Week 6: Employment in the Blogosphere

"Didn't think my personal page/opinion of my day would get so much attention. What a lesson to learn. I've removed the post and regret making the comments I did."

This was Lily Fontana's, the infamous make up artists apology after criticising Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's behaviour towards her on Facebook. Ms Fontana was quite scathing towards the PM on her Facebook page stating "One of them was absolutely lovely, engaged in genuine conversation with me, acknowledge that I had a job to do and was very appreciative. The other did the exact opposite! Oh boy, I have ever had anyone treat me so badly."

Ms Fontana is an example of how many individuals these days are treating the blogosphere as their personal diaries and using the forum to be cynical towards their place of work or people they encounter through work. James Richards and Katarzyna Kosmala suggest that "being cynical about work can give an employee a sense of control and attachment to their own occupation" and that "blogs appear to represent an opportunity to share" (2013). Place these two together and you have a recipe for disaster. Lacoste salesman Wade Groom was fired from his job after he posted a picture of his pay slip on Instagram, breaching the confidentiality agreement he signed when he first joined. Grooms defence? "I guess I signed a confidentiality agreement with something about social media, but who reads those?"

So despite the many stories that the fourth estate report on in regards to individuals venting online in the blogosphere, why do people continue to do it? According to Schoneboom "studies have shown that employees can detach themselves from the pressures of employment  by making the use blogging platforms" (2007). People feel comfortable expressing their feelings in blog whereas they wouldn't feel as comfortable doing so in another situation, say to a union or senior member of staff.  Because blogging is not a typical form of "corporate culture" (Richards 2013) people feel as if their blogging posts are unlikely to have very little implications. However, with the examples of Lily Fontana and Wade Groom the implications of cynicism towards the workplace online have great implications and should make people think twice before they hit "post". 

References:

Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77. 

Top Lacoste Salesman Posts Paycheck On Instagram, Gets Fired - Careers Articles. 2013. Available at:http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/08/07/top-lacoste-salesman-proudly-shows-paycheck-online-gets-fired/.

Make-up artist Lily Fontana slams"rude" Kevin Rudd after People's Forum thetelegraph.com.au. 2013. Available at:http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/special-features/makeup-artist-lily-fontana-slams-8216rude8217-kevin-rudd-after-people8217s-forum/story-fnho52jp-1226701851346. 

The Lacoste employees payslip 

Lily Fontana's original post on the PM's behaviour

Week 5: Prosumer Culture and My Identity

Toffler defines prosumers as "people who produce some of the goods and services entering their own consumption". Therefore in a way I believe that we are all prosumers to some extent.

From the clothes that people produce or consume to the meals that you cook and consume, these tangible and materialistic goods are all a way of showing people our identity without having to verbally describe it. For example, I'm a prosumer by filling up my car with twenty dollars worth of fuel each time because I'm a student and thats all I can afford. It reflects my identity but also its makes me a prosumer as I'm a consumer "being put to work" (Ritzer, 2010). However, after the rise of Web 2.0 there has been a "dramatic explosion in prosumption." (Ritzer, 2010). 

With social media as a platform for people to easily create their identity and express their opinion online, it has been a "facilitator as a ‘means of prosumption’." (Ritzer, 2010). For example, I can tweet my favourite TV show live with my opinion and have my tweet displayed on screen, therefore this contributes to me being a prosumer. Not only do social networking sites allow users to produce online communities and interaction with other users it has allowed for people to reinvent their identities or create entirely new ones. Youtube, is another example of prosumerism at its finest. A multi billion dollar user generated company where people produce then upload videos of anything for public consumption. Its a perfect vehicle in the modern age for individuals to express their identity.  

Within my work at a cosmetics company I help run the social media and the public relations function. Not only am I consumer of the product, as I use the make up regularly, but I am also a producer in the sense that I market the product through my personal use of it. Therefore in my identity as an employee I am a prosumer too. 

This  proves that we cannot ignore prosumer culture, it helps define our identity and it features in many different aspects of our lives. 

 References:

Philip Kotler (1986) ,"The Prosumer Movement : a New Challenge For Marketers", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 13, eds. Richard J. Lutz, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 510-513.

Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010 ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no. 1, pp 13-36. 

A popular prosumer platform
Source: www.rudyhuyn.com 

Week 4: Counterfeit Cosmetics & Cover Up Tactics

"From the catwalks of London to the rubbish heaps of Kampala the impact of fast fashion is wide and deep"

-Jack Garland

Due to the impact of globalisation and the desire for designer brands at high street prices, fashion knock offs and counterfeits are becoming increasingly popular around the world.  In fact, in 2011 designer knock offs contributed to 7% of world trade and is a $600 billion industry (Felice, 2011). The fashion industry loses up to 9.2 billion dollars a year due to designer counterfeiting (Felice 2011) not to mention the amount of jobs lost due to this piracy, yet the American government has still not allowed for there to be laws against copying garments. District Court Judge Jack Weinstein stated "Congress and the Supreme Court have answered in favour of Commerce and the masses rather than the artist, designers and the well to do". Due to the concern of the population and lack of protection for designers the effect is that piracy will continue to prevail in all industries and the allure of designer brands will be eroded

An example of designer counterfeit in Australia would be the fake MAC cosmetics that were sold in Target last year. Estee Lauder, the company who owns MAC, exposed that the products that were sold in Target were indeed fake forcing the company to strip the products off their shelves. The US supplier who sold the poor quality products to Target conveniently vanished leaving Estee Lauder to take Target to court over the misuse of the MAC trademark. According to Martin et. al "perpetrators typically try to hide any of their actions likely to be perceived as unjust"(2010) as a cover up tactic. Despite Estee Lauder exposing the counterfeit products Target was adamant that the products were actually real, attempting to cover up their poor judgement and trying not to damage the brand any further. Targets tactic to cover up the authenticity of the MAC products was reckless in the context of risking customer safety because they continued to promote products that had not been fully tested and the argument  that they didn't know the products were fake is not valid because ignorance is no defence. 

Although there is some legislation to protect originality there are still loop holes in the system where counterfeits get through. Due to the pace of globalisation and consumerism the law is struggling to keep up and tactics that corporations use to protect their integrity are not always effective. 

References: 

Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12, [available:http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680]. 

Felice, K, 2011. FASHIONING A SOLUTION FOR DESIGN PIRACY: CONSIDERING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW IN THE GLOBAL CONTEXT OF FAST FASHION.. Syracuse Journal of International Law & Commerce., Vol. 39 , p219-247.

Target left blushing over MAC make-up case. 2013. Available at:http://www.smh.com.au/business/target-left-blushing-over-mac-makeup-case-20130618-2ofdf.html. 

Target left wearing fake cosmetics as US supplier vanishes. 2013. Available at: http://www.theage.com.au/business/target-left-wearing-fake-cosmetics-as-us-supplier-vanishes-20130505-2j1ao.html. 

Ricky Martin and Nicki Minaj for MAC
Source: http://www.justjared.com/2011/11/18/nicki-minaj-ricky-martin-macs-viva-glam-campaign/

The MAC Products on display at Target
Source: http://www.theplasticdiaries.com/beauty/mac-cosmetics-sold-in-target-australia-official-legal-statements-and-my-opinion

Week 3: Reality TV and Viewing Other Cultures

The art movement of Modernism was inspired by the changing and evolving world, which influenced the works of Matisse and Cèzanne. The movement of Postmodernism was influenced by anything that opposed modernism thus evolving many cultural aspects such as the architecture, literature and music within that time. So what "art" do I believe is influential to me and to this generation?


Reality Television.

Now, Post modernists would refer to this as "low" culture and its probably controversial to label it as a form of art, but thanks to Globalisation and the ability to screen these shows globally, we are able to easily gain insight into these other "cultures" and see how other people from all parts of the world live.

A study on the uses and gratifications of Reality TV shows surveyed dedicated viewers of this tv genre to discover as to why reality tv has  "dominated mainstream television programming" (Gardyn, 2001). The study revealed that the motives for watching reality tv were for "habitual pastime " (Mendelson et.al 2007). I myself can watch hours of reality tv a week including shows such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Geordie Shore and The Only Way is Essex. Most of the time it is mindless rubbish and I question as to why  I am watching it however, at the same time it is incredibly addictive. I find that this culture that is reality tv fascinating and how feeling of being watched is so innate to the cast members of the show they can go on with their lives without giving the cameras a second thought.

Not all reality television shows involve a cameraman following minor celebrities around all day. When SBS brought out the series "Go Back To Where You Came From" it placed six Australians on a confronting journey to give them and the viewers at home a taste of  what life is like for refugees and asylum seekers. It not only raised awareness for the issue but it influenced and challenged many peoples opinions on it, including myself. Without that show I wouldn't have known the lengths of the plight of refugees. Although Globalisation is rapidly evolving it shows that it hasn't made it way to several cultures.

I recognise that the cast of reality tv shows can not be representative of an entire culture, despite it being easy to stereotype and gain the impression that thats how everyone who lives in America or the UK can act, therefore when viewing certain shows that has to be taken into consideration. However, you still feel like you are gaining insight into how others from around the world live and how the behaviours that resonate from these shows can influence others from other cultures too.  It will be interesting to see what the next batch of reality shows give us. 


References:

MoMA | Painting Modern Life. 2013. MoMA | Painting Modern Life.  
Available at:http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/what-is-modern-art/painting-modern-life. [Accessed 02 August 2013].

Postmodernism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Postmodernism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 
Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism#Influence_on_art. [Accessed 02 August 2013].

Papacharissi, Z,  Mendleson, A,  2007. "An Exploratory Study of Reality Appeal: Uses and Gratifications of Reality TV Shows", Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Vol.51, p355-370. 

S, Srivastava, B, Warren, C, Moore . 2013. Globalisation and its Precursors . https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/143750/viewContent/1942038/View 

Photo References:

'Keeping up with the Kardashians' Season 6 Promotional Photoshoot Fanpop fanclubs. 2013. Available at:http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/kim-kardashian/images/22538578/title/keeping-up-with-kardashians-season-6-promotional-photoshoot-photo. [Accessed 02 August 2013].

Available at:http://www.stillpointmusic.com/film/john-gray-composer-film.html. [Accessed 02 August 2013]

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Go Back To Where You Came From