DS make-up writing: February 2012 Archives

After looking at ads on youtube by which sellers manipulate emotions to sell products, I stumbled upon a Google commercial from 2010 that was rather interesting. For this blog, first I will give a quick summary of the ad. The entire commercial does not leave the google search page and the advertisement is about a young man who is searching for love. He goes on google and decides to search a number of things. He begins his journey by searching to study abroad in france, then he searches how to impress a french girl and translate french. He continues to search using google for things like locating restaurants and chocolate shops in Paris. Eventually the young man searches how be in a long distance relationship, but erases that line and replaces it with "jobs in paris". This leads to him searching for churches (to get married) and how to assemble a crib. Overall, the advertisement leaves the viewer with a warm and happy feeling because we witnessed a love story in under a minute.

The happy emotions created by this ad carry over to our opinion of google. I feel that google effectively manipulated people's emotions about love to create a positive view of their product and company. In addition, the advertisement shows how quick, easy and broad google is to use. One could argue that this also plays to our emotions because society is moving towards an "I need to have it right now" mentality. Google can help you get what you need quickly. All things considered, I think that google earned a lot of people's hearts because of their manipulation of emotion. Because of this, their marketing team was successful in the creation of this advertisement. Do you agree? Also, the link to the ad is at the bottom of the page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAtE6Jaf-lA

The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain.  A corpus callosotomy is a surgery that severs the corpus callosum, therefore preventing nerve impulses from being transmitted between the hemispheres.  Now you're probably wondering what kind of surgeon would do such a thing.  A mad scientist, or perhaps an extensive research laboratory?  Actually, this isn't quite the case.  While this is an extreme surgical procedure, corpus callosotomies are used in the treatment of severe, debilitating cases of epilepsy that generally don't respond to medical treatment.  When seizures occur in both hemispheres of the brain, the seizures can be very dangerous and difficult to manage.  If medications don't prevent the seizures, this procedure may be the only option to prevent seizures being transmitted throughout hemispheres.  While a corpus callosotomy is not the best option, the surgery is generally effective, and has very few side effects.  While the surgery is effective, it does not stop the seizures all together, and the patient will still need to take anti-seizure medications.  Also, when the hemispheres are split, there are sometimes difficulties with the patients being able to find the words for some objects.   

In chapter five, the book briefly touches on the concept of sleepwalking. I have always found this concept interesting, though I have never personally been caught sleepwalking, my little sister used to all the time. I can’t wrap my head around the idea of walking and doing things while sleeping. It says that people have been known to drive cars, have sex, and even commit murder all while sleeping! One time my sister was at a sleepover and she got out of bed, went downstairs, put on her friend’s dad’s slippers, and started walking outside. Who knows how far she would have gotten had the dog not started barking when the door opened. She remembers waking up and seeing the slippers on her feet but not knowing how they got there. I never thought that sleepwalking could be something concerning until I read this section and saw how far it can go!