September 15,
IFICE
September 15, 1994
Opinion
The Battalion
?M 1 i m
sell images, not products
fjimmicks make every item look like buy of the century
: ive by the North
lext “six years, nil
Col. Ray was he]
fferent POW camp;
ful “Hanoi Hilton,'
o brainwashingat.
id torture that wot
POWs underwent fcpihe other day l
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ountless
r their arms until
of socket - an inji
operations today,
it he would keep
r to himself and
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
Ir. Hopmann
if war, somehows,
i their lives.
spotted a large
. sign on the
idow of some
all business. It
fed, “Get better
pdes.” My initial
ught was, “Hmm,
s in the Corps of Imust be one of those
,han this!” Htoring places.” But
|on closer scrutiny I noticed it was a martial arts academy.
A martial arts academy?! Now, we’ve all seen “Rung Fu” re-
s, and are amazed at how powerful Eastern mental training
be. We’ve also seen Steven Segal open up a can of
oop-ass on four or five guys who happen to be wielding an
[tire set of Ginsu cutlery. This stuff is pretty impressive to
able to keep goiJ§v the least. But to advertise a martial arts academy like a
ied with the sar;BP^ an Graduate Exam Course is stretching it just a tad. How-
a faith in God,ahi er > we , sa y it>s J ust
ions they learned]'^ advertising,
tin’ Texas Aggie 1 We!!, advertising
â–  this country has
dze and honor k,■If™ ™ >° d ." " r
opmann,and Rail l: i ve . g ?f e , n 80
n u , n 'Ruical, that every
i ps wi e o .. ^ ra j ges q Ues tions
innal wreath lay* tohowFm being
? n y j 0n rri he Sirapsc: fooled. Even when I
uid. he ceremoE* n k j made the
gm promptly at p Urc hase of the century, doubt plagues me until two or
I do not want this:B ree f r iends verify my good fortune. More often than not,
a C orps event,k|i’ m told that whatever I bought was cheaper somewhere
•sity*wide event-;,[else. Even more frequently, I am told I didn’t need it in the
veryone for whom Erst place. Advertising just draws me in.
T)Ws put their lire J We’re so surrounded by what I call, “I must be stupid” adver-
one’s liberty that ping gimmicks, we hardly notice most of them. I’ve divided
) preserve. ibem into three categories.
y is the least we™ The first, “Subliminal messages”, were big in the news a
he courage andpe; few years ago, or 10 maybe. There was a big legal stink over
such odds, and the [advertisers using them in their ads. These messages were
or them. Biought to be unethical because they are pictures or direc-
d dearly for the i v es that are below the conscious level of a person, but are
so enjoy - give l | ron S enough to influence their actions.
serve. I F° r instance, in the ’50s, theaters edited films and added
iu are not forgotter. jf Pew random single film frames of food, soda, people eat-
. â– : : ing or words like EAT! to subconsciously motivate the
U-r Matt Segreslis ® ewer concessions. Although no one was able to de-
manaeementm-te dtlae ra P i(11 y moving images, they bought significantly
pore food. This practice became illegal at some point, but
IMH k still used to a lesser degree.
A current method of sending subliminal mes
sages is found in liquor ads. Artists airbrush
breasts, phallic symbols and other sexually at
tractive images onto a photo of booze and ice.
One of the more current methods of sending subliminal mes
sages is found in liquor ads. In particular, the top selling porno
graphic periodicals - OK, “girlie books” - have often contained
full page photographs of glasses of booze with ice. Because of
the light refraction and the multiple distorted surface areas,
artists can easily airbrush female breasts, legs, hair, phallic
symbols and other sexual images onto the photo. Sometimes
fruit is displayed in these ads, sliced in such a way to emulate a
Georgia O’Keeffe painting (ask an art person). For some reason,
that sweaty glass of vodka on the rocks just looks so-o-o-o good.
Other popular ads are a little less sneaky, but still quite
powerful. Enter “bogus photograph ads.” There’s nothing hid
den in them, but the image is a big lie.
Take pictures of hamburgers for example. Portraits of ham
burgers is more accurate. They have beautiful, puffy, glisten
ing buns with perfectly proportioned dressings and vegetables,
all matched and color coordinated to make you want to eat the
picture. No hamburger ever looks like that.
The meat, which is mostly pureed
gristle - technically 100 percent pure
beef, because of its bovine origin - is
much smaller than the photo beef. The
lettuce and tomato are always placed
halfway off the burger, soaking the al
ready drenched, smashed, grease-paste
of a bun with even more liquids. A pho
tographer once told me the “model”
burgers’ buns are rubbed with Vaseline
to make them shiny. What a farce.
“Association” ads are very popular right now. My fa
vorites are the ones for pain relievers and beer. Beer ads
are the simplest. If you buy this beer you will score with
beautiful women. End of message.
Drug commercials are complex in comparison. They fre
quently place a well-known soap opera doctor in a library to
tell you that the drug is scientifically proven. Everyone knows
it’s Dr. Bluff Granite from the “All My Superficial Children”
cast. He’s never opened any of those books; he knows NOTH
ING about medicine - except his cocaine habit. They’re paying
him specifically to trick us. We’re such suckers.
Other medicine ads feature a striking woman, over 35,
with an extremely frumpy hairstyle and outfit. Her dress is
usually a dark color with white trim high on the neck.
She’s not sexy. She’s serious, straightforward but caring,
and reminds you of Sister Mary Francis Aquinas. She
would not lie.
But she might reach out of the screen and beat your hand
with a ruler if you don’t buy her pills.
Frank Stanford is a philosophy graduate student
The Battalion
Editorial Board
Belinda Blancarte, Editor in chief
Mark Evans, Managing editor
Jay Robbins, Opinion editor
Jenny Magee, Assistant opinion editor
> ;
Editorials appearing in The Bat!
reflect the views of the editorial board. They
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
other Battalion staff members, the Texas
A&M student body, regents, administration,
faculty or staff.
Columns, guest columns, cartoons an
letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information
on submitting guest columns.
* flpfIPP «
WM :
Strike - No Ball
Fans lose more than anyone else
This fall the leaves will change in
New England and kids will carve
pumpkins, but there will be no
World Series. Yesterday the acting
commissioner of Major League base
ball, Bud Selig, canceled the rest of
the season, leaving it the first year
since 1904 without a World Series.
This incident highlights the absurdi
ty of the strike.
Who cares about players’
salaries and owners profits if
they are not even going to
play the game?
Rather than accept
a compromise or at
least agree to table
talks until after the
pennant races, the
players and owners
have destroyed the
whole season. Some
desperate fans even
hoped President Clinton
would issue an executive
order to resolve the crisis.
Ironically, this year’s players
and teams exhibited some of the best
games and talent in decades. The op
portunities to set dozens of new records
are now lost permanently.
The average salary of professional
baseball players is $1.2 million. Yet,
they fight against a salary cap.
Players have said they will go back
to playing immediately and sort the
rest out later if the owners give up
on the plan, but even that sugges
tion failed.
The owners claim 18 baseball
franchises are losing money and that
without a salary cap they cannot re
main competitive with clubs who can
afford large payrolls. Owners have
backed down during the past to pre
serve the game, but now have chosen
to stick to their demands.
Unfortunately, the real
losers in the game of con
tract negotiations will be
the fans and those who
depend upon the in
dustry to make a liv
ing. After all, the fans
are the ones who truly
fund the sport. Busi
nesses in cities who do
not have other profes
sional sports teams also
will suffer losses. And
there are people to blame.
The players and owners
are both at fault, and next year’s
fan appreciation day - if they are
playing by then - might as well be a
declaration of the clubs’
hypocrisy.The owners and players
have lost millions of dollars and
countless unique opportunities for
legendary plays.
It is anyone’s guess as to how many
fans the game of baseball has lost.
Crime bill builds base for
inner-city social programs
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So-called 'pork' provides needed opportunity for better
education, decreased crime, personal excellence
dd!
ents
Y
3S
5.
and
n Service,
I magine going to an overcrowded,
underfunded public high school in the
inner city. Imagine that your school
barely has enough money to provide you
with outdated, beat-up textbooks, much less
give you anything extra, like centrifuges and
chemicals for your chemistry class or art
supplies or dance instructors. Imagine your
reaction if the federal government were to
give you all of this and more.
It has. The much-debated crime bill
passed on Tuesday, bringing with it not only
more law enforcement, but also some
severely-needed social programs.
Opponents see no need for these
programs. They are simply “pork” thrown in
to appease Democratic constituents. Is
prevention really wasteful spending?
I don’t think so.
Inner-city kids are supposedly the most
at-risk to become involved in crime. What
in particular makes them more susceptible
than members of other neighborhoods or
social groups?
It all boils down to money. Less money
equals less opportunity for education. Even
though everyone is provided a “free” public
education, in poorer areas this education is
ridiculously substandard in relation to the
education provided in richer ones.
The richer kids have
the chance to work in labs,
sculpt clay, play
instruments and
participate in a huge
number of other activities
that go beyond the scope of
the three R’s.
This may not seem
important on a superficial
level. After all, it’s just fun
stuff - not as necessary to education or life
as algebra, right? Who needs art class?
The fact is, we all need some sort of
release from the difficulties of daily life.
These kids have to risk scorn from their
peers just for wanting to attend school every
day. Some have to worry about whether
they’ll make it home okay or whether they 11
get enough to eat that night.
Daily life for these kids must be very
difficult. School doesn’t provide an escape
.rom their problems when there’s always the
'ear that an armed person might make it
through the metal detector that day.
Inner-city kids can’t escape to a big
backyard or to the local fitness center for fun
like their middle-class peers. So, some
become involved in illegal extracurricular
activities, thus perpetuating the problem.
The new law package provides money
for youth employment skills, community
youth academies, gang prevention services,
Boys and Girls Clubs and dozens of other
groups to provide educational
opportunities not available in the school
system. These programs offer a way to
learn how to stop the cycle of crime and to
have fun in a safe environment.
Perhaps the most controversial
provision of the crime bill is the proposal
LYNN
BOOMER
Columnist
for a midnight basketball program. Critics
say that it’s silly because no good kids
would be out at midnight, and those who
are don’t deserve any special favors and
should be kept in by a curfew. If curfews
were as effective as the detractors of the
bill would lead the public to believe, we
would already have seen a significant
decrease in crime.
President Bush visited a midnight
basketball league in 1991 and gave his seal
of approval. “The last thing midnight
basketball is about is basketball,” he said at
the time. “It’s about providing opportunities
for young adults to escape drugs and the
streets and get on with their lives. It’s not
coincidental that the [area] crime rate is
down 60 percent since the program began.”
Time reporter Margaret Carlson argues
that the reason midnight sports came under
No one is forced to be a criminal, but it takes
a strong person to live in an environment
that contains gang warfare, drug dealers and
poverty, and not become mentally trapped.
Republican fire is that “they realized that
they could recapture the law-and-order issue
for themselves by stalling the bill.” This may
be a valid point. After all, President George
Bush had no problem giving midnight
basketball the Republican seal of approval.
Critics have argued that the crime bill is
too costly to taxpayers. It’s too costly to fund
these social programs, especially when the
beneficiaries are just a bunch of punks who
probably belong in jail.
The real cost is to human life, whether
victimized by crime or denied the same
educational opportunities as peer groups.
No one is forced to be a criminal, but it
takes an extremely strong person to live
every day in an environment that
contains drive-by shootings, gang
warfare, drug dealers and poverty, and
not become mentally trapped. It’s hard to
believe that the average middle-class kid,
caught in a similar environment, would
have the mental strength to survive,
much less excel.
Perhaps with the new programs, more
average inner-city kids will find that inner
strength. Their success would be priceless.
Lynn Booher is a junior
English and psychology major
iff soroynT w want MkT\
Mail
C^l
Bonfire builders have rights, too
It has become fashionable, in these modern times,
to have a cause and rail against it as a perceived injus
tice. That we have lowered the standards as to what
is an “injustice,” and therefore cheapened the word it
self, seems to have been ignored in the rush to attack
traditions, and the status quo. What was once consid
ered our “personal freedoms” has now been replaced
with the more nebulous “Rights,” and these rights
have apparently now been changed to read, “Anything
that annoys me or inconveniences me in any way, or I
find contrary to my wishes, is not to be allowed.” Such
intolerance is self-belittling and crass.
Bonfire. It seems that just to say the word is tanta
mount to asking its foes to attack you verbally and
through the administration. I will never forget a meeting
last year about Bonfire Wake-Up policy, in which a man
stated, “I party Friday nights, and I come home drunk at
two in the morning and ready to crash, and like you guys
getting up and stuff wakes me up. I got rights man.” In
credulously I asked if he was going to go watch it bum; at
his answer (yes) I asked if 20 minutes of noise on a Satur
day was too much for him to give to the effort of building
it. He didn’t answer. But another gentleman did say he
wasn’t going to watch it and wanted nothing to do with it,
therefore he shouldn’t be annoyed by us going to “screw”
around. “Fine,” I said, “so what you are telling me is since
you aren’t going, the other 450 of us shouldn’t.”
I thought that this year would be a bit easier - after all,
we had already hashed out our problems with the admin
istration, hadn’t we? Not so. That the building of Bonfire
is sanctioned and encouraged by A&M is well known; but
to the local area housing offices, it is a pain in the neck.
When we return, our boots are muddy and we smell like
trees. Sweating and bleeding and blistered and loud, we
make our way to the cafeterias and talk endlessly about
how big this log was or who broke an axe. Trails of dirt
and wood chips in our wake, we hang our “Grodes” to dry
outside, sing ribald songs and look forward to next week
end when we will do it all over again. Friendship, hard
ship, determination, and Aggie spirit, it’s all there. So, un
fortunately, is the mess. TTie offices of the administration
don’t see it, but our housing coordinators do, and they are
not amused. When you add to this the vocal minority of
students who disapprove, you have an area office more
than willing to bend over backwards to place restrictions
upon Bonfire, to ensure the rights of others. (Read that as
also alleviating the mess and headache they go through).
Gentlemen, and ladies, I say enough! Suck it up! We
will cut the trees; you can watch Saturday cartoons. We
will load the logs; you can watch “Roseanne.” We will
stack the logs, you can sleep far from the Tag-lines. We
will build it ... you will watch. We do not mind, we are
happy to do these things and proud to be a part of a glori
ous tradition. Just don’t place further obstacles in our
way, Our aching backs, our sleepless nights, our blistered
palms and weary arms are enough.
Notice one thing, however: the tired but self satisfied
smiles on our faces as it bums, tears on the faces of best
friends who were once strangers, and the little guy who
said he wouldn’t have anything to do with Bonfire and
shouldn’t be bothered, wearing a Bonfire shirt, and watch
ing it fall. (Bet you thought nobody would notice - we did.
We were proud to have you there friend, we are all Aggies,
and look at what we have ALL done.)
Wayne (Pops) White
Class of’87 and ’97
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