Okay, I know some of you will be wondering where is the video blog or vlog that I promised I'd be doing. This is the 100th blog post on Thoughts and Views That Matter! A milestone to be remembered and cherished in my blogging journey! I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all my FABULOUS READERS who have been following my posts. Special thanks to a few FANTABULOUS readers who never fail to follow each and every post I write. I truly appreciate your feedback and I would like to thank everyone who has nominated me for blog awards and interviewed me on their blog! It is such an honour to be interviewed by bloggers and to be given a place to shine in spotlight for a while! Special thanks to The Glipho team as well for interviewing me for their Meet A Glipher project! That made me go WOW!
Why is this a special edition blog post? Is it just because it's the 100th blog post? NO! It is supposed to be even merrier with my video blog but really, right now, I look freaking terrible so I would keep that for upcoming posts! (I will do it). Today is the day I stepped into my working life! Friday, 15th November 2013. What have I learned today?
I am a Chemical Engineering graduate and I live in the world where everyone(every graduate) fights for a job that is said to be the best for them. Everyone wants to be in the Oil and Gas field just because it pays well. Little did we know that it is not a bed of roses. You will be physically challenged. You need to work under pressure and some graduates still do not find satisfaction in the job they do. That's merely because they are not sure what is best for themselves.
I joined my work today at a place where the business is really new. It is less than a year old. But, I am looking at the brighter opportunities that lie ahead of me and I am grabbing them as I could see opportunities better than disadvantages. I learned that as you try to get a stronger grip of life, that's when you loose more. When you let go of the need to have control over life, it surprises you with a lot of possibilities.
No matter what you do, you should have a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. I am not saying my job would get merrier day by day, but doing what you love matters. I'm glad that 2013 has blessed me with soooo many good news. Way to go!!! Yeay!!!
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I can't help it but to story you this agonizing act from Unilever's AXE. But before that, let me tell you what made me 'like' AXE Malaysia's page first and foremost. Well, AXE Malaysia had a contest to search for the next Malaysian astronaut and a Malaysian Indian lady was among the top 5 selected to contest for the final round. When I got to know about this, I was so excited and I told my mom and we were showing our support to the girl by voting for her every hour. The contest is now over and the official winner will be announced coming 24th. I spread the news to some of my friends on Facebook and guess what, not many actually replied or showed support. This is pretty much why I feel like not having Facebook because people are there just to stalk you and gossip behind your back but acts like they never knew you when you approach them on FB. Okay, let's just stop ranting about social media, which is not very social actually.
AXE is a brand by Unilever for men's hair care and body products. My question is, what are those women doing on AXE's advertisement when it is a product meant men. Of course they have one or two products for women too, but when it comes to men body spray, are we supposed to see men in the advertisement, aren't we? AXE has been using women, or I will say, exploiting women to promote their product and this has caused an uproar among the AXE Malaysia's Facebook page because we anticipating updates about the competition and all we get is their sexist,cheap promotional methods on Facebook page. I was one of the first ones to spark a debate about this on their page (hahaha :P). I saw many comments following that trashing AXE Malaysia. If you need to know what I'm talking about exactly, you need to go their page via this link and see for yourself.
Is That Picture Necessary?
By having videos and pictures like that, it simply sends a message that men has no brains and nothing much to attract women, so use good fragrances like this to get ladies. It doesn't matter how bad you smell from within, all you have to make sure is to smell good with AXE.
It also sends a message that indicates women are cheap and can be attracted with good fragrances. Watch this video.
Reaction From Potential Customers
What they expect out of their 'sexy' advert - Men and women going crazy about their products and keep giving them business. What is actually happening - They are losing more and more customers and probably because of people like me who is contributing to their loss, it will be even worse because due to the competition, many people all around the world are watching this page closely and their promotional method is suicidal now. People would be attracted to products and companies that have value and do good. Of course, in the business world, nothing is transparent but avoiding efforts to objectify women will save them in the long run.
Now, on the other hand, I think women who model for this product knowing that they are being objectified, are just plain dumb and have no social responsibilities at all. What are those employees for Unilever doing? Well, it is so sad to think we have to forgo social responsibilities at work because we are there just to earn money for living and not to argue for our values that we uphold.
I'm not saying women should be covered all the time or should not be given the choice to dress up. Bikini and modesty has very little correlation because we won't be able to change a man's mind to respect women just by changing our clothes. No, it is not that simple. Bikini is just a swimwear. You wear nightgown when you at bed and you do not roam around the city with that because that would be inappropriate. One should know his or her limits and behave accordingly. You will just know if what you are wearing is appropriate or not. What has to be changed is not bikinis but misusing them for advertisement purpose in a way that causes harm for women. Of course, for lingerie advertisements it will be fine.
Last but not least, if I ever have a boyfriend using AXE, I would be 'welcoming' him home with an axe. With that being said, ladies, you know what to do now ;)
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Bikini or Burka?What really defines Modesty?
Image grabbed here
I have just watched a video from YouTube, a speech by Jessica Rey, an actress and a designer who has sparked a debate between the conservative and modernised world about swimwear. Jessica says that the bikini has dis-empowered women where they allow themselves to be objectified by men. Is itsy-bitsy really that bad? Here it is the video of Jessica with her speech
Now, before we really look into the issue, think of all the aspects that needed to be analysed.
Does showing your skin means being bitchy?
What modesty really is?
Where does women's choice lies and to what extent it is acceptable?
The society has this terrible idea ingrained on it's mind for a very long time. Back in the stone age, when people don't know what clothes are, they don't find it awkward to be naked. As time passes and when the world entered into the evolution era, clothes were invented to cover themselves from the harsh environment. Together with that reason, people started to cover themselves as they viewed the human body as a sacred asset. Here, at this point, comes in modesty. And this is completely fine. People covering themselves because they feel the urge to uphold their dignity.
But to cover yourself because you're afraid that men see you as an object? This is where the problem starts.
Like Jessica has said, the invention of bikini was with the intention to objectify women. The definition of women's skin has become SEXY. Who on earth really came up with this word? People have started to view women in a different manner and when they show some skin, it is called sexy. Women have been exploited as objects in various fields from modelling to advertisement ever since then. Have you ever felt that it is huge discrimination when men who employ models for their business calling another common woman on street sluts just because they wear low cut blouses? I say the length of the dress is not going to make a difference in addressing the real issue we have.
A lady who fully covers but treats her daughter-in-law like her slave versus a lady who wears a low-cut dress but does charity work during the weekend? Who is the woman with the bad behaviour? I'm not saying that reverting back to the old swimwear is a bad idea, but the intention in doing that causes more damage to the society as we seem to be seeking approval from people, mainly the gentlemen who may not be so 'gentle and nice'.
Change In Mentality Is What We Need Now
I feel the amount of skin you show shouldn't be used to judge a woman and the common notion of showing skin means sexy or bitchy has to be eradicated altogether. When you cover just because you don't want a man to look down upon you, you are merely seeking approval and dancing to his tune. Force that ignorance and arrogance out of them and let them know a woman is a woman and nothing else grants them the right to objectify her, whether or not they reveal skin.
What modesty really is? I personally don't reveal too much skin, because I don't think I would carry myself well and this is a personal opinion. Another lady or maybe even you reading this, if you are a lady, would feel comfortable walking down the street with a skirt above-knee length that looks fine and not obscene. Everyone has different a personality to carry and if we were to judge someone based on their appearance alone, I believe we are in the wrong track altogether. A well-mannered woman can only be identified through the way she behaves with another human being.
If showing skin is wrong, then every woman in the modelling industry has to resign to be labelled a 'good' lady. Even prostitutes would be slammed hard on this issue if it is wrong to show skin. Do we even grant women to make a choice? To me, it is very wrong for a woman to allow her body to be objectified and for a man to take advantage of any woman no matter how she dresses up. While I feel it is wrong to allow people to objectify us, ladies who are in the fashion line would feel that it is their profession and they would stand up for their choice. At the end of the day, it is about giving a woman the power to choose what they want and taking decisions based on their choice.
What do you think about this post? I welcome your thoughts and views!
Promotion? A word that is quite related to business. So we all promote our stuffs. When I do this post I share it on G+ and that's called promotion. We promote books too and our ideas, a way of exchanging ideas. All that is fine. But. I have recently stumbled upon some ugly, dirty tactics used in the promotion of certain products. I had an offer to review drugs/medicines on their webpage. I quickly turned the offer down and I was terribly troubled with fact that people do so much just for the sake of money. What about your conscience? What does it say?
While we are all in the rush to make money, our principles we uphold are often tested. As greed takes over moral values, people change their mind fast to accept jobs that hurt their values badly. Why job ethic is so important for us?
1. Sense of Fulfilment
Any job we do should be able to give us a sense of self-accomplishment and fulfilment. People get bored with their work very often as they do not enjoy what they do or are forced to do something beyond their liking. I believe one should strongly hold on to his/her values when it comes to jobs as what matters at the end of the day is not the amount of money that goes into the bank account but the sense of accomplishment that is achieved. Someone who refuses 'unclean' jobs gets a peaceful sleep.
2. Money Isn't Everything
Money obtained the right way stays with you forever. There is no point chasing after money when happiness doesn't follow it. I chose to decline the offer as I feel I would feel guilty promoting medicines that I don't use. That review could be read by many and maybe one or two would end up buying and suffer the side effects of it. I wouldn't want to be earning at the expense of someone's health.
3. Social Responsibility
While we advocate for human and consumer rights, I think the responsibility lies on us too to do the right thing by practising social justice. It doesn't grant us any rights to speak on justice when we don't do good for the public. This counts the job we do too and the ethics that have to be followed. The world will only be a better place to live in when we start doing good in our daily lives and that certainly includes our work that is pretty much the daily routine! There is no point harvesting money by neglecting social responsibility and trying to make up for the sins by doing 'charity' work just for the sake of making up a good name for your company and to get some discounts on your taxes!
What do you think about this post? I welcome your thoughts and views!
