In the advertisement, a teenage girl is followed by her boyfriend which is depicted by a giant pink cellphone. It begins in the morning, where he greets her with a text saying good morning. Her "boyfriend" becomes obsessive throughout the day by constantly bombarding and nagging her with texts. The battered pink phone spits out annoying texts that seem to be endless until the end of the commercial when he texts "nude pics, send me some".
The way the commercial represents the cell phone is humorous and frightening at the same time. Although it may just be a minute long a lot can be seen through this commercial. It shows how our daily lives can easily be invaded by the technology we value most. With the capability to stay in touch through twitter, facebook, and texting it's very hard to last a day without being intruded on. We take the internet for granted, and may not be able to see the maladies of our advanced technology. Having a giant pink cellphone walking around with you wherever you are leaves no room for privacy. What makes the commercial more effective is how a man is inside of this giant pink cellphone reading everything in text language. It just proves the point how annoying and frustrating it could be with such a cellphone. The message that is sent is that this annoying "boyfriend" figure will not go away unless action is taken.
Although the campaign of the commercial is to stop abusive relationships, it can be connected to 1984 in that the privacy of the citizens is limited no matter where they are. The telescreens are constantly surveying the people of Airstrip One just like how the cellphone is constantly following the girl. She could ignore all the texts that she receives but the presence of her "boyfriend" will not go away, and that is what is most frightening of all. The fact that some people are trapped because of technology is really shocking.
I felt that this video was extremely powerful although it was delivered in a sort of humorous way. It describes just how much technology has consumed us and begun to control our lives. It follows us around like a dark cloud and we are unable to escape its pull on us. The one scene where the family is sitting at the kitchen table together and the girl's cell phone keeps vibrating shows how technology is driving a wedge between what is important in life. It is making everything less personal and less heart-felt and controlling us like puppets. This is scary to me, and makes me want to turn off my cell phone for a while.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is scary because it is so accurate. A lot of people think that texting is so good because it allows people to be in constant communication with one another. However, this commercial shows all the bad things about constant communication. At first, it is friendly. Then, it is nagging. Then, it is taking control. People need freedom and space from other people. At one point in the commercial, the "boyfriend" becomes angry at the girl because she is with her friends and not him. It is important for her and her boyfriend to have time without one another, and for her to be with other friends. However, her talking to her boyfriend through texts is detaching her from this environment. Thus, while texting provides communication, it also hinders communication in other forms.
ReplyDeleteIn this video, the girl cannot escape her cell phone "boyfriend". In this age, it is so hard to escape technology. Society pressures us to use technology, like the boyfriend is constantly pressuring his girlfriend. Although we may not like it we cannot stop it. Although I don't like to be constantly bothered by my cellphone, when I don't answer or don't have my cellphone with me people become worried or angry. Another example is Facebook, so many people try to resist getting a Facebook but in the end most get one. They feel that they are missing out on too much and need one in order to be social. This video is a great example of how technology traps us and how hard it is to escape it.
ReplyDeleteThis commerical was very accurate to what our society has come to. Most of us know first hand what texting can do to us, and the effects are shined back at us through this slightly dramatized commercial. The girl in the commercial was unable to escape her "cellphone boyfriend". He was everywhere, just like how our cell phones are everywhere. Today, we're always with our cell phones no matter what. It's attached to us like a limb, and we start to panic when we're without it for 10 minutes. The truth is, the cell phone has made such a big impact on us. We just don't see it because we're so used to it. This commercial was able to display how the constant connection is able to trap us rather than improve our life.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree with everyone. This video is so powerful because it causes you to realize just how much of a hold technology has on our lives. I mean there isn't anyone today that you see walking down the street without a ipod, cellphone and earpiece. Society today feels a constant need to stay connected. It could possibly correlate to how it is in our nature to want to be part of a group and technology helps us to achieve this false relationship with everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial makes it clear that our society is overwhelmed because of lack of privacy. And as Justin said, this has a shocking resemblance to the control of the individual in 1984: one is never alone. As Melanie touched on, the most bewildering point to me is that we need a COMMERCIAL to show us how far it has gone. If it is SO clear that we have no privacy and SO wish to change it, why doesn't it change? It is not lack of motivation, but lack of realization. Just as in 1984, where the characters do not know life with privacy, neither do we. We don't know what a private life truly is or if it's better than what we have now. The girl in the commercial seems like a mindless drone: exhausted but expressionless. She doesn't actually seem bothered or angered. Technology washes over her every day, creeping in on her thoughts, and she is unable to escape. At the end, she looks at herself in the mirror, still expressionless, as if to send a message to the audience: do we fully understand the consequences of technology? One easy answer comes to mind: no.
ReplyDeleteThis post is pretty boss. This artifact is pretty special because it can serve to display how technology can deepen our connectivity in a situation that is already out of control. A negative plus a negative is an even larger negative and this commercial has exemplified this effectively. To expand upon Jill's points; this commercial exists to waken us to the fact that as technology evolves so rapidly its hard for us to keep up. Though the situation may not apply to all Americans the message about technology is very relatable. Technology allows for this relationship to persist and thus hurts the subject of the commercial on two levels. It dulls her mentally and then strikes again as her boyfriend is constantly texting her.
ReplyDeleteThis video is so powerful and is extremely connected to our society. In our world, if you don't have a texting plan, let alone not having a cell phone, you're weird. Texting has taken over our lives the way that this girl's boyfriend has taken over hers. Texting could even be taken to an extreme and be compared to an abusive relationship: it starts out as fun and an easy way to communicate, but soon it takes over and can't be stopped. As most communication within our generation takes place through texting now, we are unknowingly feeding into this behavior. Not only has texting become dominant in our lives, but it has changed our social world just as much as facebook has - by making communication impersonal and unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteA striking thing about the movie is that nobody seems to notice the guy in the suit. As jill said, we are so used to technology that we are desensitized by it, no longer realizing that it is slowly, but steadily taking over our lives and invading our privacy. That's the scary thing, the fact that one person can invade another person's life with something as simple as a text message.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most annoying thing to me, and I see it all of the time. Being around someone who is constantly texting or doing something on their phone just makes me feel like I'm boring them, or they really don't want to be there. Two people could never spend all day talking face to face, but somehow they can text each other all day and never seem to run out of things to talk about. And personally, I know that when I am uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction or even calling someone, I simply text them. Technology allows us to avoid social interaction.
ReplyDeleteAt first this commercial is laughable, as the boyfriend was displayed as a pretty pink cellphone, But moreover it is frightening. At the end of the video it reads, "since when does caring become controlling, that's not cool." In 1984, it can easily be argued that big brother wanted everyone to be safe and that is why they were watched so closley. Today in the airport, it is argued that we want safer flights that is why we are x rayed naked. I predict that we will look back 100 years and read in a textbook about the patriot act being the 1984 of 2010.
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