H&M = Happiness and Me

For many years there have been the Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, and Aeropostale clothes followers. Now, a new culture has emerged among young women that is more sophisticated and tries to appeal less “brandy.” These kinds of brands are culturally significant because brands such as H&M (Hennes and Mauritz), Banana Republic, Forever 21, and Express have learned not to write their label all over the clothes they are trying to sell.

This new approach to marketing is definitely a result of too much advertisement of mass produced clothing. People are shunning the clothes with the huge logos and icons away and it says a little bit about our culture today. It says that we are going to be intolerant to companies trying to market their products in such an unfashionable and ostentatious way. It also says that we do not care what brand we are wearing, just that it looks good.

H&M portrays my identity as one that is not totally concerned with popular brands, but just with fashion. These two do not have to go hand in hand and it is easy to see that H&M has developed this view as well. My taste in clothes can be defined as being eclectic, which is what is popular today and what H&M tries to sell. Shopping around, finding good deals, and buying the not-so-ridiculously-expensive clothes is what’s in. The brand expresses my values because of its price range and clothing style. It is on the more affordable side and is a little conservative, without plunging cleavage lines and short, short miniskirts. Because H&M represents my style so well, I secretly believe H&M stands for happiness and me.

Media Habits

Analyzing my media habits, I have learned that I do not have good ones. I only read the news when it is right in front of my face when checking my email on Yahoo, or on TV when I feel guilty about my lack of knowledge on a specific subject. Somehow I seem to think that Yahoo news is sufficient-- after all, they would not put up just any old random thing, right? If they did, it probably would not be as popular and it would not be put on the front page.

I think the specific resources that influence my media habits, are internet technology and television. I can honestly say that I do not remember the last time I picked up a newspaper and browsed through past the first page. I like to be "in the know" when it comes to politics, serious disasters, important issues among other countries, mass murder and major celebrity happenings, such as the death of Heath Ledger. After these subjects though, I am not that interested in what is going on. One of the main reasons I do not like to read the paper or watch the news is that every bit of information the media relays seems to be negative with no positives in sight. I feel news online however, tries a little bit harder to show some good or entertaining things throughout their presentation of the news.

The worst aspects of my media habits are that I only check the news when it is convenient for me to do so and when something looks interesting to me. If something seems mundane or boring, the best bet is that I will not read or listen to it. My best media habits are that I try to look through most, if not all of the headline news when I get the chance. I also try to learn about what is going on in other countries rather than just in the US.

Some steps I can take to improve my media habits would be to expand my "media horizons." I can try to pick up a newspaper every now and then and actually take the time to peruse the current news stories, not just the popular and exciting ones that catch my eye.

Hi,
my name is Liz Chemmanoor and I am a Social Work major at UMBC with a minor in Psychology. This is my junior year studying at UMBC, and I really like it here. I am interested in a lot of things. I am obviously into social work & psychology, but I like other things such as playing lacrosse & badminton, art, dancing and performing, a little bit of politics, and working. I work on campus in the Commons at a lot of service areas: in the Bookstore, the Information Center and the Gameroom (my favorite). A website I think is pretty cool is youtube because it gives people an opportunity to display their talents, or their lack there of, on the world stage.