Spinach, orange juice and dominant ideology.

As a little kid, I remember when my mom would force-feed me spinach. I remember as little kid when it was way uncool to enjoy veggies, especially spinach. So why did I suddenly find I liked my spinach and was slightly disappointed when it was taken off the shelves due to an E.coli scare? And it wasn't just because I was back to eating the sometimes not-so-fresh lettuce found in the cafeteria.

Even though a lot of the vegetable's popularity came from how strong and manly Popeye became after eating his can of spinach (he was able to overtake his archnemesis Brutus and make swoon Olive Oyl at the same time), I can honestly say that these amazing reactions to spinach had little or nothing to do with my recent infatuation with the veggie.

Spinach often times comes with the connotation of being a very healthy food and, as a sophomore in college trying to keep off those extra pounds, healthy food holds some interest for me. And it is healthier than a lot of other food found in the cafeteria (just trust me on this one). Plus, everybody knows that dark and leafy green veggies are incredibly healthy. So where does dominant ideology come in?

In a recent air show for On the Media, Brooke Gladstone and Michael Pollan claim this push came from, surprise surprise, a dominant ideology.

POLLAN: ... There is an ideology at large, and it is this focus on looking at foods as delivery systems for nutrients... We don't know exactly why. We have our theories. They're often proven wrong. But if you eat food, you're going to be okay, and eating nutrients may not be the wisest way to go.

GLADSTONE: And, of course, you know, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. We learn about Vitamin C and suddenly orange juice is healthy.

POLLAN: ... The orange is a great case... The orange got a huge push from its industry. [...They] did this amazingly effective advertising campaign, such that every American believes it is an absolute necessity for good health to drink a glass of orange juice every morning – when, in fact, the differences in effect on your body of a big tall glass of orange juice and a big tall glass of Coca-Cola are not that great. You're getting a big hit of sugar, and an insulin spike as a result. Yeah, you are getting some nutrients, too. You're getting some Vitamin C...

So the next time you're deciding between that tempting pop or your regular morning orange juice, remember you're going more against dominant ideology than you're going against that strict diet.

Seriously?

When the obituary of Jim Schinneller, a retired University of Wisconsin art professor, was printed in the paper, many were probably surprised to see a picture of the back of Jim's head next to it, as Jim Stingl of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pointed out in a recent article.



His family stated that, as an art teacher, Jim was always asking them to look at the world and "rethink what's normal." This picture definitely does the trick.

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Looking at the semiology of this picture, it definitely goes against what is commonly perceived as obituary photos. It is the same angle as the frontal face pictures more commonly used. However, because the photograph looks at the back of Jim's head, it makes you look at the world from a different angle, a different view. Maybe he's going someplace as the author of the article, Jim Stingl suggested:

"[the picture] showed him heading off into the eternal sunset."

Perhaps this picture, which started out as a Christmas picture for his children, did exactly as it was intended, forcing people to view the world from a different angle. Apparently this concept followed Schinneller in both life and death.

Mobile to Mobile?

It appears that my first post has officially been outdated. While some people are still moving towards the internet, many others are making the move to mobile devices.

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Google is putting their seach on mobile and is creating ways to advertise over these devices.

"We are bringing more of our products to mobile phone users. Since
there are at least twice as many mobile phones than PCs in use globally, and
mobile usage is growing faster than PCs, we want to make Google available in a
device-independent way."
-company co-founder Larry Page

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News Corp Inc. believes the use of mobile devices for media could be the best thing since sliced bread.

"I believe that mobile could be one of the greatest media platforms
ever created. It could rival television, the Internet and literally
anything."
-Peter Chernin, president and chief operating
officer

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And finally, my latest post about MTV's need to reinvent itself may be discarded as the company joins Universal to bring music videos to 70+ wireless carriers.

"This is a digital deal, and all of this has been in the works for a
long time...It's important to Universal to reach more viewers, and for us to
program more content to our viewers."
-Greg Clayman, vice president for wireless strategies and
operations at MTV Networks

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Ladies and gentlemen...turn on your cell phones.

Is MTV losin' it?

Like many other people my age, or probably more for those slightly older than I, MTV has long been a staple of society. However, in the last few years - when was the last time you watched a music video on the channel who's most famous for...you guessed it...their music videos? (This excludes watching a music video on the MTV website, which is full of videos.)

Lately it seems the only thing getting constant air time is crappy reality shows, such as "Next" and others like it. The network has lost 1.77% of its daily viewers over the past year. Looks to me like MTV needs to change something and with Monday's firing of Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, it appeared that maybe MTV network, also operated by Viacom, would be in for some management changes.

That proved not to be the case. Instead, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone called MTV's Judy McGrath to make sure that she stayed with the network to ensure stability within the company. So how will MTV get back the lost audiences? Is anything changing without a change in management?

It appears that they are expecting MTV to fall back on what it has always done when audiences get bored with the same old entertainment. Reinvent itself. Let's hope so.

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MTV Networks has "one of the strongest hands in media" and that MTV has proved time and again that it can reinvent itself.
-New Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman

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