Funny Cell Phone Spoof

Funny foreign diet commerical.

Comment on Weight and Diet Trends!

Nowadays, Hollywood is influencing the masses. The youth are trying to look to like Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Ritchie, Kate Moss, and Paris HIlton. The super thin look is becoming an ambition, svelte is the sought after body type, and everyone is trying to fit into a size smaller than 6.

The diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa has increased among males as well. Famed actor Dennis Quaid came out explaining his 10 year battle with "Manorexia", the term he coined as the male equivalent to anorexia.

To have the hard abs and the an amazingly toned body is the epitome of the alpha male. The thin physique that looks like the heroine addict look is becoming the epitome of the Hollywood glamour look.

The pressure to gain these body types have been changing with such action as the Body mass index requirement of supermodels in the Madrid and Milan fashion shows during the popular fashion weeks, where super thin is no longer accepted.

Many say that the super thin look for females should be stopped and the excessively fit bodies for males as well. However no matter the criticism, people are still trying to achieve these body trends.

The super thin look has been taking a toll on international levels, where Asian countries are at an all time high, where weight issues connect with the ideals of beauty. It is becoming an unhealthy fad that may be difficult to break.

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Knowing the trends that connect to weight and diet fads are a popular issue and have been a strong hold especially in society due to the connection to beauty ideals, how does this affect your views and opinions?

Take the time to walk around and do a mass observation for a few minutes, takes notes on what you notice among people and things that are influenced or connected to weight and diet trends?

Take note of advertisements, magazine articles, television, everyday people, products, and so forth. Tell me what you think.

The Cell Phone Trend

Almost everyone today owns a cell phone, and they seem to be coming in more shapes and sizes with more popular features than ever. Cell phones became popular in the early 1990’s and are now considered a necessity for today’s high-paced, technologically based work culture. Cell phones are an interesting trend because they are popular across almost all dynamics of culture: they are used by persons old and young, male and female, black and white, gay and straight, and everywhere in-between. But people have a variety of options in how they accessorise their phones, how visible they make their phones, and where/how they use them. Dolce & Gabbana is marketing a $400 gold-colored phone this Christmas that is "so gilded and so thin it evokes a supermodel" (Washington Post 12/5/06: A1). T-Mobile has already sold out of its super trendy $400 bejeweled pink phones, part of a limited edition cellphone line.

The purpose of this website is to create a snap shot of the cell phone trend right now through mass observation. In 50 years the nature of cell phones and their abilities will drastically change and they will play a different part in culture. In the spirit of mass observation, we want to record as much information about cell phones as possible, and observe their current role in daily culture.


There are a number of issues that implicate cell phones today:
Should cell phones be used in restaurants? Should you talk while on the bus? What about in the bathroom? Lives have been saved by the quick access to emergency assistance, but young children are also becoming increasingly independent from their families and dependent on technology. Alternatively, minority teenagers in France were able to orchestrate days of riot and rebellion through cell phones and text messages. Increased cell phone use has also caused a number of hazards; numerous cities and states have passed laws to prohibit talking on a cell phone while driving without a hands free device.

I want to hear what you see. Just take a few minutes to sit down and watch someone, write down your observations and experiences, or keep a simple diary for a day. Think about the way cell phones are used today and some of the circumstances that make them necessary. At the least, write down what type of phone you have and if you have done anything to personalize it or fit into a current trend. If you have any questions, just call!

Check this out...

This is a video clip from a local NYC show called "The Resident" about dressing "trendy."



What do you think?

What does your outfit say about you?

Have you ever noticed how what you're wearing causes people to automatically categorize or judge you? Of course you have, we all have. What you wear says something about you, that's a universal idea. We see it in movies, in television, in everyday life. We wear certain clothes to go to work, and different clothes to go out on Friday night. But why? Why does what we’re wearing matter so much? To make matters even more complicated, clothing is then placed into even another category, in or out of style. These “in style” trends are what I’m choosing to focus on. I want to find out what makes certain outfits in and what wearing these outfits says about the person wearing it.

It’s seems to me that it would be impractical for me to talk about what’s in without bringing up race. Living in D.C. especially, it’s easy to see that what’s in for the majority white crowd at American University looks quite different from what the majority black crowd at Wilson High School considers fashionable. So what’s the difference?

Observing at AU is like being in a Richard Simmons workout video…there’s spandex everywhere you go. Sometimes theses spandex pants are paired with a tiny skirt, but the brave girls don’t even try to cover up the fact that spandex pants show everyone, everything. What does this say about these girls though? Do they think that their outfit says the same thing that people receive? In my opinion, I see dressing trendy in this case to say “Hey, look at me, I’m fashionable, I’m up to date with popular culture, and I have the money to buy these popular clothes.” Money, I think, is crucial to trends in clothing. Designer clothes are expensive. People are willing to pay tens or even hundreds more just for a small insignia or even a name on a tag that no one will even see. But then there are those trendy items that have the name plastered across the chest, or behind. Does wearing “Juicy” on your behind send out an image of who you are? Is that truly who you are?

Clothes are so mass produced, especially popular styles, so what similarity is there between two completely different people wearing the same pair of pants? I saw a blue eyed, blonde haired white girl walking around at AU in sweatpants with “juicy” on the behind, and a teenage black girl wearing the same pants at Wilson High School. Being in linked them together, but does anything else? Do they feel the same way about their sweatpants? Do they even project the same image by wearing those pants? Or do people see them completely differently because of their race.

What about the black boy walking around in Tenleytown with his jeans at his knees and boxers hanging out? What does that say about him? Does it say something different to his peers than it does to random adults walking by? Does he even realize that? And what about the white boy dressed almost exactly the same way? Is his way of dressing in style saying the same things about him that they do about the black boy?

I could talk for days about this, but I’d like to pose some questions for discussion.

Do you think there’s a difference between clothing trends among different races?

Do two people of different race wearing the same outfit say something different?

Are there stereotypes associated with people who dress trendy and those who don’t?

Are there times when dressing trendy has different meanings to the wearer and the viewer? If so, is there a way to fix this misunderstanding?

Feel free to observe beyond these ideas, that's the point of mass observation, we just want to know what you see when you look around.

Mass Observation and Anthropology

Welcome to the Mass Observation website dedicated to trends. We are a group of undergraduate students at American University in the anthropology class "Perspectives in Cultural Anthropology," exploring the relationship between anthropology and mass observation. Anthropology is the study of humanity, looking at societies throughout time and space to make cross-cultural comparisons and to try to discern different realtions of power and meaning. Anthropologists who study cultures spend countless months and years practicing ethnography, trying to experience and record different aspects of a certain culture. Our goal in practicing mass observation is to create a snap shot of culture today through various detailed observations.

Mass observation is an exciting way for everyone to practice a little bit of anthropology. It is the opportunity to be self-reflexive and observe culture from the inside. It developed in Great Britain following World War I, and aimed to record the details of everyday life through either daily diaries, short observations, or survey questions. The techniques of mass observation are similar to the work of anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who emphasized "thick description" in notes during field work. A key difference between mass observation and traditional participant observation is that instead of talking with people and asking specific questions, the focus of mass observation is to observe minute details of culture in an unobtrusive manner, so as to make a record of the real, unposing culture that we live in today. Mass observation brings to light that we all live within culture and are therefore in prime position to observe and reflect.

This website provides a space where observations can be submitted for reflection. No detail is too slight: we want to tease out the smallest of details to build and record the most thourough snap-shot of culture as possible. To guide our observations we have selected three current trends that deserve attention: fashion, cell phones and weight/diet trends. We hope that people from a variety of locations will provide their observations and together we can amass a database of information that accurately depicts certain trends in our culture today. We understand culture to be fluid and dynamic, so we want to record the nuances of cultural practice today.

Here is the website of The New Yorker article on Mass observation. Please check it out! http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/articles/060911crat_atlarge