Blog Post #3: Advertisements

My first photo is an ad for Kemps milk. It shows David Beckham, a professional soccer player, holding a soccer ball on his hip with a milk mustache. Near his head it says "Goal by Beckham. Body by milk." Under him are the words "Heads up. Protein in milk helps build muscle and some studies suggest teens who choose to be leaner, staying active, eating right and drinking 3 glasses a day of low fat or fat free milk helps you look great. So grab a glass and get in the game."  David Beckham is standing shirtless in front of a gray background with grey jeans on. The color scheme is simple but sleek. The photo itself is very simple. It is just him. I like the simplicity of it because if there was too much going on it would distract from the photo, and you wouldn't be as likely to notice that he has a milk mustache.I think that the intended audience is mainey women but it can play to almost all people. Women notice David Beckham shirtless, parents notice that milk is healthy for you and children see their favorite soccer star drinks milk, which makes they want to buy milk.

I think this ad uses pathos, ethos and logos. When think of logos I think of logic. This ad represents logic because of the facts it gives. Milk makes people healthier and makes you look great. Pathos is connected to your emotions and interests. Kemps strategically used David Beckham so that when people saw this ad they would want to buy milk. Men see him as a cool, professional and might want to be like him.  I also think it is pathos directed towards women. David Beckham is beautiful and when you put a photo of him with his shirt off on an advertisement, it makes women like the product. Ethos represents the truthfulness of the product. A lot of people recognize David and idolize him. If he drinks milk and is a professional athlete, milk must be magical and do great things for people.

I think this ad was someone persuasive in getting me to buy their product. I like David Beckham and i think he is very attractive so the photo appeals to me but it isn't super obvious what the ad is for. All we know is that is 'got milk', that David drinks it and that it is healthy for you. It is hard to fit every detail into a photo advertisement so I think they did a good job using their pathos, ethos and logos to persuade me into buying their product. 

My next advertisement is an ad promoting Head and Shoulders shampoo and conditioner. It involves Joe Mauer. It starts with Joe and a teammate talking about Joe not having dandruff because of the shampoo and progresses to Mauer surrounded by girls playing with his hair, all thanks to wonderful Head and Shoulders shampoo. I think that the target audience is men. It is saying that if you use Head and Shoulders you will get girls. I think they get men to buy their product but they leave out women. Head and Shoulders is a shampoo and conditioner for women too.

This commercial uses logos and ethos to get people to buy their product. It uses logos because Joe says it gives him a healthy scalp, great looking hair and it stops dandruff. People with dandruff would be sure to buy it. It uses ethos by using Joe Mauer. Joe Mauer has great hair, and if he is saying that Head and Shoulders is great he must be right. I mean, it is Joe Mauer we're talking about. You have to believe him.

I really like this commercial. I think it is greatly put together because it mixes up famous people, facts and humor. I love Joe Mauer a lot. He is my favorite athlete so this persuades me because he is in it. Also it makes me laugh, which is something that I think all commercials should have.

Blog Post #2 - Happiness

According to dictionary.com, the official definition of happiness is the state of being delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing. I can agree with this definition. When i think of happiness I think of my family, sports and camping/canoeing. I am very happy when I am with my family or playing softball, volleyball or basketball. During the spring, the sun is shining, I am outside and i am doing the thing that I love. When I get a hit or throw someone out at a base it is the best feeling. Or in basketball when I drain a three, SWISH and the crowd goes wild. Another time I am probably at my very happiest is when I am camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters or Quetico. Just being outside all the time forces me to be happy. It is so beautiful. I love nature. There is no stress and you can be your true self to the few people you see.

 I like the idea of doing a happiness index. I don't think the happiest thing in life is having money or the best economy. If I was the leader of a country i would want my country to be as happy as they could in every possible way and to have people walking down the street smiling and being friendly to one another, not just to be rich. I think the best way to measure a nation's happiness is to do a mix of a happiness survey and an income survey. Money can make people happy but it also important to learn about what makes them the sad to stop those things from happening.


The story "I've Been Called A Luddite" is a story about a man who lives his life happily without technology. This man is a writer who hand writes his stories, goes out and buys one envelope at a time and mails everything. I think it implies that you do not need to have technology to be happy. I can understand where he is coming from and i agree with the idea that people don't need advanced things to be happy but I am not one of those people. I use technology daily, like right now for example blogging, and I think it is a very useful tool but I don't need it. I like to get away from it at times and just do everything with what you have from nature. A person can do things that are considered "old fashioned" and still do those things just as usefully.

When I think of happiness I do not think of technology. I think of doing the thing you love around the people you love, whether technology is involved or not. I believe that happiness is one of the most important things in a person's life.

Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

Blog Post #1

My name is Natalie Holdahl and I am a junior at Washburn High School. I love sports, dolphins and Beyonce. I use a lot of technology in my life but it is mostly just the mainstream technology that a lot of people my age use. I have tv's at my house, an Iphone and a laptop. I think technology is a huge part of my life while I am at home. I am usually on my phone texting, using the internet or just playing games. When i get home I am on my laptop watching shows or movies on Netflix, on social media websites or doing homework with it. I use technology a lot but i am not addicted like some people. I am able to be without technology, and sometimes i think it is nice to get away. I go on camping trips during the summer and I am away from all media and technology. There is no drama from social media and you don't get sucked into the social world. I believe that technology is so important because it makes our everyday lives easier. It is easier to find information and to communicate.

In class we watched three commercial clips about beauty. One of the videos we watched was showing us how bad the beauty industry is with all the photoshopping, plastic surgery, and hating your body. It talked about how we should talk to our children before the beauty industry does and that it is killing our society. The next commercial was going against that commercial and mocking it. It was talking about how dove is taking palm oil and killing the forests and destroying this little girl's home. I agree that the beauty industry is hurting people in our society, especially teenage girls and killing self esteem.