hulte014: February 2012 Archives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVIg7Vu0NeM

I decided to research an advertisement on the new Gatorade G Series. These advertisements usually portray professional athletes in their intense workout situations, which generally would make viewers feel more inferior than anything. But this new commercial showed a very average, yet athletic young male in his daily workout routine. It starts out showing him waking up very early, and then starting his day out with 2 protein bars and the first part of the 3-pronged drink, Prime. After this, he jogs to the gym and grabs a Perform, the second step in the series, which is crafted to keep one hydrated and performing at their best. It shows the man working out using a treadmill, free weights, and a medicine ball. It also shows him continuing to drink Perform throughout his entire workout. When he finishes, he grabs the final step in the series, Recover. He walks back to his house and stretches out while drinking Recover, and hears his neighbor's alarm go off and smiles, looking as though he feels accomplished.
This advertisement tugs at an emotion that many Americans struggle with every day, the desire to get up and work out. In the ad, this normal guy gets through his workout using the G series to get him "pumped up," get him through his routine, and recover properly. The biggest shock is how he is still able to get back in time to hear his lazy neighbors alarm go off, giving him a personal sense of accomplishment.

When being assigned to read this chapter, I was confused at first. Shouldn't we start at the beginning of the book, and move on from there? But then I realized that psychologists appreciate well-rounded individuals, and I think that learning this way is a good way to just be submerged in the entire subject of psychology. Anyway, going over this chapter was very interesting to me. I really enjoy learning the history of psychological disorders, and the improvements to treat them that we have made over the years. It really struck me in the first few pages, when we read about how tortured people were in the past for having any kind of psychological disorders. Many were thought to be witches, others were considered to have "too much blood" in their system, so their blood was drained, many times killing the individual. Even though society has made a lot of progress since these dark times, one underlying factor remains the same to be something we still struggle with today: people who are different from "the norm" have yet to be completely treated as equals. High schools have cliques, society has classes, and everyone is constantly being divided. Many people don't realize what kind of struggles people can go through through simple classifications of society. It is really important that we continue to evolve from these awful stereotypes and divisions in society.