83 Days down and one to go...

(Yes I did just go on the Internet and count all the days since school started - and now I am tired :))

Apprehensive, carefree, excited, really confused... These are just some of the emotions I felt, going in to this project. I was nervous about my group members, since I had never been in a group with them and there is always that little "What if I end up doing all the work?..." looming over your conscious. The next thing you think about it is... "Haha we can do this the night before." Woah, was I WRONG about BOTH things.

Firstly, this has been by far the best group I have ever worked with. I enjoyed knowing that the work was equally spread and that for the first time in the history of... well in the history since I joined high school, this project was NOT done the night before (Yes, my parents are very proud). I just can't believe it went so fast. Seriously? 84 days later and all we get to give in is a disc? I do not feel that that justifies all the hard work we went through. Then again, there is this blog and it does showcase most of the stress and fun times we went through trying to impress the class with a few pictures of people smoking. And to think, smoking is not even a MORAL thing... I wish we had to do a project on cupcakes or rainbows... Now there is a happy topic. (Ms. L - There's an idea. Advertising in the COOKING careers. You will be fed AND we also get to be fed - now that's an easy A right there :) ).

So I think I'm meant to ask myself...
What did I learn from this project?

I learnt that advertising is a powerful tool.
It is persuasive, cunning and people will tell you whatever you want to hear in order to get what THEY want, what you GET is a whole different story.
I absolutely adored No Logo. Honestly (and apologies to Naomi Klein), I thought the book was going to be horrible, boring, not very useful and instead... IT OPENED MY EYES. I actually want to take it out at the library and read the entire book from cover to cover (We only had it for two days, so we only photocopied what we needed). But even from these extracts I feel attracted to each and every bit of information.
Here are a few of my favourite quotes SO FAR:

"The reasoning was that if a "prestige" brand like Marlboro, whose image had been carefully groomed, preened and enhanced with more than a billion advertising dollars, was desperate enough to compete with no-names, then clearly the whole concept of branding had lost its currency." (Ch.1 Page 12)

"Of course it's a classic symptom of teenage narcissism to believe that the end of history coincides exactly with your arrival on earth. Almost every angst-ridden, Camus-reading seventeen-year-old girl finds her own groove eventually." (Ch.3 Page 63)

"...peer pressure emerged as a powerful market force..." (Ch.3 Page 68)

Marshall McLuhan

"When a thing is current, it creates currency." (Ch. 3 Page 71)

And the more I read, the more intrigued I became. I honestly think my calling is Marketing and Advertising... The mind thought behind advertising absolutely baffles me. But then again, I tend to baffle MYSELF with a few of the ideas which tend to cross my mind.

I also realized the seriously bad effects smoking had on people because of the adverts created in the past century before it got banned. It has left millions of people with health problems and even with today's medication and methods, people cannot be fully cured. What probably hurts me the most is that my parents smoke,a few of my family members smoke and their friends smoke... The list goes on. These people KNOW what is happening to their lungs and general health status but it does not cause them to stop. I think I would like to design a video which really stops people and makes them THINK about what that little white and brown object is really doing to them.

On a lighter note, Tarryn, Nina and Kim... Thank-you. This project was a tough one and we really bit the bullet hard. I am very proud of the finished product and to think, from website-designing to sleepovers to laughing hysterically at the way Tarryn talks to her cat... We are done. Finally. :)

So this is it.
The light at the end of the tunnel... School is the metaphorical light and oh shoot, we are not dead. It's worse than that; we are entering Term 2 of Grade 11. Exams, more projects which are meant to "enlighten us" and "make us grow as people" and the endless amount of tears (Something tells me, I'm not alone).

Farewell amazing marks, Hello June/July exams.
And please, oh please - be kind.

For more drama and suspense catch me on my next blog: I'm-scared-of-Grade-11-and-this-maths-makes-no-sense.
Till then Goodbye.

Flip, I should be a news reporter :)
And over to Kim for the weather...
Lol