Pinterest vs. Other Time Wasters

Pinterest is a fairly new website that has become increasingly popular over the last year. Many people don't expect Pinterest to be as distracting and addicting as other online networks such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the reality is that it is easy to spend even MORE time on it than other websites. Pinterest allows you to look at pictures of almost anything, ranging from recipes to funny text conversations. Not only can your surf this page alone, but you can also connect through Facebook, looking at all of your friends pins too. It is easy to spend many hours on websites like this, like Tyler mentioned, and not even realize it. However, Pinterest might not be a complete waste of time. I, myself, have cooked a few great meals using recipes I found on there. I guess the big question is..is this website another mindless time waster like many people like to believe, or can it actually be beneficial in addition to being tons of fun? Happy pinning to all of you Pinterest fans!

Texts From Last Night vs. Homework From Last Night

(+69):

You made out with my dog and told me he tasted like a rainbow.

(847):

stuck in a tree...bring a ladder. also my arm might be broken. no questions are allowed.

(215):

If eating a cheesesteak naked doesn't make me feel better, then I don't know what will.

(909):

I'm so tired of waking up with my bed full of deli meats.

Have you ever spent a good 2 hours wasting time on the Internet instead of working on a paper or studying for an exam. Yeah, me too. Oftentimes I end up on these mindless websites for hours without even realizing it. My site of choice is Texts From Last Night. If you don't already know, it is a website where people submit funny texts, often related to drunken incidents. Sure they are funny, but usually it ends up being a big waste of time in my already busy schedule. Even for this blog post, I just wanted to add a few examples, but I ended up reading 14 pages of texts. I'm sure we've all read articles and news reports about how revolutionary and influential the Internet is and is becoming, but I personally think we overlook how big of a distraction it can really be. What are your favorite mindless, distracting websites? Do they really serve a purpose or are they more of a hindrance?

Instagram vs. Regular Photos

Instagram  is a free photo sharing program launched in 2010 that allows users to take a picture regularly on their phone and apply different filters to it. From there, they can share it on different social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Instagram is a huge leap from traditional, regular photos because there is no longer a need to buy a software to edit pictures or go have them printed and edited on a big machine. I use Instagram daily because I love to make my photos look different and add cool effects to them. As of this month, there are over 30 million different Instagram accounts made. Much like Twitter, you are able to "follow" different celebrities and friends to see their photos and how they edit them. Facebook recently just bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars in cash and stock, taking over one of the most popular phone apps to date. Make yourself an account and share your photos!


Below are the different effects you can use on your photos.

Cover Girl Vs. Other Make-Up Brands

Cover Girl is one of the most popular make-up brands out there, and this is partly due to the way they advertise. Cover Girl is famous for having celebrities in their advertisements, attracting all of the young women who aspire to be like them. In the above video, Taylor Swift is featured in a recent commercial for one of Cover Girl's new lines. Taylor Swift has a huge fan base, and Cover Girl recognizes this. By having celebrities like her in their commercials, they are able to draw a lot of attention to themselves and sell even more products than other make-up companies who have not used this same strategy. Also, a Cover Girl spread and commercial is given to the winner of America's Next Top Model each year. Young women that watch this show and see people they recognize in Cover Girl's ads are likely to be influenced to by this brand of make-up because they see them using it. However, the reality of Cover Girl is that they offer most of the same products and probably aren't that much different from other make-up companies. They have just used the right marketing strategies and have drawn a lot of attention to themselves by using famous celebrities in their commercials. Check out Cover Girl's website, www.covergirl.com, to see more celebrities they feature in their ads!

Toyota vs. Information

          We all know that commercials have gotten pretty over-the-top, but sometimes they really make me wonder what the companies were thinking. Although this commercial is slightly entertaining, its contents are completely irrelevant to the product that Toyota is selling, the 2012 Camry. Was Toyota just trying to add a humorous label onto their brand, or did they really think this commercial was going to sell cars? This commercial was one of the Super Bowl ads, which are notoriously supposed to be funny, but do curtains made out of pizza really have anything to do with cars? I think it was convenient that Toyota simply said that the Camry was reinvented without giving any actual details. This only allows the potential buyer to compare the car's alleged new features to couches made out of women and plants that fight crime. However, I did enjoy this commercial. I thought it was funny, but I don't think it would ever lead me to buy a Camry. I would want to know the actual details of the reinvented model, the price, the gas mileage, or, at the very least, how time machine babies work.

Diet Dr. Pepper vs. Dr. Pepper 10

You're a man- the manliest of them all- and all you want right now is an ice-cold pop. You go to the vending machine and view your choices. You know you should probably choose the diet soda and make the healthier choice, but to you, diet just seems girly. Not so fast, now you have the option of Dr. Pepper 10, the great taste of Dr. Pepper with only 10 calories! Sounds pretty great, right? That's the goal of Dr. Pepper. The new campaign now features a soda with only 10 calories, but ONLY for men. The new soda is now getting grief for being sexist. Do you think the new approach is sexist of Dr. Pepper or smart, targeting men with a strong, tough drink? Watch the commercial and give us your feedback!

Real Beauty VS. Technology

What we think is beautiful is often influenced by the media.  Yet, little do we know, we are so naive to what actually goes on behind the scenes.  Women really aren't a size 00 with abnormally long legs and a torso.  Women don't actually have the big eyes that we see in make-up advertisements.  Technology has made enhancing features an act that is done without question.  So, the reality of it is, these women are more like you than you think.  We expect these women to have flawless bodies and features, and with the help of computer enhancements, this is made possible.  Dove has put together a video that demonstrates this first hand...