that began airing regular episodes in 2000 on Nickelodeon. (Wikipedia, 2009) Dora is a Latina girl that travels along with her friend Boots the monkey and others to explore and find treasure. Along the way, she helps to teach the viewer not only a good lesson but Spanish words and customs. Dora is so successful that sales grossed over $1 Billion in 2004 alone! (Wikipedia, 2009)
I chose these three icons because they represent things that were an intrigal part to three generations of my family. Elvis Presley still inspires my mother and takes her back to a much simpler way of life than what we live today. She has passed this same love on to me and I adore the music, life and times of Elvis. His death also occurred on my birthday, August 16th. Barbie was a fashion icon with whom I passed many childhood hours playing with. Her many professions and clothing choices helped to mold my professional and creative being. Dora the Explorer is the love affair of my 13 month old daughter. She is also Latina and adores hearing Dora say some of the words she knows. I have encouraged her viewing this program due to the educational and moral content. All of these icons have been a part of family’s upbringing and the way that we relate and function in our world.
Bibliography
Elvis Presley.com. (n.d.). Elvis Presley Biography. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from Elvis Presley.com: http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/bio/elvis_overview.asp
Wikipedia. (2009, May 17). Barbie. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie
Wikipedia. (2009, May 25). Dora the Explorer. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_the_Explorer

Assn 2-1: Going Green and Pop Culture

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. This mantra of the 1980’s has become the beat that we march to 20 years later. Using less, recycling and integrating organic products into the lifestyle has been propagated as the way to save earth and its future inhabitants. Going green not only helps to ease this generation’s conscience but it also seems to help connect us to each other. With a media frenzy created around the subject, the newest pop culture initiative is to live “green”.
Al Gore, former vice president, is helping to lead the cause against global warming. His projects include the Climate Project with Repower America and the Alliance for Climate Protection. Among many admirable goals, he and his task force have set forth “to “repower” our country with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.” (Repower America, 2009, p. 1) In addition he tries to solicite the support of other countries and their leadership to join such initiatives.
Celebs have been more than happy to jump on the “green” bandwagon. Leonardo DiCaprio has made his voice heard for many green topics. Brad Pitt helped to rebuild a greener city, the Big Easy from the ground up. (Dunn, 2009) Most recently, Ed Norton whom has recently promoted his “Earth Hour” project in which he encourages everyone to turn off all unnecessary power for one hour, 8:30-9:30pm, on March 28th. (The Sustainability Ninja, 2009) Celebrities have brought the “green” lifestyle to the big screen and to main street, making living with less so fabulous.
My personal views on “going green” have mixed reviews. While I do believe that we should live as much of an organic, conserving lifestyle as possible, there is a point where we need to draw a line. I think that is pathetic that you can go to prison for killing a baby moose in Alaska, but our country still allows the partial birth abortions of human babies, with no consequence. Global warming is over propagated and I believe is just a cycle that Earth is going through. Basically, I believe that we should take all of the “green” ideas and concepts and apply them to our reality. Making small changes to our lifestyles can help to save the Earth for future generations.


Bibliography
Dunn, C. (2009, February 18). How to Go Green: Like Celebrities. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from Planet Green: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/celebrities/green-celebrities-tips.html
Repower America. (2009). What is Repower America? Retrieved May 24, 2009, from Repower America: http://repoweramerica.org/
The Sustainability Ninja. (2009, March 27). Switch off Saturday for Earth Hour. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from The Sustainability Ninja: http://www.sustainabilityninja.com/tag/edward-norton/

Assn 1-4 American Idol

American Idol is synonymous with great talent, good music and lots of entertainment. All of these components make for an iconic television show that has produced hundreds of overnight superstars and millions of screaming fans. With something akin to 44 million votes during last weeks’ show, it not only proves its popularity but also probably rivals the amount of votes cast for president in the last election. (Gokey, Lambert, & Allen, 2009)
American Idol first began on June 11, 2002 as a spin off of a British TV sensation called Pop Idol. (Wikipedia, 2009) Idol attempts to discover the best singer in the nation by narrowing down the competition in weekly nationwide votes. Judges, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and this season’s newest member Kara DioGuardi, help to influence voter’s opinions with their remarks on each song the contestants perform via their expert knowledge in the music industry.
Now in its eighth season, Idol has only become bigger and better by showing larger voting records than ever before. After a quick survey of 10 friends, I realized that American Idol is really one of those shows that nearly everyone at least knows something about. Most (8 out of 10) knew the names of the top three contestants, while only 5 actually watched the show religiously. (Earles, et al., 2009) All had of course heard of American Idol and knew at least one name of a previous winner. Only one friend cited their reason for not watching the show was that it got on her nerves. American Idol clearly is at the top of list in reference to today’s Pop Culture.
The shear number of people viewing and voting for the contestants has proven its popularity. After a personal interview, I discovered this phenomenon to be true in my inner circle of friends as well. Truly American Idol is an unstoppable craze.

Bibliography
Earles, B., James, R., Viera, N., Knudson, K., Knudson, M., Vilhauer, A., et al. (2009, May 17). American Idol. (K. L. Cuautle, Interviewer)
Gokey, D., Lambert, A., & Allen, K. (Performers). (2009, May 12). American Idol Top Three Elimination. Nokia Theater, Hollywood, CA, USA.
Wikipedia. (2009, May 18). American Idol. Retrieved 18 May, 2099, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol

Assn. 1:2 Pop Culture Blog

Popular Culture is a conglomeration of fads, whether they be physical, mental or spiritual. Pop culture has overtaken the U.S. and has rapidly grown after the last 20 years of the technology age. The ease of communication of thoughts and ideas has made the fads and popularity of current trends soar to heights that other eras have not surpassed. The proof lies in the current media frenzy.... Brittney, Angelina, KFed, TomKat... all of these simple names have household presence due to paparazzi exposure of more and more details into each of their lives. Pop culture is what keeps the color in our days and makes life interesting.

Understanding pop culture is of utmost importance in the business realm. Plugging into the foundation of thoughts and experiences of the customer will prove the relevance and use of the companies product. Cultural demands can determine the improved success of a business by dictating its atmosphere and the way that the customer associates that business with positive feelings. Staying current with cultural suggestions will help to improve customer flow, especially that of the younger generation, which is the most viable due to longevity of customer possibilities.

I believe that Facebook personifies the pop culture of today. Facebook was created February 4, 2004 and now has 3,098,572 members. (Facebook, 2009) Joining this site allows you to "keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet." (Facebook, 2009, P.1) This type of communication, informational yet less personal, sums up our highly technological age. The growing numbers joining Facebook proves its popularity and the young age of the average user proves its relevance for years to come.

Pop Culture intertwines us all, whether we like it or not. It creates our relevance within the business world, as well as our personal lives. Facebook is the perfect reflection of the image of current pop culture... fast, technological and vast amounts of information.

Keah :)