Does bottled liquids people purchase depend on its appeal?

During class today the class discussed the key word, consumption. Someone brought up the interesting statement that i found intriguing; someone said "I would rather buy a bottle of Dasani water then a bottle of Kirkland water because the Dasani bottle has a more appealing bottle." I never realized that the appeal of a product would be a factor of a purchase, even for bottled water. If the statement that a classmate said was true, then I believe that looks can be deceiving. Most of the more appealing designs of bottled products are more expensive then the generic brand. For example, Voss water has a sleek glass bottle that cost four times more then the generic more plane Kirkland bottled water. Personally, when i tried Voss water, it did not taste water to me; it was quite disgusting in my opinion. The class discussed the relationship between need and want and how these two words connected to consumption. The media has influenced society to believe that a more appealing product is a better product then a generic brand. People believe that they need the more appealing bottled water, but in reality they choose the more appealing bottled water because they want it. Another example of this is the comparison of Kirkland Vodka and a higher end vodka such as Grey Goose. If a person was given the option whether to drink Grey Goose or Kirkland Vodka, i would think that person would choose Grey Goose. People would choose to drink Grey Goose because it comes in a tall bottle with very appealing designs compared to the signature Kirkland Vodka bottle. But the fact that not many people know about is that Kirkland Vodka uses the same vodka that Grey Goose uses, Kirkland Vodka is just distilled differently. Thus, both vodka's are essentially the same vodka but Kirkland Vodka is must cheaper. People tend to choose Grey Goose over Kirkland because Grey Goose is seen as a high end Vodka. Thus, looks can be deceiving, especially with bottled products.

Countdown to Vegas

On July 3rd, 2008 my friends and i will be going to the sin city, Las Vegas for my friend's 21st birthday. As the days countdown and it gets closer to traveling to Las Vegas, i start to anticipate if the rumors about how crazy Las Vegas is are true. All my friends have been raving and getting anxious to go to Las Vegas for the first time. Surprisingly their excitement has not rubbed off onto me but i think i will show my true reaction when we are actually out of the plane and at Las Vegas. I wonder if the saying is true, that "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" and i wonder if my friends will take that to heart. I personally do not think i have it in me to drop all of my morals and go crazy for a few days just because I am in the sin city. Do not mistaken me, I know how to have a good time just like the next person, but i know how to have a good time more responsibly then people would like to believe. I take enjoyment by being with my friends and watching the ridiculous antics they pull while they are intoxicated or sober. Knowing my friends, they have been anticipating this day since the day we bought our plane tickets. It will be a sight to see to view my friends enjoying themselves and going "buck wild" in Las Vegas.

It's too hot to do homework, but it must be done

My group decided to take one word, identity, and choose other words to describe our theme word. our words to describe our theme word are ideology, race, image, sexuality, and identity itself. The word i chose to describe identity was ideology. In my last post i described how the word ideology was explained in the text book and how it was connected to identity. I believe that more then five words can explain the true meaning of the worth identity. i believe that identity is a strong word but it has been forgotten through time. Do not get me wrong, race, image, ideology and sexuality do describe identity, but just five words do not bring justice to describe any word. When i think of the word identity, i see the daily struggle for a person to be unique. During the school year when i walk to and from class, i see the endless amount of people trying to be different from the person next to them. Identity can be taken into account with everything one see's. Identity not only explains the uniqueness of a person but as objects as well. For example, you see so many different brands of bikes and the different design of it, but essentially they are all bikes.

Identity = ideology ?

My group decided to center our theme around the word Identity. Each person in our group was assigned another word and connect each person's word to the theme word, identity. The word that was assigned to me was Ideology. The UWP 101 text book defines ideology as the theory of the origin and development of ideas. In my opinion, when i first read this definition, i was compelled to give up on reading the rest of the two pages explaining the word ideology. But for the sake of helping my group, i forced myself to read the rest of the section. The text book explains that ideas of the ruling class of a particular region is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. I believe the text book is trying to explain that the government or ruling class of a particular body of people influences their beliefs and ideology upon the rest of the population. I found this hard to believe because every group of people have different ideals. Take for example the United States, there are Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Liberals, etc. The views of the ruling body does not always influence the rest of its people. One person's ideology cannot be controlled by its government unless forced upon that person. Even if an ideology is force upon a person, there will always be a struggle to not comply. On another note, a person's ideology is incorporated into his or her identity. A person's identity is what makes that person unique, and there is no two people that have the same qualities that make that person who he or she is.

First Day of UWP 101

The first day of UWP 101 ended early. As i exited Storer hall, my friend from San Francisco drove up to visit his girlfriend and called me to go eat lunch. I was hungry so i decided to go eat lunch and come back to campus later to obtain the text book. After lunch at Fuji's on G street, my friend and I proceeded to go to his girlfriend's apartment to handle some subleasing paperwork. My friend and I were left at the University Mall to walk around for about an hour. As we entered Gottschalks, a clothing store, i encountered a used text book store within the University Mall complex. Walking through the used book store, i examined the different UWP sections and forgot what section i was enrolled in. After looking at all the books each UWP section had, i spotted the text book that my section required. The text book was only twenty dollars and figuring that I did not want to drive back to campus, i decided to buy the text book at that store. I was glad that i did not have to drive back to campus to obtain the book and that the text book at the used book store was fifteen dollars cheaper at the used book store.