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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1998)
lesday • June 2,1998 The Battalion PINION \d fads lexist advertising makes no parallel to the actual product being marketed jij Alison Lackey columnist ■ oy protein, jasmine extract, citric acid, water ... do • these ingredients exude an orgasmic experience? ■ OK, so maybe some people get a nice tingly. Bn feeling in their scalp but ■s all. ■hese advertisements for jrfcal shampoos, conditioners id body wash are sexist. The Hthe products are environ- Btally sound and cruelty- ■ is truly something to coo ■ have an orgasm over — ell maybe. ■he bright bubbly shampoo IBs are frowning down at these IBst attempts to cheapen Hnen and their sexuality. OK, He company is going to adver- Hone gender extreme of sexual exploitation, then be |ir about it. People deserve to see a guy in a tool shed, [o] belt in place, hmmming, aughhhing, and wesyesing with a drill in his hand. J And just what is he drilling? He is drilling his way BBiore soft and silky curls with lustrous shine; that TjOuld at least breathe an air of equality in the ad impnign. Undoubtedly, several men use these prod- i but everyone knows a man hasn't been por- IHed shampooing in an airplane lavatory broadcast- ■flhis very vocal, very enthused orgasm over the [|i|ie's intercom. B)r, how about the ad with the woman driving out ito the west, pulling over to the side of the road to BBwer with an herbal body wash? No man has been TBicted pulling over for a spur-of-the-moment orgas- liq desert shower. ither way, this commercial is stupidity in its bt striking form. One would almost wish the ac- |sin the ad would scrape her leg on the rocks, ] on the orgasmic oh — I mean organic bubbles. bust her a-- on a crop of baby cacti, get in the car and drive to New Jersey. Women and men have repeatedly indulged them selves to give their hair various foofs and carefully un tangled tresses. An abundant demand for these prod ucts exists. And it is understandable that ad campaigns need to be truly unique to catch the con sumer. This, however, is not unique. Sexuality always has been an agent of advertising. Before and ever since beer commercials starred girls ornamenting the arms of beer-guzzling yahoos, have we seen this link to sex uality in advertisement. Sex sells, however, herbal hygiene advertisements are a moronic approach to product appeal. Sex-and- beer, shampoo-and-sex? TV clickers all over the world should move their pinkies in unison to better TV commercials. Speaking for females, we are not a bunch of idiots who need some male marketing guru's sexist approach to buy shampoo. Women nev er have bought shampoo based on its guarantee of sexual gratification. Truly, the commercials are dumber than a box of rocks. The product primarily targets women because women are perhaps more often concerned about the particulars of shampoo shopping. However, why attach sexuality to the grocery store? May 1 have some cherry tomatoes with that or gasm? Pathetic. That is such an incredible insult. Women are in tune with their sexuality in their own ways. There is no need for the sound of soft porn to convince a woman to buy jasmine and mountain spring water conditioner. If it's good shampoo, then great, get happy and go buy a case. Get that good ol' organic experience. But, remember advertisers, you're barking up the wrong shampoo bottle with these commercials. Alison Lackey is a junior English major. 1 1 1 11 "liyl.railSSK"""? 1 ill ’—— Americans take responsibility for fires in Mexico M e have all heard and seen the constant bar rage of warnings of effects of smoking and sec- -hand smoke from our sur- ion general, various medical Bfessionals and even our par- Bs. But now there is a new Bard to our health: second- Bntry smoke. ■Although there are those woBv avoidable hazards we 'avitBl choose to partake in and i — owivnn enjoy, this is one most el'fexans will steer clear of and would like to see realxtinguished. ,bti«The fires of Mexico are still ablaze and are show- B no signs of letting up soon. ■ So far there have been an estimated 12,000 fires, |d 50 people have died as a result. Experts have predicted an average of 300 new 1 g 1 Richard Paddack columnist fires a day. Once again, the United States, has decid ed to lend a helping hand with over $5 million to fund the fire-fighting efforts. Why our government feels it needs to clean up everyone else's mess is un certain, especially in this instance. For starters, the fires in Mexico are not a result of the infamous El Nino, nor were they started by the backfire of some old produce truck on a farm-to- market road. The fact of the matter is the Mexican government instigated a majority of the blazes that are polluting Texas skies. With the dwindling economy in Mexico, the gov ernment felt the need to produce more. Therefore, the Mexican government is subsidizing its farmers to clear their unused lands to start production. Apparently, the most efficient means of clearing land for farming is with a match and a gallon of diesel. The end result are the landscapes of fires Americans are helping to fight and fund with their tax dollars. But, certainly the Mexican government was fully aware of and had thoroughly thought out the conse quences of their plan to bring in a few more dollars. Why should Americans help a country that obvi ously cannot and will not learn from its mistakes. Americans live in a country with some of the world's most stringent pollution policies. Why? Because they value the air they breathe and the water they drink. They even enjoy camping once in while in one of our many heavily-wooded state or national parks. Americans are told where to put our trash and how to properly dispose of their hazardous chemi cals. They even pay hundreds of dollars more for their cars to ensure their emissions systems are up to par. These are just a few of the rules Americans choose to follow in order to further their existence and that of their planet. The reason why their fish have only one head and their cattle still have fields to graze upon is because Americans are all aware of the effects of pollution on our earth, and they care about the earth. Mexico, on the other hand, whose ozone levels are twice the amount they should be, has yet to see the bigger picture. While their government is wor rying about how to increase the wealth of their econ omy, they are, be it inadvertently or not, diminishing the health of their economy. It was not until days af ter the smog began to blanket their horizon that they informed the citizens to halt all modes of motor transportation. Today, almost two weeks later, only about 40 percent of their automobiles have heeded this warning. Despite all the United States has done and tried to do for Mexico, they still went behind our backs and attempted to take the upper hand. But, what hap pened? They got burned. After all the fires are out, and the United States has signed their last check, American fire fighters can finally come home, the treasury department can tack on another $5 million to the debt, and Mexico will start planting. Richard Paddack is a junior journalism major. LP0K Know aged aup, TIRED POlT, IS LOOKI^l Clinton scandals: fact or fiction? HER HUSBtMD Bob's TAKING-VIAGRA; MAIL CALL The following is a letter to Maj. Gen. IT. (Ted) Hopgood Jr., Corps of Cadets Mmmdcmt. Mr. Hopgood: hi Please explain why you establish tW iksto abolish the display of the a gof the Confederacy, part of our Texas culture and heritage. I can claim a grandfather who was a com bat veteran of the Texas Brigade of the Army of the Tennessee of the Confederate Army. I am proud of my grandfather., and 1 am proud of the 60,000 to 93,000 black Confederate soldiers who fought for the Confederacy. I do not understand why you at tempt to eliminate one of the six flags over Texas. I do not understand why you discriminate against Texas heritage and culture, while you al low symbols of other heritages and culture, Cinco de Mayo, for instance. Diversity is not divisive. What is happening to "old army"? I am a former student and Corps bugler. I hope cooler heads and common sense will prevail in this conflict. Seldon B. Graham Jr. Class of'47 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for lengtlt, styie, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1.11,1 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu oes Nathan BoucheR columnist any- one still believe in a "vast right-wing conspiracy"? Well, they should. Our much-ma ligned Presi dent Clinton is the target of an enormous effort on the part of Republicans to defame and smear his name. He has done nothing wrong. All of the women who have re ported scandals — Flowers, Jones, Wiley and God knows who else — are tramps. Not only are they tramps, they are pawns of the Republican par ty to boot. They wanted to see what he really had to offer, so the president obliged. Is that so wrong? And this Filegate crap, what is that? Some Republican operative left over from Watergate broke into the White House and put those files there. How else can it be explained how hundreds of secret FBI files on key players in the Republican party, filled with personal infor mation, could wind up in the White House? And remember that guy who testified to the Senate that the whole thing was all his fault? You know, the one who got a job at the White House but didn't re member who hired him, and no one in the administration remem bered hiring him — he is proba bly the guy who the Republicans hired to do the job. Then there is the campaign funding fiasco. Again, this is part of the vast right wing conspiracy that is eating away at the heart of a great president. So what if a Chinese-Ameri- can businessman with strong ties to communist China's govern ment donates hundreds of thou sands of dollars to the Democrat ic National Committee? Who cares if his business partner was the daughter of a general in the communist Chinese military? Can't every one of us donate large sums of money to the party of our choice in an election year without coming under suspicion of "high crimes and misde meanors?" Maybe it was discovered that shortly after the money was do nated the communist Chinese government got possession — again, no one seems to know how — of top secret satellite parts, but is that something to make such a big deal over? White House lawyers did claim in documents filed in Fed eral District Court that "the pos sibility of congressional impeach ment proceedings [were] a justification for his claim of exec utive privilege." The lawyers argue "he need ed candid, private advice from his aides about how to counter any effort to remove him from office," but that doesn't neces sarily mean they think that will happen. In fact. Judge Norma Hol loway Johnson at first ruled in favor of president Clinton's at tempt at invoking executive privilege. She only changed her mind when independent counsel Kenneth Starr, showed her all the evidence he had against Clinton, as if he could have any thing bad on Saint Bill. The guy is a national hero, even if he did dodge the draft. I believe in Bill. 1 believe him when he says he never inhaled. I believe him when he says he did n't show himself to Paula Jones. I believe him when he says he did n't knowingly accept or solicit il legal campaign contributions from foreign governments. I believe him when he says those FBI files got there by mis take. I believed him when he said those subpoenaed papers of Hillary's were lost, even after they were found in the White House residential quarters. I believe he is truly looking out for the constitution when in- • vokes executive privilege. I believe there is a national se- ' curity interest in not making Sid- . ney Blumenthal and Bruce Lind- ' sey testify about what they know about the president's sex life. I believe there was a conspira cy to kill John F. Kennedy, Elvis lives in a trailer park in North Carolina and jazz is the music of the future. But that's just my opinion — 1 could be wrong. Nathan Boucher is a senior political science major.