"College"

The movie PCU is about a high school senior, interested in attending Port Chester University, who takes a trip to the school to view the campus and the college life. After taking a long bus ride to the university, he finds the person that someone suggested he see about being given a tour of the university. When he meets the guy and asks him for a tour, the guy declines to show him around. Not willing to take no for an answer, the "pre-fresh" incessantly demands that the guy give him a tour.

Still not willing to give a tour, the college student gives him a quick overview of "college". He says to him that "Beer will be your best friend, drink lots of it. You're a freshman, so girls will pretty much be out of the question. Don't sign up for any classes before eleven o'clock."

This advice would fall into the category of a red herring fallacy. His advice suggests that all college is about is getting drunk, having sex, and partying so much that early classes should be averted. The pre-fresh is misled into thinking that this is what college will be like and isn't shown that there is actually another side of college where you actually have to go to class and learn.

Chris McCandless' "misrepresentation" of a college student.

Chris McCandless was a very outgoing and adventurous young adult. He didn't too much depend on the help of his parents, or anyone else for that matter. He displayed his independence through his thrill-seeking, extemporaneous adventures through the wilderness. McCandless seemed to enjoy taking risks, being self-reliant, and surviving on as few supplies as possible.

McCandless would frequently take off to pursue random expeditions without first notifying anyone of his whereabouts. He was very ambitious, and considering his personality traits, this did not seem very erratic for him to do so. Chris worked to save his money up and instead of blowing it on frivolous items, as typical college students would, he bought himself a car and some equipment for his wilderness trips. This behavior is very atypical of a college student, in that he actually saved his money to buy something that was actually a necessity for him. A typical college student would just buy things impulsively and end up purchasing unavailing items that will virtually be of no use to them in the future. Most college students are still trying to grasp the concept of spending a little bit of their money and also saving some of it. When young adults, who are destitute of the "real" world experience and the responsibilty that comes along with it, get a hold of money their first instinct is to blow it on something frivolous. Usually it's something such as alcohol, clothes, video games, cd's, movies, or clubs. So by McCandless actually saving up enough money to buy something beneficial, is already an idiosyncrasy as compared to most other college students.

McCandless' social life was also a peculiar one as compared to other college students of the same age. When all his friends began to join different fraternities and other social organizations, Chris pulled away from that. He began to spend more time alone and gradually lost touch with those he was once close to. Most college students try to join various organizations to become more social and to meet more people. But McCandless did the opposite and remained more reserved and introverted, which shocked his friends. Chris' behavior,to those who had once enjoyed being around him, was impalpable. They couldn't understand why he wasn't just more like them and everyone else in college.

Finally, McCandless met someone with whom he had made some kind of connection with. His name was Wayne Westerberg. Westerberg had met Chris while he was in pursuit of one of his many excursions. McCandless and Westerberg automatically hit it off and became good friends. Sometimes McCandless would send Westerberg a postcard letting him know where he was and that he was doing fine. Other times, Westerberg wouldn't hear from him at all. Chris had even gone back to work for Westerberg for a little while until he had earned enough money to buy new supplies for his next endeavor.

McCandless' aloof behavior and surreptitiousness caused his loved ones, and anyone he had come into contact with, to lack an understanding of who he was and why he did the things he did. No one understood why he would just take off, without a word to anyone, and lack the necessary supplies to be able to adequately fulfill his needs. No one understood what he was seeking or trying to accompolish by exploring nature and living in the wilderness. He did not live up to the stereotypical image of what a college student is expected to be. He decided he wanted to be different and therefore his death was not understood by anyone. The ambiguity of McCandless' death, of whether it was his intent or if it was unexpected, is the pivot to this stories controversy.

AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Attempt to Increase Dwindling Sales?

In an attempt to increase sales, businesses will sometimes collaborate with an organization devoted to helping people with some kind of serious illness. Doing this oftentimes evokes some kind of emotion from its potential customers, while simultaneously advertising their merchandise. This grabs the attention of consumers and gives them an urge to help people in need. The advertisement allows both the business and the charitable organization to profit from the increase of sales and also leaves the consumers with a proud feeling of altruism. However, in rare cases, a company will attempt to use this advertising strategy and will not achieve its desired outcome. In the 1980's, people were slowly learning how serious of a disease and how common AIDS was becoming. The clothing company United Colors of Benetton decided to buy the picture of a family grieving over their dying, AIDS-infected relative. The family consented to selling the photograph to the company and the United Colors of Benetton decided to make this image a part of their advertising. This image, contrary to what the company tried to achieve, did not appeal to consumers.
The first thing I notice when I look at the picture is the man in the bed who appears to be dying. I stare and stare at the man trying to figure out if this man is a real person or if he is some kind of sketched caricature. My next thought is why he is the only one in the picture that is not an actual person. My mind is on everything but the intended target. The overall message of this image evokes a feeling of sadness and sympathy that averts my attention away from the company's logo on the bottom of the picture and onto bigger issues concerning health. My first time ever hearing of this company was when I looked at the photo, and I couldn't even tell what was being advertised. The fact that this photo was an advertisement for a clothing company was the furthest thing from my mind. I thought it would be advertising a hospital, a type of medicine, or a support group, but certainly not clothing. Instead of buying a photo of a real family grieving, they should have perhaps reenacted this scene and put some of their products in the advertisement. In addition to not showing any of its products, the ad also does not say anything about donating any of their profit to help AIDS patients. If the ad had mentioned something about a portion of the proceeds going towards helping victims of AIDS then it would have been more appealing. Since the ad showed no proof of it making this picture part of its advertising for the benefit of those suffering from the disease, it merely just appears as though it's exploiting this family. The family is shown at a time when they are expressing real grief for their relative who is perishing right before their eyes. I don't see how this is supposed to get people to want to shop at the advertised store. It seems that the only ones that monetarily profitted from this advertisement is the family that sold the picture to United Colors of Benetton. In this case, AIDS stands for Attempt to Increase Dwindling Sales moreso than Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome