How diversity influences public opinion

       Opening Thoughts

      My main focus for this blog post will be to answer the aforestated question. I came to this inquiry while reflecting on this week's module materials. To be specific I was interested in the idea that encoded messages can be interpreted differently according to different audience demographics. If I were to have an extreme take on this I would compare it to mind control as silly as that may sound. The scaled influence of mass media does not always yield consistent outcomes. Sets of assumptions can often be incorrect. If a message is crafted to resonate with target individuals and the inferences about these people are incorrect then the message will still be received but the individual will not be receptive to it.

What do I think about diversity in conversation to public opinion?

        My personal view is that we should not reduce people to labels, (these assumptions, and inferences). Although oftentimes, this is the only information we have to go off of and are common characteristic that a much larger audience shares. I would say that they are not our defining traits, but others may disagree. To elaborate, I would standby that my interests and those around me have more significance to my individuality than my eye color, shoe size, or any other arbitrary attribute that I can almost never change. On another note, news networks as we know them often impliment and impose the practice of making assumptions about their target audience in every facet even especially in situations that are not appropriate such as commentary or reporting on crises and tragedies. News networks, as well as social media platforms' goals, are to push an agenda by altering public opinion just as special interest groups seek to influence lawmakers into changing or passing legislation.

Real World Application

        I know that this has been a handful of information so now I will attempt to apply this knowledge to a current event. The bombing of the Georgia Guidestones. When I heard about this, I was shocked due to the unexpectedness about this, and also to a degree saddened by the vandalism of our state's landmark as we identify as Georgians. This was an act of unexplained motive and so people began to project their own. 

      Now I also Identify with conservative/republican values, but polarized individuals have begun blowing up this conspiracy as an attack on the "New World Order" due to the contents inscribed into the destroyed monument. I believe that these extreme viewpoints stem from the pacing changes to the country and world. I would like to clarify and emphasizes that the point of bringing up this controversy was that simply the reporting of this event with no clear agenda or exterior motives prompted a response from a particular demographic.

Justin's Opinion Piece on Diversity in Advertisments

   

         In my last blog post, I touched on this subject slightly by highlighting ethical concerns with casting in production. My goal will be to broaden this topic as diversity issues proceed much more than this in not only Journalism and News but Advertisements as well. In this subfield of advertisements, I will be referencing Heinikin's "Lighter is Better" and the BMW "Berlin to Warsaw in One Tank" commercials.

Background Information:

Heinikin's "Sometimes Lighter is Better" 2018

        This play on words as you might call it can easily be taken the wrong way if you did not understand that lighter is a description being used to describe and define a type of beer. However, the depiction of the commercial starts with a man of lighter complexion using binoculars to spot an attractive woman (also of lighter complexion) at the end of the bar. The man proceeds to open a bottle, sliding it down the bar towards her past multiple darker complexion people where the bottle rests in front of her with the infamous phrase superimposed. Heineken has been known for a laundry list of ethical concerns including tax avoidance and mistreatment of women. Chance the Rapper was one of the first major icons to call not only Heinkin out but commercials of similar nature claiming that these blatantly racist statements were intended for shock value to get more viewers. Heineken's Spokesperson said that they missed the mark and will learn from their mistake. 

        Although most of us, including myself, agree that this was toned death and that this company has done more to divide people rather than bring them together, I must concede that Heikins recent marketing has been very successful recently by centering around their bottle opener gimmick that "shuts down work apps". I cannot say for certain whether this is a long-term change or improvement for the company but it is certainly a step.  

Jeremy Clarkson's "From Belin to Warsaw in One Tank" Spoof

        Jeremy Clarkson is an English Broadcaster who worked as the presenter for an episode of "Top Gear" which is a BBC program. The episode contained a "Spoof Advert" which portrayed polish people fleeing on buses and trains due to their fuel crisis cutting to a frame of the Volkswagon Scirocco TDI with the superimposed text "From Berlin to Warsaw in One Tank". This "joke" was clearly a reference to Germany's invasion of Poland during WWII considering that BMW and Mini are German-engineered vehicles. But another layer of significance is that Volkswagon also manufactured tanks and aircraft for Germany in WWII. The airing of the episode followed with around one hundred complaints and Jeremy Clarkson made continual racist remarks throughout his career and even punched one of his production members in the face after there was not much food left because it had gone cold.

         He is a very unpleasant person as we can understand from his behavior and was eventually taken off of the show. Although Voltwagon and German people were victims to this incident of his, as I discussed before, Volkswagon is not entirely innocent of criticism. Not only because of Voltswagons history but because of the emissions scandal that they have been trying to regain public trust and favor of. Voltswagons "all green electric" BMW busses is one of many instances of this.

Final Thoughts:

        These are just two instances of how not understanding the big picture that one's message has on an audience intentional or not can have consequences . They are different circumstances with striking similarities. The issue of diversity in media stems from other problems that are outside of representation. We should not only consider this a symptom of the sick but place it as the center of focus as well. I encourage you all to seek out similar advertisements to assess for yourselves how these companies have changed or remained the same. As for me, I believe in the understanding that advertisements were always intended to sell more of a product so I believe that the techniques that they employ to try to improve public opinion are superficial and have little relevance to how those responsible learn the error in their behaviors. Please feel free to comment what you think about this, and thank you for reading.

Justin's Guide to Navagating Ethics in a Professional Environment

        Welcome back to another one of my blog posts, This week I am going to offer some of my personal advice that may help you overcome ethical obstacles in your professional environment. The first suggestion that I would recommend to industry professionals would be to familiarize yourself with controversies that have arrived in your field of work in the past. Many ethical shortcomings arise from a lack of foresight. Taking the initiative to research these circumstances can and may help you to anticipate them, or avoid them altogether. For instance, if you are in the filmmaking industry, you may understand that lack of representation is an ethical concern in this field. Knowing this information, Producers must proceed with caution when casting for productions of sensitive natures. (You need to decide whether to cast actors based on their talent or whether their appearance best fits the role. To elaborate on having foresight I would also recommend having somebody to talk to that may be able to guide you through any difficult times or shortcomings that you may be experiencing, preferably somebody that is knowledgeable and uninvolved. 

    The topic of Casting Controversy in regards to professional ethics could be an entire blog post of its own but I wanted to share some of the big ones. The subject of Robert Downey Jr. doing "black face" in Tropic Thunder is a moment that he often defends and doesn't regret. I have not heard a lot of backlash from this but it is a movie moment that I would assume could be considered insensitive and people will never forget.

Another big-time actor that has been accused of controversy was Johny Depp's role in the Lone Ranger. Johnny Depp has been the center of allegations in the past so I feel like his victimization had made it easier to attack his personal character.

Even Scarlett Johansons' depiction of Ghost in the Shell 2017 was seen as tone death because she did not fit the description of the source material. This is often a common mistake when It comes to making live-action reboots of popular Japanese Mangas or Animes.

Onto another subject!

        In the field of public relations specifically, the way that ethical shortcomings are handled may significantly lessen the backlash. For example, during the BP oil spill, their crisis team responded in a little over two hours. The Chairmen flew directly to the gulf and almost 40 specialists were on the site. Although there was only so much that the company could do for its reputation, The way that this was handled has been characterized as prompt but clumsy. One of the biggest mistakes that BP made was initially attempting to redirect the blame to the drilling company instead of being forthright which goes back to one of the very essential principles that we learned in these past modules which is the importance of transparency.

    

        Optics is a word when it comes to political strategy which commonly refers to how the general public perceives a situation to be. More often times than not, ordinary people will not have the correct context or resources to fully apprehend and comprehend questions as ethics. The way that a public will respond is largely dependent on not blaming them, but more importantly, accepting blame when and where it is warranted. These protest ads that I came across depict the company in a negative light. I cannot determine whether the source of these was from competitors or environmental activists but one certainty is that these were the result of poor optics. Thank you for reading up on how to make better ethical decisions in your future careers!

My (Justin Desousa's) Expirence with Ethical Implications of Informational Technology

Have you ever had a time where somebody knew too much about you?

     

    Hi everybody, today I wanted to share my encounters and involvement with personal information of mine being collected and shared without my knowledge. There is not a doubt that we all come in contact with this in our daily lives. The most prolonged example of this that I have had to change my behavior with is my phone number. Looking through my call history to confirm this I can confidently state that I receive up to around three calls a day from "spam likely" or unknown. We are all familiar with the stereotypical "we have been trying to reach you regarding your car's extended warranty" as well "Microsoft tech support saying that you have a virus". These cons may seem like they are similar in nature when in practice they have different goals. The first instance that I referenced seeks to gather more information about your vehicle and insurance to then sell while the other will attempt to extort a direct credit card payment. As we become more knowledgeable of these malpractices we become better at detecting, outmaneuvering, and preventing them. My adaptation to this has been to ignore numbers that are not in my contacts altogether. Although this may restrict opportunities for me like say obtaining my friend's new number or a future employer trying to reach me I then have to take initiatives to become closer to the people that are important to me.

    Can we prevent our information from falling into the     wrong hands?

       

 You may be wondering to yourself if we can do anything meaningful to prevent information leaks that are out of our control. Going back to what I was saying about my # being compromised, It is difficult to confirm whether or not this could be attributed to the prior owner/user or if I entered my phone number for an online order or perhaps to make a free trial on Blogger. Two things are evident to me, aversion and moderation can prevent this. however, If you are using the Internet or other web services, you will never be able to prevent this. Consider data mining for example, The neckbeards that look into videogame files to uncover leaks for a new update or expansion. You could be employed for a company like Bethesda with very secure parameters and do your job perfectly but even the worst ethical hacker could still uncover your work files. Our passwords and locations, NOTHING IS SAFE. That is why tech companies are so profitable.  Google is valued at 1.5 trillion and they don't just track your browsing and search history. Every major social media company is also complicit collaborator. The documentary "The Social Dilemma" does an extensively detailed analysis of this. One thing that I would like to point out that they display in this film is that the people who do this as a profession is that they are concerned about technology's impact on their families because they created and understand these associated risks better than everyone. On a deeper level, this discontent is associated with the ethical standards of their profession. Although a large part of the Socail Dilema focuses on social media selling peoples attentions many of the same principals apply to information technology's ethics.

What are the ethical questions when it comes to collecting information?

        Do you as a person believe that it is justified to earn a profit off of the exchange or sale of anothers information? I would say that the answer to this question depends on the person and how sensative the information is. Obviously I dont want creepy people getting a hold of my medical records becuase it is my bodily autonomy. In another case although I may find targeted advertisment an invasion of the privacy of my headspace, it is less intrusive in that this does not cause direct distress nor harm to me and often times can go unoticed. It is easy to quantify the order in which these greivences bother me although considering that they all bother me to some degree, it becomes difficult to express which of these minor inconviences would warrnet me filing a lawsuit in a world where this is a more serious issue. All that I know is that my present self would just suck it up and endure the consiquences of these malpractices becuase of how difficult it is to comprehend how these occorances add up and thus make well judged descion on wethe or not to do something about it. Thank you for reading up to this point and I hope that you learned somethin meaningful from my reflection.