Essays on Government
Selected Essays from students of Mr.Wolfford’s AP Government Class
Carter Kemper
VP of Spanish Club
Treasurer of National Honor Society
Morgan Spurlock is an independent movie director who loves to criticize society. His most famous work, Supersize Me, received a 93/100 on RottenTomatoes.com. The documentary followed him as he ate only McDonald’s food to expose the effects of their food. This satirical documentary, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, was released in 2011 with worse reviews than his previous work. The plot follows Spurlock as he travels from business to business pitching his idea, studying marketing, and asking for endorsements. As he approached business owners, they often gave him the cold shoulder. Understandably, most companies were hesitant to join Spurlock as he produced a movie that undermined product placement, a practice they heavily rely on. Ironically, this film, with a budget of 1.5 million dollars, was funded completely by large corporations.
However, Spurlock was able to find some companies to help him. As Spurlock gathered company backing, he also received a stack of contracts, each with their own requests. By talking to a lawyer and discussing with fellow directors such as Quentin Tarantino, J.J. Abrams, and Peter Berg, Spurlock concluded that the artistry of film is overridden by large companies forcing their products. Brett Ratner, famous for directing the film Rush Hour, remembers “two guys in suits coming down to the set with a product and were like, ‘Oh yeah you need to use this in the scene.’” The corporations that fund the film have a large influence on the content. An example was shown when Spurlock approached POM Wonderful, the biggest donor to the film, with three ideas. At the meeting, the executives shot down all three ideas and told him exactly what they wanted him to do.
Part of the film follows Spurlock as he asks people how they feel about product placement. Little do they know, the volunteers are taking part in product placement. Spurlock calls in Robert Weissman, the President of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, for an interview. Weissman claims that people don’t know that they are being advertised to and promotes his radical idea for advertisements to contain warnings of their presence. Comically, in this scene, a series of pointers pop up, showing all of the advertisements he doesn’t notice. Old Navy, Sheetz, Under Armor, and Merrell. Weissman’s most egregious oversight is the fact that the interview takes place in a JetBlue terminal, a sponsor of the film. Spurlock also asks the general public about their thoughts. As they talk, it is obvious that they are all either pumping gas a Sheetz station, flying on a JetBlue plane, or drinking POM Wonderful.
Many expert guests were part of this film. Ralph Nader, a political activist who frequently fights corporations to protect consumers, shares his strong feelings about product placement. Ironically, while casually talking about the effects of product placement, Spurlock starts talking about his shoes, giving false information and biased opinions. By the end of the movie, Nader is seen with the shoes, whose brand endorses Spurlock.
One part of the film was eye-opening. Spurlock explores neuromarketing as he visits the company Buyology. This company tests human reaction to advertisements in order to find which ad creates the most curiosity and interest. Spurlock volunteers for the experiment and reveals the disturbing results. Strapped into a brain-scanning machine, Spurlock is shown a flash of advertisements, each drawing towards either fear, craving, or sex. After the test, Spurlock casually asked for a Coke to drink. This was disturbing because in the flash of commercials advertising Coke, the product was not seen. By studying brain patterns and using subliminal messages, this company was able to brainwash Spurlock into craving a Coke. Martin Lindstrom, the chairman of Buyology, said that “advertising, as a concept, is manipulation” after Spurlock asked if this was controlling consumers.
This film successfully satirizes product placement. Not only does Spurlock display the corruption of marketing, but he also shows how it is unstoppable. His mockery of anti-advertisement experts shows how the monstrous industry is sneaky and effective. The first amendment protects the rights of these companies which protects them in lawsuits. By the end of the film, I felt more aware of advertisements. Their gigantic presence reaches everywhere and it would be pointless to try to end this practice. An article on lessonbucket.com reports that in 2011 alone, companies spent $496.6 billion on marketing and by 2015 it is projected to reach $603.1 billion. Spurlock suggests that if advertisements can’t be ignored, consumers must be aware of the deceptive tricks they use.
Summer Harris
Editor of The Warpath, MHS Student Newspaper
Will attend Midway College in Central Kentucky and Major in Equine Science
Chris Christie has potential greater than New Jersey
New Jersey, one of the 13 original colonies, joined the Union in December 1787 and has participated in all 57 presidential elections. Thanks to the density of its population, New Jersey has more electoral votes per square mile than any state except Rhode Island. The Garden State’s 14 electoral votes make it a rich prize for Chris Christie if he plans to run for president in 2016 after his landslide victory in the gubernatorial election this fall. New Jersey has voted Democratic in the last six presidential elections, after voting Republican in eight out of the previous ten elections. Barack Obama won the state over Mitt Romney by a margin of 58 percent to 41 percent in the 2012 presidential election.
The Garden State voted Republican for George H. W. Bush, according to 270towin.com in 1988. After ‘88 Jersey continually voted in the blue, but in the fall of 2013 the incumbent governor, Republican Chris Christie, won the election with 60.3 percent of the popular vote.
According to Martha T. Moore from USA TODAY, “Christie’s success in New Jersey establishes him as a Republican who can win in a Democratic state, who can win women and Hispanic voters… yet whose social conservative credentials are still fairly intact.” His vast ability to reach out to the minority groups the GOP struggles to connect with could be a key factor if he plans to run for president in 2016.
Though Christie is reaching out to many liberal groups his conservative morals aren’t scaring them off. Christie’s innate ability to connect to all people on a broad political spectrum in NJ show a great chance that he could do the same thing on a national level in 2016. The CNN/ORC International survey shows 24 percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward voting for the GOP support Christie for the party’s candidate in 2016. Governor Christie leads by 11 points over U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Christie did, however, say that President Obama’s apology last week was “not enough” for the flawed rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Christie’s plans for New Jersey, after his landslide victory, include improving public schools, creating incentive for higher-quality teachers, to limit the property tax increases to 2 percent per year, and to continue fighting the broken political system that has burdened the state of New Jersey. Christie has also battled Mother Nature as she destroyed the Jersey Shore twice in the last two years; once by a hurricane and second by a recent fire.
Christie has become a poster boy for the Republican Party with his recent Republican Governor’s Association vice-chairman reappointment and he is already using the media attention he received from the gubernatorial race in the Garden State to propel himself to a leader on the national level. His charismatic ability to establish a leadership among fellow conservatives shows that he has great potential to further his career and ultimately help the GOP reach the minority groups that historically have been hard to reach.
In general, Christie’s ability to reach new groups that former GOP members had a hard time connecting with has put the spotlight on Christie as 2016 approaches because he has proven to be an excellent leader in New Jersey and as a candidate for the election.
The governor of New Jersey, however, just finished campaigning across the Garden State, so Christie says, “I’m focused on being the governor of New Jersey and being the vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association. I think those two jobs will keep me pretty busy over the next year.”
Unsigned
A Fresh Start for Cranley and Cincinnati
Ever since high school, John Cranley has been (if still) a dedicated leader and scholar of Greater Cincinnati. The newly elected mayor grew up in Price Hill and attended St. Xavier High School where he excelled in service and leadership within his community by volunteering at St. John’s Social Services Center and working with the Espy Boys Club; due to this success he was awarded the Jesuit Secondary Education Association Award.
With the intent of continuing his successful schooling, John Cranley attended John Carroll University. He collected many accolades throughout his four years, garnering recognition as student body president and graduating as magna cum laude with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy.
John’s success in the world of academia had not yet peaked. Next, he attend the elite Harvard Law School where he was elected First Class Marshal and was bestowed the honor of delivering a graduation speech for his class.
Upon finishing his formal education, John Cranley served on Cincinnati’s City Council. He helped start many projects such as Ohio Innocence Project and the City Lights Development. The Ohio Innocence Project “seeks to identify inmates in Ohio prisons who are actually innocent of the crimes they were convicted of committing” (law.uc.edu). Generally, this is done through DNA testing, new witnesses, new expert testimony, and/or evidence of police misconduct (law.uc.edu). Also, Cranley worked as a partner to help create the City Lights Development that restored the historic Incline District of East Price Hill.
Cranley spent much of his time working on these two major projects, both of which had an enormous influence on his stances of many issues while running for mayor of Cincinnati. Some of Cranley’s major points of concern are safety, neighborhood development, and getting the city’s financial house in order (johncranley.com).
As one of Cranley’s main objectives, he plans to reduce gun violence. The Ohio Innocence Project has been a large influence to the new mayor, and has prompted him to increase the police force in order to lower the crime rate. Reducing gun violence is one of Mr. Cranley’s main objectives; he plans to do this by adopting “some of the aggressive enforcement ideas of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is a national organization focused on helping cities deal in practical ways with gun violence” (johncranley.com).
Second, the City Lights Development prompted Cranley to pursue neighborhood development in all 52 neighborhoods, as well as continuing them in Over the Rhine. The new mayor was proven this to work in a real situation, “In the private sector, I developed the Incline District project in East Price Hill in the worst economy for real estate in 70 years, proving that redevelopment can work in all neighborhoods, not just downtown” (johncranley.com).
Finally, Cranley is attempting to get the city’s financial house in order; he was influenced to strongly support this issue after working on the City Council Finance Committee. Cranley has a proven record by balancing “the City’s budget 8 years in a row in a bi-partisan fashion that added cops to the street, invested in basic services, and reduced property taxes” (johncranley.com). Also, one of Mayor Cranley’s plans includes discontinuing the streetcar project which is increasing Cincinnati’s debt. According to Cindi Andrews, a journalist for Cincinnati.com, “Cranley has suggested a 30-day halt to construction for the new council to review the costs to cancel vs. complete the $133 million project” (Cincinnati.com).
Mayor John Cranley has proven he has the skills and experience to reform Cincinnati into a thriving economic hub with safe and beautiful neighborhoods.