So, whose fiction is it?

In what appears to be a lucrative move, Amazon is allowing fan fiction of Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girls[sic], and The Vampire Diaries to be sold on their website. Kindle Worlds will be the fan fiction platform where authors can upload their stories for sale, and this space will only be piloted in America to start. However, there is no set date as of now for when fanfiction will be made available for purchase.

It's great to give writers a chance at making money doing something they love. In this case, writing stories that can actually give make them a profit for a series they already enjoy is phenomenal.

... But it is important to recognize that authors will only get 20-35% of royalties and Amazon Publishing will own international publication rights to these works. So, is this a good deal?

Perhaps if we consider that the characters belong to another author's handiwork, it does. After all, the fanfic authors are applying those characters to their own themes and one could argue that they are lucky to get any profit at all. Still, the fanfic authors' creative extension of a storyline should also be recognized, hence why they receive a portion of the royalties, but not all. Considering that Amazon is looking to test the popularity of fanfic sales under its own name and is willing to even create a separate space for these tales, fanfiction itself must be an intriguing underground "industry" at this point in time. And here, I always thought it was silly. I must be mistaken!

Overall, the main concern here is who holds intellectual property rights, which with the Internet has gained a more visibility than in the past. If Kindle worlds ever launches, we will see the repercussions and intellectual property debates once again.

Crest brand has 2D, black-and-white impressions

#NOTBUYINGIT

This commercial has been bothering me for a long time, so naturally, I want to talk about it. Who in their right mind would right this into a script for a narrator: "He could be the one: Soul mate, husband, loving father to your children, but first, you've got to get him to say hello." Cue how Crest 3D White Arctic Fresh Toothpaste could attract men to women.

Thankfully, I'm not the only one insulted by the gender-typing in this commercial. I'll let the comments speak for themselves. While some may come off as sexist (one even said that this commercial showcases the "typical women deer shit" of never living in the moment and always waiting for Prince Charming), overall, the commenters see that this is a low blow to women's purpose in life.

Overall, these questions come to my mind, and thankfully, the commenters think so too:

First of all, why should the woman wait for the man to say hello?
Secondly, why should we assume all women want to get married? And to a man?
Thirdly, who is to say that all women want children?

Commercials like this are reasons why advertisers need to get a clue. If ad viewers are reacting like this in social media, they will lose profit (see my blog post from March). RESIST AND MULTIPLY.

However, this isn't the first time Crest has used tasteless tactics in advertising, most notably playing on people's women's fears. This toothpaste commercial plays on women's fear that they will always be single. And this other Crest commercial is no better in playing on fear.

We first see a woman on her wedding day in her virgin white dress...but alas, Crest relates that with time, your teeth turn yellow just like your once white wedding dress and happy marriage memories!!! If that's not bad enough, they also relate quite boldly in screen text that "If you're not whitening, you're yellowing." Cue Crest's 3D White Strips as the remedy to your fear.


Again, advertising needs to stop scaring people into buying products. Seriously. You are worth more than your once-white wedding dress or waiting for a man to say hello.

I can only imagine what Dove's "real women" would think of this! Shame on you, Unilever...

We need more positive messages in media. I know that the Dove ads are being praised for positivity, but they are also owned by the same company that sells Axe, which objectifies women by showing them as only existing for men's entertainment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look here. Surprise surprise, it was on MTV!!!

Let's get smarter, people. Tell Crest you aren't buying it.

Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too? Not quite.

So they're at it again with the Dr. Pepper Ten ads. After the controversy from 2011 about its blatant sexism, Dr. Pepper's owner, Dr.Pepper Snapple Group, is still perpetuating this message. Check it out.

I personally think people need more media literacy. While there isn't any blatant sexism in the YouTube comments that I saw without hitting the "Show More" option (although I'm sure there is some), people make comments like the following:

...Yes, I know this is image falls outside the layout of the blog, but I wanted to make sure it was legible. 

What gets me is the comment "Dont[sic] carry hate. It's only a commercial." The "#lightenupplease" is also amusing for the same reasons. I wonder if the blatant sexism in the commercials roughly 2 years ago flew over the commentator's head as well. Or perhaps they are just ignorant of seeing how it could be taken and still passing it off as "just" a commercial.

It's not just a commercial. It has social implications, which media scholars have well documented with research from the late-40s to present. I cannot accept the humor of the new ad after seeing previous commercials for Dr. Pepper Ten, especially when the message is becoming slightly more subliminal less blunt.

But mostly, I wonder what happened to the all-inclusive "I'm a Pepper!" ads that promoted diversity. Even in this ad, we see people (male AND female) of different ages, races, and circumstances coming together in being unique in their own way; they share being a "Pepper" but are all individuals. Yes, it's odd to talk about advertising in an accepting way, a way that is decent for society, but compared to recent "Pepper" representations, it is golden.

In the classic (and shorter) "I'm a Pepper" ad, which I highly recommend viewing, we see the same thing: Diversity in unity. The Dr. Pepper Ten ad strays from the previous unifying Dr. Pepper ads by separating men from women, and typically, the main characters are white men in their 30s (except this one). So much for diversity. Even in 1980 with the previous decade's love/hate relationship with feminism, women were still included. Women weren't even ostracized in the old ads.

Dr. Pepper Ten in 2013 is trying to convey the same message without being as bold as 2011's bluntness. You would think by now they would have abandoned this marketing scheme in favor of something better, but no. The marketing message is just sugarcoated diluted but is is still there for sure.

Let's get diversity back. #Notbuyingit