#PSAs Seem to be popular around social media.

[accio-victuuri]

520 and 521 : A Boxiao History 🤍

CPN and all that good stuff related to this celebration for the past few years. If you are not familiar with it, 520 means I love you and it’s considered their Valentines day. 521 on the other hand means “I am willing”. Individuals celebrating 520 and 521 have been known to take the opportunity to express their feelings for their partners or crushes through social media. It’s also prime time for brands to market and release their own 520 promos and limited edition merchandise. This post will cover 2016-2021. Please note that this post is very CPN biased and it’s okay if you don’t believe any of it. Lol.

• 2016

During this time, GG was still filming Superstar Academy in Hangzhou and almost daily you can see fansites posting photos onset. However on 5/18 there were less photos and it seems like GG got off work earlier than usual ( as per resource blogs who posted that day ). DD on the other hand was in Sanya filming the TTXS episode where he was a pilot.

5/19, DD jumps on a flight back to Changsha wearing a pink cap ( and we know what color he associates with love ). GG then surfaces back in Hangzhou to resume filming @ 10:20.

CPN: GG went to Sanya. This is like probably not real at all cause this is 2016! Lol. Unless you believe in Devil Timeline.

Now we arrive at 520. GG posts a series of selfies from filming SA but as you can see there are two that are out of place. He is in a car and then he blurred something at the back. Lol. Of course our CPN brains will think there is someone there, that’s why he blurred it. Who? We don’t know.

DD on 520 was working and had an event with UNIQ ( Changsha ) ; a coincidence, he does a gesture that portrays a rabbit. Interesting.

The next day he left Changsha to go to Seoul, all photos from fansites had him with a pink cap and a completely different outfit from the Weibo selfie he shared. Why are these two sharing photos that are not from the same day? Stock photos? 👀

caption : haven't posted on Weibo for a long time, so please come and find the difference after posting two photos.

• 2017

5/19 GG went to Duyun ( Guizhou ) for filming of Fights Break Sphere and he was wearing a pink top. Do you see a pattern here? Lol. They like Pink. Around this time DD was filming Private Shunshan Academy and there were a lot of on set videos posted.

Now on 520, GG posted a weekly vlog showing his big hotel room with a very nice bathtub. Just watch it. my god he was so wholesome. He even said here that 520 is important and I agree! 🤍🌸

How about DD. He shared a short clip of an Action scene from PSA Drama. That’s all.

• 2018

5/18, they both left CQL filming to go to Beijing for their own work engagements. One flew from Hangzhou ( DD ) and the other from Yiwu ( GG ). DD was wearing the off-white top we are all familiar with ( black for him and white for GG ).

5/19 GG was filming a video for his cooperation with KFC and he said this line :

"Suddenly I regret that you are not by my side, because your figure has been deeply engraved in my mind and cannot be erased."

I mean it’s most likely fanservice thing but considering that he’s been working with DD for the past weeks already and they had to part? Hmmmm. Maybe this means something more to him that time cause he can relate. 👀

Web was @ KFC Live event the same day and then in the evening he flew back to CQL shooting.

5/20, This is the reason why I made this whole post cause I remembered the whole posting about KFC on 520. HAHAHAHAHAHA! It’s so iconic. KFC Couple. 🤍

GG had an event with XNINE for their album in Beijing and he went back to CQL shooting early 5/21.

Look at their respective 520 and 521 posts. It’s the same format of 4 photos. Did GG copy DD this time? Also if you look at the time GG posted, it’s so early. I guess he wanted to post at 520 but then decided to just make it a 521 post as an answer. 🌹

• 2019

This is a popular one, because GG’s 520 post he was wearing a similar top as DD’s. Tho you can argue that this was a popular print at the time and pretty common— but no. It’s the same one from off-white. Same exact style. What we don’t know tho if what GG was wearing was his or not. DD posted with the kadian 23:28 ( love zhan, love bo. ) CQL has not aired yet and most BXGs have not been all FBI on them so there were probably other things going on that we didn’t pick up on. ✌🏼

• 2020

As we all know, GG was not in the public eye during that time so it was DD who was so extra this whole time. DD posted this Douyin where he sent a Love Gun. Which is their thing. 🤍

Now the star of this year was undoubtedly DD’s 521 Ben and Jerry x Nike post. I will just direct you to other people’s post about it and it’s truly a fandom favorite. Yibo had no chill that time.

@ohnobjyx answered this and explained it in one of their asks over here.

@untamedconnotations post on it and more of what was happening and all the speculations. and why BXGs like us should try and keep things in our circle and continue to speak in codes.

@potteresque-ire dives deeper on this date and talks about how this is more than an endorsement and why certain people panicked. This one is very interesting and a must read because I don’t think anyone talked about this.

There were also talk of them being together this day, GG allegedly driving over to where DD was. DD was supposed to have an optional rehearsal but he didn’t go. He also booked two hotels and didn’t who up in either one. So where was he? Probably on Ninja mode with GG. Around this time they already had the resources to hide when they want to. Personally, what stayed with me from that chaotic day was the glimpse of “Have some faith” printed on the clothes. It was such a nice message considering what was going on that time. I felt like it was intentional, it was a message to stay strong. Yes, I have faith and 2 years later I still do. I still have faith that these two will make it through. 🤍

• 2021

@tracer85s explanation of YBO’s 520 post.

and then 5/21 GG posted on Douyin saying have a good weekend. 🎆

This is discussed in detail via the video below.

There were also talks of them hiding posts on 5/19 and then on 5/20 Bazaar posted douyins of them minutes apart. Lol.

AND THAT IS ALL FOR OUR 520/521 CPN Timeline I hope you all enjoyed. Let’s see what happens this 2022. I just hope they are together and get some quality time. Bless Beijing. 🤍

#yizhan #bjyx #timeline #all of this is cpn #there is no science here folks im just clowning like i always do #this is me clowning pls ignore #Youtube

[whumphoarder]

Emergency Contact

Summary: It’s not that James disliked his roommate, it’s just that they didn’t exactly get off on the right foot.

Or, in which fifteen-year-old college freshman Tony Stark needs a ride to the ER and James Rhodes is too responsible for his own good.

Word count: 4,050

Genre: sickfic, hurt/comfort, angst, whump

A/N: Thank you so much to @xxx-cat-xxx and @sallyidss for beta reading, ideas, and encouragement!

Link to read on Ao3

It’s not that James disliked his roommate, it’s just that they didn’t exactly get off on the right foot.

To be fair, the skinny five-foot-four prepubescent kid who’d walked into James’ dorm on move-in day didn’t look much like a college student, nor was he lugging in cardboard boxes and duffle bags filled with crap like the rest of the freshmen in the hall. There was no air of excitement and trepidation to him—no telltale buzz of new experiences. Not to mention, James had spent the majority of his summer away at Air Force ROTC camp, cut off from most forms of media and therefore oblivious to the rumors that Howard Stark’s infamous fifteen-year-old child prodigy was set to start his engineering course at MIT the very same semester that he was. It was hardly his fault for not recognizing the kid.

Even so, he probably shouldn’t have addressed Tony as ‘champ’ and asked if he was there to drop off an older sibling. That was on him.

What was not on James, however, was the fit Stark pitched at the resident assistant’s office upon realizing that his father had evidently not set him up with a single room after all.

“So move me then,” the little twerp demanded. “Just put it on the old man’s bill—he’s got the money. I didn’t just live through the last seven years of boarding school dormitories only to have to keep sharing the fucking bathroom in college.” He glanced over his shoulder at James, before adding, offhandedly, “No offense—I’m sure you’re swell.”

James huffed out a short, ironic laugh. He was standing in the back corner of the office with his back leaning against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest, quietly taking in the scene unfolding in front of him. “None taken.”

(At this point, he wouldn’t have minded a switch either.)

The mousy redhead at the desk looked frazzled. “Look, I’m very sorry, Mr. Stark,” she tried to explain, “but there’s nothing I can do. All our single dorms are fully booked.”

Even when the kid shoved a wad of cash at her tall enough to make James’ eyebrows rise, the RA held her ground.

“It’s a first come, first serve policy,” she explained, her voice faltering, but words firm. “At least until something opens up. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it has to be.”

So there they were, a nineteen-year-old Air Force cadet from a working class family in Philly who had gotten into ‘fancy school’ on an ROTC scholarship, a 3.87 GPA, and a prayer, and a spoiled rich brat with a pile of daddy issues taller than the Bunker Hill Monument. The two were going to be stuck together for at least the next few weeks and neither of them was particularly thrilled about it.

X

Despite James’ initial concerns, rooming with Stark wasn’t actually that bad.

James had an additional scholarship that was dependent on his academic performance, so he joined several study groups to keep his grades up. Between ROTC, student government, and mock UN, along with his never-ending mountain of engineering coursework, he was rarely home.

Meanwhile, Tony might look like a twelve-year-old, but that certainly didn’t get in the way of his budding popularity on campus. The kid was swimming in invites to different parties and events (though whether that was due to his own sharp wit and natural charisma, or simply his undeniable social status as the son of Howard Stark, James couldn’t tell). Either way, between James’ busy schedule and Tony’s avid social calendar, the two could go days without seeing each other, which suited them both just fine.

With all the partying, James figured his roommate’s grades must be suffering, but a curious glance at the quarterly report letter lying on Tony’s desk last week proved otherwise. The kid had straight A’s in all seven of his classes—two more than James himself was taking.

(Alright, maybe he disliked Tony a little bit.)

X

James knew it wasn’t going to be a good day from the moment he woke up to see sunlight streaming in through the blinds. That just wasn’t supposed to happen at 5:45 a.m. in November.

“Shit,” he muttered, scrambling out of his twin-size bunk. The display on his alarm clock was silently blinking the very incorrect time of ‘12:00’. The previous night’s storm must have knocked out the power. He grabbed his watch from atop his desk to check the actual time and immediately breathed out a sigh of relief. 7:22. No morning run today, but he should still be able to make it to his eight a.m. class if he hurried.

Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he snagged some clean clothes from his dresser and made a beeline to the adjoining bathroom. He pushed open the door and slapped on the light switch, but the second the room illuminated to reveal the scrawny figure sitting slumped on the floor between the toilet and the wall, James froze.

“Tony?” he asked in confusion. He hadn’t even heard the kid come home last night.

Without opening his eyes, Tony hummed a bit in response. Then all at once, he lurched forward and gagged, coughing up what looked to be mostly bile into the toilet bowl.

James grimaced. It was definitely not the first time he’d seen his roommate severely hungover, but it was the first time he’d seen it happen on a Tuesday . At the rate this kid was partying, he’d be lucky if he had any liver function left by the time he graduated.

With a sigh, James set his stack of clean clothes down on the sink counter. “Look man, I’m sorry, but I really gotta shower. I know you’re not feeling too great, but do you think you can give me, like, five minutes in here?”

Tony blinked up at him, seeming to process the question. Then, slowly, he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay…”

Doing his best to ignore the acidic smell of vomit, James stepped carefully around Tony into the small room. He flushed the toilet and grabbed the metal trash can from beside the sink while Tony pulled himself shakily to his feet.

“Thanks dude. I promise I’ll be fast.” He passed the can off to Tony and watched him stumble back out of the room before shutting the door.

If the military had taught James nothing else, it was efficiency. He emerged ten minutes later—showered, dressed, and clean shaven—to find Tony sitting listlessly on the edge of his bed. The boy looked more dead than alive, with one arm wrapped around his stomach and sweat soaking through his thin gray t-shirt. Just the sight of him was practically an underage drinking PSA in itself.

“Bathroom’s all yours,” James announced as he grabbed his backpack from the floor.

Tony acknowledged him with a small grunt, but didn’t make any effort to move. His mouth was slightly open and he was breathing through it carefully, warily eyeing the trash can on the floor in front of him. For once, James was glad he had an eight a.m. class to get to; he figured in about five minutes, he wouldn’t want to be here anyway.

In a spur of the moment gesture of kindness, James grabbed a fresh bottle of water from the case under his desk and tossed it onto Tony’s bed. “Feel better, dude,” he said on his way out the door.

X

Tuesday was always a busy day for James. He had back-to-back classes all morning, followed by a student council meeting in the afternoon and a mandatory ROTC training session. It was nearly seven o’clock by the time he made it back to the dorm, and by that time he’d honestly forgotten about that morning’s excitement until he opened the door to their room.

As miserable as Tony had appeared that morning, he looked decidedly worse now. He was lying curled up on the edge of his bed in a tangle of sheets and blankets, cheeks flushed and body shivering. The whole room carried the vague scent of vomit, though the trash can by the bed was currently empty.

“So… I take it this isn’t a hangover?” James deduced, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. He plopped the paper sack of Taco Bell that was going to make up his dinner onto his desk, causing Tony’s face to scrunch up in displeasure. “Stomach flu?” he guessed.

Tony made a non-committal sound in the back of his throat.

“Think you got a fever?”

Another low noise issued from Tony, somewhere between a grunt and a moan, which James took to mean something along the lines of ‘don’t know, and don’t care.’

James hesitated a moment, unsure what to do. If his mother were here, she’d tisk her tongue and press her hand to the kid’s forehead to gauge his temperature, but somehow he didn’t see that going over too well with Tony.

Instead, James checked his watch and sighed. “I can give you a ride to the student health center if you want,” he offered. “They don’t close until eight.”

“Don’ have to... ‘s just a bug,” Tony mumbled into the pillow, the most consecutive words James had heard from him all day. “I’ll be fine.”

The thing was, if Tony were one of his ROTC buddies, James would have dropped it right there. He’d never been particularly good at caretaking, and besides, he had a test coming up in his thermal-fluids class tomorrow morning that he should really be studying for. But something about the utter vulnerability Tony was displaying at the moment gave James pause. True, the kid might be a stuck-up asshole, but he was also just that— a kid. Only a few years older than James’ own kid-brother.

James looked at Tony appraisingly. “Can you handle a shower?”

“Huh?” Tony breathed.

“A shower,” James repeated. “Remember those? Water, soap, maybe even some shampoo if you’re feeling adventurous,” he said wryly. “That is, if you can do it without passing out.”

Tony fixed him with a rather pathetic glare. “Not gonna pass out.”

“You better not,” James quipped, crossing his arms and watching as Tony pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’ve seen more than enough white boys’ pasty asses this summer to last a lifetime. I have no desire to add another.”

(Tony lifted his middle finger weakly in his roommate’s direction.)

X

Over the sound of the shower running in the background, James ate his tacos and started flipping through his class notes in preparation for the test the next morning, but he was finding it unusually hard to focus. He kept listening for any sounds of distress from the bathroom, and after fifteen minutes had elapsed, he got up from his desk and crossed the room.

“Hey, I was serious about the ‘no passing out’ rule, Stark,” he hollered, rapping his knuckles against the door. “If you biff it in there, you’re on your own.”

As if on cue, a loud crashing sound immediately issued from inside the shower.

James’ eyes widened. He jiggled the door handle only to find it locked. “Tony?” he called. “Did you just fall?”

There was no response.

James cursed. He grabbed a paper clip from his desk and quickly jimmied the flimsy lock open—a skill he’d learned from his cousins years ago—before pushing open the door. “Tony?” he called again.

Suddenly, a hand emerged and pulled the edge of the shower curtain back just enough for Tony to stick his head out the side. His face was totally straight, but there was a hint of mirth in his eyes. “Whoops, must’ve dropped the shampoo bottle,” he deadpanned. “Thank god I’m rooming with the US Coast Guard.”

“Air Force,” James corrected irritably.

Tony pulled the curtain back closed. “Whatever.”

James rolled his eyes. “Next time I’m letting you drown, Stark...” he grumbled as he stepped back out of the room.

X

By the time Tony finally emerged from the bathroom an additional twenty minutes later (the latter ten of which he’d spent retching loud enough into the toilet that James had broken out his walkman and headphones), all traces of his earlier humor had dissolved. He moved shakily back to his bed and managed a couple sips of water before curling up on his side, the trash can within easy reach.

James tried to turn his attention back to his textbook, but Tony’s labored breathing as he drifted in and out of consciousness was making it difficult to focus. James kept stealing worried side glances back at the bed, wondering whether there was something else he should be doing.

At around nine-thirty, Tony jerked up suddenly and stumbled back to the bathroom to start dry-retching into the toilet again, and that was when James gave up trying to study for the night. He got up from his desk and pushed open the hastily half-closed door to the bathroom to wet a washcloth at the sink. When the mostly unproductive spasms ceased, he handed the cloth to Tony.

“Have you eaten anything today?” James asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already.

Tony just grimaced and shook his head.

“Want some crackers or something?” he offered. “I can go raid the cafeteria soup station.” James might not have had as packed of a social calendar as Tony, but it wasn’t like he never partied. He still knew the college hangover tricks.

Tony shook his head again, eyes closed. He seemed to lack the energy for words.

“Gatorade at least then?” James tried again. “All I’ve seen you drink today is one water bottle—you’ve gotta be getting dehydrated by now.”

Another head shake. “I’ll jus’ puke it up again…” Tony muttered. “Prob’ly a kidney too at this rate.”

“Well it’s better than puking up nothing,” James reasoned. Technically, he didn’t know if that was true or not, but he was tired of watching the kid be miserable. He moved back to the room to grab his keys and jacket. “What flavor do you want?” he called.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony croaked back from the bathroom. “They’re all terrible.”

“That’s the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard you say,” James retorted. “Just for that you’re getting purple.”

And with that, he exited the dorm and shut the door behind him with a bang.

X

It turned out that the vending machine in the lobby outside the dining hall only sold three Gatorade flavors—blue, orange, and red. James bought a bottle of each, then slipped into the deserted cafeteria to snag a handful of individually-wrapped saltine packets from the clam chowder counter before heading back to the dorm. It took some cajoling, but he managed to get two full crackers and half a bottle of the sports drink into Tony before it came right back up.

“Told you,” Tony rasped, spitting neon blue strings of bile into the toilet bowl. “Lost cause.”

“We’ll try red next,” James said, cracking open a fresh bottle. “One of them’s bound to stick.”

But red didn’t stay down any better, and neither did orange. James mooched a can of ginger ale and a quarter of a bottle of Pepto Bismol off a fellow cadet down the hall, but those fared no better. Even the cup of tap water James kept bullying him into taking sips from proved too much.

By midnight, Tony was still sitting slumped against the toilet on the bathroom floor, barely conscious, and James was at a total loss. “I think we have to go to the ER,” he admitted finally.

Without opening his eyes, Tony made a low noise of discontent in the back of his throat. His eyes were sunken in and he was alarmingly pale.

James let out a deep sigh. “Look, I’m sorry man, but we’re running out of options here. If you can’t even keep water down, you’re gonna need an IV.”

“No…” Tony lifted a shaky hand to try to take the cup of water James was holding. “I’ll-I’ll try again… just—” His words were cut off by a weak gag.

James cursed under his breath and quickly steered Tony’s head back over the bowl. It turned out not to matter though because for the next several minutes of miserable retching, nothing came up. When it was finally over, Tony slumped back against the wall. His eyes were red and puffy, and James figured it was only dehydration that was keeping the tears from falling.

“Alright, that’s it,” James declared. He wrapped an arm around Tony to lever him upright, feeling the feverish heat coming off the kid in waves. “I’m not letting you die on our bathroom floor—we won’t get the deposit back.”

Tony breathed out the ghost of a laugh. “Jus’ tell Howard to write you a check at the funeral...” he murmured. “‘bout all he’s good for,” he added under his breath.

James’ brow furrowed but he chose not to comment. He hoisted Tony to his feet and bore most of the kid’s weight as he led him back to the bedroom and sat him down on the edge of the mattress. “I’m gonna get you a clean shirt, okay?”

Tony nodded, gazing blankly forward with half-lidded eyes. James ended up having to help the kid pull his sweat-soaked t-shirt off and guide his uncooperative arms into a fresh one, followed by his coat. When they got to the shoes, James didn’t even bother having Tony try himself. He just stuffed the kid’s feet into a pair of sneakers for him.

“I taught my little sister how to do this last summer,” James explained as he tied Tony’s laces, if only for something to fill the awkward silence. “She’s in first grade.”

Tony hummed lightly. “I never went.”

James frowned, pulling the knot tight. “What do you mean?”

“Firs’ grade,” Tony clarified. “Or second. They started me in third.”

James smirked, imagining tiny five-year-old Tony filling out his multiplication tables in a classroom full of kids a full head taller than him. But his face quickly fell again as he suddenly realized a potential flaw in their plan. Tony may be in college, but he was still technically a minor. James wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to bring him off campus. “Shit, we’re gonna need to call your parents...” he said.

Tony’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Why?”

James raised an eyebrow. “Because I’m about to haul their fifteen-year-old son’s ass off to the hospital? Have you been following this conversation at all?”

“Oh. Jus’ leave a note for the RA.” Tony shrugged, listless. “They won’t care.”

James gave him a strange look. “Of course they’ll care—they’re your parents.”

Tony’s eyes were glassy with fever. “They won’t,” he croaked. “Been in boarding school since I was seven.” A shiver ran through his body and he swallowed hard before continuing. “Got pneumonia one winter and was in the hospital eight days. Dad jus’ paid the school to handle everything—didn’ even visit.” A tear finally slipped down the side of his cheek. “I was twelve.”

James knew it was just the fever making Tony so forthcoming at the moment, but it didn’t make his words any easier to take. As much as James always complained about his own mother’s doting whenever he wasn’t feeling well, he couldn’t imagine being sick enough to be in the hospital and not having anyone there for him. He didn’t know what to say.

Thankfully, Tony broke the awkward silence. “Sorry,” he whispered, closing his eyes and pressing his palm against them. “‘M fine.”

With a quiet sigh, James put his arm around Tony to help him back to standing. “You know what? We’ll just call them when we get there,” he said before leading Tony out to the car.

X

The drive to the hospital was uneventful. Tony sat curled up in the passenger seat of James’ old beater of a Chevy Monza with an empty plastic bag in his lap, quiet except for the occasional whimper he’d let out when they’d hit a bump in the road. When they arrived, James got Tony checked in and situated in the waiting room with some forms to fill out before stepping out to the foyer to use the payphone.

James fished the scrap of paper containing the number that Tony had finally agreed to give him out of his pocket. He dialed it three times. Each time, the call was picked up by the answering machine. On the third round, he left the Starks a brief message stating which hospital Tony was at and how they could contact their son, then hung up quickly before he could add anything else he might come to regret.

He reentered the waiting area to find Tony sitting hunched forward in his chair, breathing shallowly and clutching the small kidney-shaped basin that the triage nurse had given him like his life depended on it. “What’d they say?” he murmured. James wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard just a hint of hopefulness in the kid’s voice.

Without meeting Tony’s gaze, he slid into the seat beside him. “They didn’t answer,” he said guiltily.

Tony’s tone returned to flat: “Shocking.”

“They’re probably just asleep,” James reasoned, trying to sound more certain than he felt. “I left a message, but we can try again later.”

Tony hummed absently. Then all at once, he brought the small plastic container he was holding up to his mouth and threw up whatever little liquid remained in him. His hands were trembling so hard that James had to help him steady the basin.

When the heaving stopped, one of the nurses from the front desk exchanged the used basin for a clean one. Tony grunted in thanks, then looked up wearily and locked eyes with James. “You really don’ have to stay.”

James gave a tiny scoff. “What? You think I’d just leave you here to faceplant on the linoleum?”

Tony shrugged a bit. “‘S not like we’re friends, Jim.”

James pondered this for a few seconds before returning the shrug. “I guess you’re right.” He settled back in his chair and picked up a copy of Good Housekeeping from the stack on the waiting room table, flipping it idly open on his lap. “Too bad I’m invested now.”

X

It was around three a.m. by the time Tony’s name was called. He was taken back and briefly examined before getting hooked up to an IV line for fluids and antiemetics. The doctor ordered some bloodwork to be sure, but said that all signs pointed to a virus. As soon as they could get the vomiting under control and Tony’s vitals stabilized, he should be good to go.

While Tony dozed in and out of consciousness on the ER bed, fluids dripping steadily into his arm, James just sat there, silently mulling the events of the last sixteen hours or so over in his mind. It was weird seeing Tony like this—weak, and small, and just so undeniably young.

James waited until the clock struck five before slipping quietly over to the phone located near the nurse’s station. This time, he dialed a different number—one he knew by heart.

A familiar voice answered on the third ring: “Hello?”

Instant warmth flooded James’ chest at the sound. “Hey Ma,” he said softly.

“James?” His mother’s tone changed from puzzled to concerned in two seconds flat. “It’s so early, baby. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Ma,” he assured, the corners of his lips turning up into the smallest of smiles. “Just wanted to catch you before you left for work.”

“Well, you got me,” she laughed lightly. Over the line, James could hear her bustling around the kitchen, pouring coffee into a mug. “What do you need, baby?”

James hesitated a second, his gaze shifting back in the direction of Tony’s bed. “It’s nothing, just… I wanted to ask if I could invite someone home for Thanksgiving next week.” He shifted his gaze back in the direction of Tony’s bed. “I get the feeling he could really use it...”

Link to all my fics

#sickfic #ironbros #tony stark whump #sick tony stark #mit era #rhodey is a good bro #tony stark needs a hug #teenage tony stark #mcu writing #my fic #vomiting

[is6621]

How Safe is your Fitness Tech? - Allison Puglisi

In one of this week’s tweets, I discussed the new children’s smartwatch that predators use to target children. While I don’t have a child to worry about, this got me thinking: I may not be using this specific technology, but who’s to say that a stalker couldn’t just as easily find me through my wearable tech or the apps I use every day? One of the main privacy concerns for those using smartphones is the common location tracking feature. This can be utilized through exercise apps which use GPS to track your running route. 

Why Use Run Tracking Apps?

A quick search in the Apple App Store for “running app” returns hundreds of results that boast their ability to track your distance and specific route for you to fully comprehend and analyze the results of your run. Over the years of my running journey (which looks something like this: start running, lose motivation, start again, and so on and so on) I’ve tried tons of these apps to chart my route around the neighborhood to check my pace and see what distance I can add by going into little cul-de-sacs and venturing into different neighborhoods. One recent social media trend has been to post your running routes after completion to celebrate the distance, pace, or new route tried out to share with your following. By all accounts, one might think that if you have a smartphone that can track that data and are making admirable progress, why not post about it? 

What’s the Risk?

A Twitter thread from August 2020 first noted the dangers of posting your running route online, and within hours of the Tweet’s publication, hundreds of women were sharing horror stories of stalkers tracking women via these public profiles. Many running apps will save and share your route history for you to track your progress. The popular MapMyRun (link) stores the information on your run history in its “Explore” tab, making it easy for anybody on the app to see all of your previous runs and map out where you could plausibly be. Other apps may not publicize the data, but users will post pictures of their routes online because they are proud of their physical accomplishment. While celebrating achievements is healthy, for some people the publication of running routes may open the door for stalkers or other malicious individuals to learn your constant whereabouts or home address. 

In one such instance documented by a British blogger, author Rosie Spinks describes her struggle with a stalker on a run-tracking app, even despite her heightened privacy security on the app. The logistics of the app meant that even though some of her statistics would not be publicized, her running route and other information was published on the main app “leaderboard” where anybody could like or observe her workouts. This lack of privacy is just one of the main things women and other victims have to contend with.

What to Do About It?

Fantastic question. I wish I was the be-all, end-all genius who could solve the ever-present problem of womens’ safety in the age of technology. However, there are some things everyone can do right now to ensure your safety moving forward.

Update your privacy settings. No, really-- go double check them. You might just find that what you think is hiding your data from public view is actually only protecting a small portion of your information. If it says anything about sharing on leaderboards, community forums, or with your followers, think twice. Better to err on the side of caution.

Stop posting your routes on Facebook! We’re all so proud that you’ve reached your new highest distance/lowest mile time/saw a beautiful building on the back half of your run. Keep killing it! Just STOP. POSTING. PICTURES. ONLINE. If you truly think that your status update isn’t the same without adding an image, be sure to crop the route you ran out of the picture. You never know which friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend is going to see that at the end of the day.

Always stay alert. You can’t control everything that’s happening around you on a run. Even if you take every possible precaution, there are always external variables that may throw you for a loop. Make sure someone you trust knows where you are (Now’s the perfect opportunity for your smartphone! Drop your location!) and keep an eye out for anything that may seem amiss during your run.

It’s a sad truth that many of us, particularly women, have to stay on top of our surroundings while we’re out and about. However, that shouldn’t mean you can’t enjoy your run-- just protect yourself as best you can while doing it, and then go out and kill it!

Sources

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/251695/20200810/psa-stalkers-will-know-your-running-routes-online-dont-post-running-activities.htm

https://gizmodo.com/stop-posting-your-running-routes-online-1844634905

https://qz.com/1042852/using-a-fitness-app-taught-me-the-scary-truth-about-why-privacy-settings-are-a-feminist-issue/

https://twitter.com/jihanmarie_/status/1290996786245464064

[modern-wolfstar]

updated masterlist

PSA before you continue

marauders & co playlists

-

inside the phones

james : jily | wolfstarbucks

remus : wolfstar | wolfbucks | 3 am | wolfstarbucks

sirius : wolfstar | wolfstarbucks | 2 am | wolfstarbucks anniversary |

alice : frank x alice | the girl group

other :

andromeda

regulus : regulus x barty

davey : davey x james

frank

gilderoy

kingsley : kingsley x remus

lily : jily

marlene : dorcas x marlene

peter

-

inside their accounts

Snapchat

sirius’ | james | remus | dorcas I alice

Texts

regulus’ | sirius’

Twitter

Lily’s time line : 1 / 2 / 3

-

individual posts

a day at the arcade

a day at the fair

a day at the lake

a day road tripping & camping

a wolfstar ‘argument’

clingy couple : wolfstar regular conversations

date night

different kinds of friends

dreaming of sirius

drunk love confessions

gilderoy trying to come between sirius & remus **

hogwarts favorite facility members insta accounts

how james discovered wolfstar

how regulus and sirius ended up living with the potters ( tw : abuse mention ) 

how / why kingsley & remus broke up

james and sirius’ weird bond

james gets left out of the wolfstar loop

mary defending herself ***

national coming out day ***

prettiest one in the group ( ask reply)

pride parade

regulus & barty’s first date ***

remus and sirius meets through a tutor session ***

remus got hot over the summer

remus has a bad mental health day ( tw : mental illness )

remus gets support from james ( tw : mental illness )

sirius and james watch scary movies

sirius in the hospital

sirius posts a cover

summer after graduation

trip down memory lane ***

what happens when remus watches too many conspiracy theories

youtuber aspects of their lives

-

mini series

-accidental nude sending

james edition

sirius edition part 1 / 2 / 3

-remus accidentally coming out : part 1 / 2

-jily / wolfstar double date : part 1 / 2

-dating profiles *** : 

remus & sirius / james & lily / frank & alice

-remus gets attacked 

tw : violence & homophobia

note : making light of violent acts of homophobia is offensive and awful, this wasn’t made to make people go “oh my poor gay soft baby,” just like when movies or books depict these situations, it is to show how dangerous any excused acts of hate can lead to. keep that in mind.

part 1 / 2

-family accounts

potter parents on social media ***

evans parents on social media

black family kids instagrams

-how did remus end up at Lily’s ( tw : homophobia / abuse )

parts 1 / 2 **

-oblivious pining wolfstar (pre relationship) : part 1 / 2

-birthdays

Minerva Mcgonagall’s

Sirius’

-prom

part 1 / part 2

- young adult marauders & co.

part 1 / part 2

part 3 : jily wedding ***

-themed instagrams

wolfstar : autumn theme

wolfstar : tattoo artist/ flower shop owner themes

wolfstar : artist & punk ***

genderbent marauders instagrams

jily : autumn theme

lgbt themed instagrams : wolfstar

lgbt themed instagrams : jily

-----

SERIES

bookstore/ coffee shop au

summary : James & Sirius sneak off school campus to go get food and end up meeting two gorgeous workers at a coffee shop

notable detail :  Sirius writes poetry about Remus’ ass

parts 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

college au

summary : where a sleep deprived and coffee dependent Remus Lupin gets fed up with the boy in the room above him and airdrops him an angry essay leads to much more

introduction 

parts

1 & 2

3 & 4

5 & 6

7 & 8

9 - 11

12 & 13

14 - 16

neighbors

summary : when Sirius and James move in next door, their attempts to when over their neighbors are a lot more difficult after a bad night of misunderstanding

character introductions

parts 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

pranks

summary : different marauders & co. shenanigans, from skating around school to ending up on the news. (alternative title for this series : ‘reasons professor Mcgonagall wants to quit’)

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

remus can’t cook

summary : literally just a bunch of instances where Remus is a mess in the kitchen

notable detail : every interaction between James and Remus, especially “you pea brain”

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11

youtuber au

summary : remus & lily are popular youtubers and best friends, another recent and growing YouTube sensation is the marauders, who post prank videos and their daily shenanigans. after a YouTube news channel creates tension between the two fronts, it seems like no one remembers to think before they tweet.

- character introductions

1 & 2

- parts

  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

#wolfstar #Marauders #marauders era #marauders social media #hp edit #hp masterlist #jily masterlist #wolfstar masterlist #hogwarts rp #hogwarts social media #hogwarts houses #hogwarts au #remus lupin rp #remus x sirius #wolfstar hc #jily hc #Marauders RP #moony x padfoot #alice longbottom #Frank Longbottom #hp ootp #ootp ed #kingsley #WOLFSTAR FLUFF #Wolfstar fanfiction #jily fanfiction #hp playlist #jily edit #jily au #jily fluff

[snatcher-no-snatching]

10, 18, and 29 for the ask thing! hope you feel better my dude, you're a really cool person 💜💜💜

10. Name a dog

Uhh... as in, name a breed of dog, or come up with a good name for a dog?? Ummm.... how about... Asbel? That's a nice name

18. Rant about your favourite musician

I'm bad at choosing favourites but y'all know I been hyperfixating on Dr. Steel lately sooooo. Buckle up.

This dude was just.. beyond comparison. Such a unique phenomenon he was, being so popular within a fairly small community during a time where the internet and social media wasn't as widely used as it is today made him a very "underground" artist, but a beloved one nonetheless. He wasn't even around very long, and only produced about 3-5 albums I think, but he sure made an impact on the small emo/metal/steampunk community of the time. And then there's his, uh, "stage persona". Eccentric, inspirational, loud, and downright nonsensical at times, Dr. Steel was truly unique in his aesthetics and style. While a good portion of it didn't exactly age well, a lot of his social commentary still rings somewhat true? More or less, at least. But more importantly, he literally never broke character.

By that I mean we just straight up don't know who he was. And since he retired in... i dunno, 2007 I think, we have no way of confirming his identity (I've heard that his actual name is an open-secret if you know where to look, however I do not know where to look and frankly I'd rather leave the man his privacy). Pardon me in advance for bringing attention to the metaphorical man behind the metaphorical curtain, but the fact that the production staff put in so much effort to make it seem like a one man operation is just staggering; His youtube channel! His old myspace account! His PSAs! The fake interviews! It's like an elaborate ARG except instead of a game it's a bald man in a lab coat claiming he's going to take over the world with an army of toys and industrial hip hop

Speaking of which, what the fuck even was his music genre? Seriously, I don't know. "Industrial Hip Hop" seems like a good start, but there's so much more that can't be so easily defined and categorized. Swing! Opera! Funk! Jazz and Blues! His music's got it all! Some songs start with a pleasant accordion tune, then out of nowhere there's some sick shredding on an electric guitar while the Doctor screeches during a full-on heavy metal sequence, and then equally as suddenly it's soft piano music and the Doctor's got such a smooth baritone he wouldn't be out of place in an 1800's french opera house. Like, what are you supposed to call that? The sheer juxtaposition knocks my socks off every time. He only ever produced a handful of songs but I swear each and every one of them are so damn unique and full of love and care that it's palpable

I'm just writing as things come to mind here, but I could deadass write a whole essay on this don't test me. TL;DR Dr. Steel and his supposed production crew were a bunch of visionaries and it's a damn shame there aren't more artists out there with a similar "alternate reality" gimmick, because I think I might just be hopelessly enamoured with the intricacy of it all. He will be dearly missed, but he shall be remembered as one of the brighter spots in my memories of middle school lmao

29. What quote or inspirational setting do you think is bs?

Ugh oh man, I can't choose one in specific but my mom's been gathering so many inspirational quotes from pinterest and printing them out and hanging them up, heck she even made "mental self-help workbooks" for my sisters and I that are filled with cheesy lines like "a change in attitude makes all the difference" with these pastel minimalist colour blocks as a background, and it deadass makes me angry when I look at it.

istg it's cause of those white suburban moms from my lil sister's dance studio that she's been hanging out with

#thank you for asking ♡ #and thank you for the kind words; I'm coping. sorta. #the coming weeks are gonna be rough but I'll make it... #asks #anon #//long post #sorry i really went off there

[constantlyirksome]

Zendaya is the diamond in a Rough Euphoria Premiere. (1x01 Review.)

I want to preface this post first by saying that as a cis male I’m not able to speak for the experiences of women or trans people, or assault victims because we don’t share the same experiences. I can’t truly understand their struggles; all I can do is speak for the show’s other components. If I step out of line please feel free to send a message through.

Second, Euphoria is R rated and incredibly explicit, so if you have certain triggers surrounding some of the themes of the show, maybe don’t watch, though the show does a better job than most when it comes to warning it’s audience what’s going down.

The first thing you notice about Euphoria is that it’s beautiful. The camerawork and lighting set the show apart from a lot of other teen dramas, perfectly matching the tone of the show's story. Every time the main character partakes in a drug the visuals match. Rue takes hallucinogens and the room literally spins on its axis, until she’s on the roof. When she takes something to mellow out her anxiety everything goes dark, the music slow like molasses and the lighting moves across her face, matching Zendaya's face her emotions spin. The music is very cool, which probably has something to with the fact that Drake is one of the producers. Big names like Beyoncé, Migos, Megan Thee Stallion and Asap Ferg are joined by more independent acts like Yung Baby Tate and Lil Dude.  Sprinkled in are some more old school tracks by Andy Williams. The mix feels very cool and genuine and stops the dark elements of the show taking over too much. The show is incredibly fun to watch from a production standpoint.

The shows two leads Rue (Zendaya Coleman,” and Jules (Hunter Schafer) are the guiding lights in a cast of liars, cheaters, abusers, and jerks. Rue is fresh out of rehab after having an OD during the summer and comes back into town looking to score more drugs immediately. We learn she uses to cope with a plethora of mental illnesses that she’s had to deal with since she was little. Her panic attacks are so severe she loses consciousness and feels like she can’t breathe. Her first relief comes the first time she uses drugs. She sometimes goes on long, theatrical rants that can seem a bit corny, like when she gives a detailed description of her birth. (This is coupled with some pretty graphic imagery, and it’s the first scene of the show so it gets your attention I guess.) But her story is interesting and there’s underlying compassion that comes through, with her sister, with a classmate having a rough time, and with Jules. Zendaya is a powerhouse, while this probably being the first adult program she’s been in she really steps it up. Her subtlety when playing drunk or stoned stops the show feeling goofy and actually makes what she’s going through pretty sad. Except for the montage of drunken bike riding accidents where she keeps riding into parked cars. Poetic cinema. Jules is still a little bit of an enigma, only appearing in her scene with the older guy, and at the party. Both times she’s profiled for being a trans woman, once threateningly and once sexually. But there’s a real fire there that’s intriguing. When she maims herself to fend off an aggressive jock it’s genuinely shocking and possibly gratuitous. It would be good to see how she’s gotten to where she is without relying solely on abuse tropes, which seems to be where her story is geared. The final scenes with Rue and Jules are incredibly sweet and make all the grime and darkness worth it.

You might wonder why people would want to review, or even watch shows that are so graphic and dark, or that the shows allure lies only in shock value. But Euphoria is more than just dick pics and teens taking drugs, everything is done for a reason, whether it adds to the story, or clues the audience in on the shows key themes. I have NEVER been a fan of sexual assault as a narrative device; it’s lazy and harmful. The first episode of Euphoria doesn’t have any explicit rape scenes, though the threat of it feels imminent, and there are a few hard to watch moments where the men take it a bit too far.

I think that’s the point, none of the shows men are painted in a particularly favorable light, the episode, and the whole series probably, wants to show of the worst types of misogyny that teen girls in high school face. There are jocks who bond over stolen nudes and sex tapes of their classmates, guys peer pressured into treating women poorly, and one very creepy older man with a major creep factor. It’s basically a PSA warning against some of the most common traits of entitled, sexist dudes. Head Jock, Nate, spends the episode walking around shirtless, shouting, cat calling and pushing people around like he’s top shit. When his ex, Maddy has sex in Nate’s pool in front of their classmates (not the classiest move, obviously,) he flies into a fit of rage. He shouts people out of his kitchen and smashes stuff until he comes face to face with Jules, who pulls out a knife and sikes him out until he retreats. Not all women have knives, obviously when men harass them, and men shouldn’t have to be held off by a knife to stop from playing up, but it was satisfying watching Nate get owned anyway. His influence over McKay, whom he peer pressures into treating a girl horribly in bed, will hopefully fade.

The other man Jules encounters, Cal, is a married man played by Eric Dane (McSteamy from Grey’s Anatomy.) He meets Jules in a seedy motel after she cruises him online, leading to one of the more uncomfortable scenes this episode that really had no purpose other than to let on how creepy he is and that he’s Nate’s dad.

The girls in the show just do whatever they can to fit in and get by in high school unfazed. Rue uses substances, Jules uses isolation and rough exterior, and the popular girls use sex. People with cameras and classmates shaming them take their desire to explore at a young age at every turn. Jules’ friend Kat has sex for the first time after the other girls make her feel weird for not having done it.  Some turn the tables, using sexuality and influence to embarrass or shame the people giving them shit.

The whole premier’s focus was on survival in high school, in a time of social media and substances that make it almost impossible. Peer pressure, drugs, nudes and mental illness are all key motivators but it’s how each kid chooses to respond and stand out that makes the show special. Hopefully, we move from just surviving to actually thriving. We get a hint of this when Rue and Jules finally meet, and are actually kind to each other, hinting at a possibly healing, fun pairing. Either way, the show isn’t likely to slow down and has a lot of potential.

#reviews #euphoria #euphoria hbo #zendaya #zendaya coleman #hunter schafer

[adonis-koo]

Sleepless Nights on Saint Avenue (Jimin x Reader)

Modern Cinderella AU | 1

Pairing: Fuckboy!Jimin x Reader, ??? x Reader

Description: You‘re an average college student being crushed under the pressure of your stepmother, your one escape from your own private hell is through your identity posing as Jay Six, an anonymous dancer who has become a star amongst the campus. But even the one thing you take peace in begins to developes it’s own demon, and his name is Park Jimin.

Note: In honor of Jimins birthday I’m finally gonna post this lmao, psa I’m an ugly fiend who can’t just do a regular social media AU and I deeply apologize but hey, more content atleast amirite?

-

Previous | Next

~

Your eyes were in physical pain from not getting any sleep from two days before as you whined laying on Namjoons bed, “Out of all the days why did they have to set the exam for tomorrow? I actually finished early tonight, I genuinely thought I was gonna get 8 hours of sleep for the first time in six months,”

Unshockingly the boys were typing away on their laptops too absorbed in silent panic to really pay attention, Jungkook was the only one who appeared to really notice your whining as he replied, “Yeah but your first lecture is at 6 am anyways so...Ow!”

You threw your notebook at him as you huffed, so what if your first lecture was at 6 am!? That didn’t demean the fact that atleast you would’ve gotten some sleep had it not been for this useless exam, it’s not that you were a total baby but you had been running on espresso shots and three hours of sleep for too long to proper functionally.

“You can go to bed Y/n, your grades aren’t as low as Jungkooks IQ like the rest of us,” Namjoon finally chimed in, briefly looking away from his laptop as he stretched his arms before giving a small shrug, but something on the screen caught his attention as he quickly returned to his original position.

But that was the problem....when you didn’t reply you began to feel three pairs of eyes bore into you staring with interrogating looks, your step mother was benevolent enough to be paying your student loans, but she had stipulations, one being you wouldn’t move into the dorms. The second was you would take the classes she wanted you to for extra credit. And the third was making sure you had good grades if it was less then an 80% she wouldn’t pay a month of student loans.

You had never gotten below an 80 on a test or exam but it was only out of fear of what would happen should you fail, it came at the cost of your mental health and sleep schedule, but atleast you weren’t being harassed. Okay maybe that wasn’t completely true, your step sister was the pain of your existence but atleast you weren’t trying to hide physical bruises when it was just her.

“I could but...I really want to do well on this exam,” You looked away, your friends knew your step mom was a bitch but they didn’t know extreme details and you weren’t planning on having a heart to heart with them tonight about it. Namjoon and Jungkook exchanged glances before returning to their work, clearly not buying your excuse, but you couldn’t blame them, you had figured Taehyung- your closest friend- would’ve interrogated you, but when you looked toward his direction you saw him furiously typing.

You almost expected him to be on Reddit looking at memes to try and cope from the stress until he howled out laughing causing the others to look his way, “No way, no fucking way. Y/n you’re never gonna believe this,”

Sitting up you quirked an eyebrow, was this a challenge? When you were friends with three of the biggest losers on campus you could believe just about anything, “Try me son,”

Taehyung turned his laptop around only to show you your own post looking at him in confusion until he clicked on the comments,

daddypark...as in Park Jimin? He had commented plenty of times before on your alt account since he was a dance major and dancing was kinda the whole point of Jay Six, who was your online alter ego, you shrugged as you replied slightly confused, “Yeah?”

Taehyung continued laughing as he replied, “It gets better,” unable to stifle his childish giggles he opened up his phone to reveal snapchat,

“Park fucking Jimin is whipped for you,”

The three of them roared out laughing at the post while Jungkook collapsed onto the floor meanwhile Namjoon was slapping the bed close to tears from laughing, groaning you couldn’t help but inwardly cringe, Park Jimin whored himself constantly to girls those posts could’ve been for anyone, “How do you know that’s even about me,”

“Y/n you dumbass meme lord connect the dots, see how close all of the times are? Let’s not even get into the crypticness. ‘Someday I’ll find out who you are’? Really bitch? Who else could he be talking about?” Taehyung continued laughing as he grabbed his stomach.

Leave it up to Taehyung to be the Sherlock Holmes of social media, groaning you collapsed on the bed, sure it was fun to meme with your friends, but not at your own expense, “Oof you guys suck,”

That only fueled them to laugh harder at your cringing expression. Park Jimin was many things, he was loud, he couldn’t keep it in his pants half the class, and he was absolutely obnoxious anytime he talked to you with that sneering arrogance like if he snapped his fingers you’d be in his bed.

But most of all he was a fuckboy, you refused to associate yourself with that walking parasite, you weren’t the only girl on campus who’d roll her eyes at his dirty flirt lines but Park seemed to have a particular sore spot for you and you could say feeling was mutual.

With that background you could confirm you were surprised when he had retweeted a video of Jay dancing for the first time asking, in quotes: ‘Who is she? 😫’

Yeah you had just about choked on the coffee you were drinking when you saw his post had made its way onto your timeline from so much retweeting. As much as you wished you could deny it, he was part of the reason you were so popular now on social media, ever since then he would alway like your videos and would occasionally comment on posts.

But you had never seen such thirst directed at Jay before from him which still led you to doubt that it could actually be Jay - you- he was referring too.

Groaning you picked up your phone, you were gonna shut this down because you knew damn well when Park Jimin wanted something he was gonna get it, and him finding out who you were was not gonna happen on your watch, the boys crowded around curiously as you opened up Instagram typing in his IG name before replying to his post.

“I bet you my left ass cheek he’ll take that as an invitation to slide into your dms,” Taehyung snorted out as he returned to his laptop.

Rolling your eyes you closed your phone as you sighed, you were already stressed out on a daily the last thing you needed was to deal with a thirsty fuckboy on a witch hunt to find out your alter egos identity, “Shut up you dumb whore and get back to studying,”

Shockingly enough everyone listened including yourself as you continued reading through the notes Jin had so kindly given you.

It was gonna be a long sleepless night.

#bts #bangtan #bangtan boys #park jimin x reader #jimin x reader #jimin x you #fuckboy!jimin #fuckboy!jimin x reader #park jimin #jimin #jeon jungkook #kim namjoon #min yoongi #jung hoseok #kim taehyung #kim seokjin #??? x reader #bts au #bts college au #bts fanfic #bts reader insert #bts social media au #bts au fanfic #jimin series #bts scenarios

[ibisfarrow]

How More Progressive Advertisements Have Contributed to a More Progressive Society

(Essay from my 2018 sexuality and gender studies class)

Historically advertisements and television have been used to reinforce traditional ideas of gender and sexuality, ignoring the changing times, in order to promote ideas that they believe will bring them the most support. The true effect of media and its ability to sway the masses was not utilised, instead it may have done harm by further promoting conservative ideas and isolating those who didn’t fit quite their standards, making them feel even more like a minority. Huang & Hutchinson assert that ‘persuasive communication’ is a key component of advertisement, so historical ads have not only used this method to persuade the public to buy certain products, but also strengthen any traditional ideas presented (2008, p.98). Would feminism still be considered such a dirty word if there wasn’t consistent ‘hostility from sections of the media,’ such as the various anti-feminist postcards available in the early 20th century attacking the suffragist movement (Curthoys 1994, p.16)? And would people still be insisting that ‘there were no homosexuals in the Australian armed forces’ if it weren’t for the large number of hypermasculine, heteronormative enlistment posters (Willet, G. & Smaal, Y. 2013)? Recently there has been a change in the way media and advertisers view controversial and taboo topics such as gender and sexuality, many having realised how beneficial supporting progressive ideas can be for their business through the attention it can bring. This essay will be addressing three different ways business have used progressive ideas in marketing and the effects it has had both on the business itself and the related cause/group, and along with this it will give a brief history of Gay representation in television, it’s critical reception, and how this influenced the directions of future TV shows.

During and prior to the 2017 marriage equality postal-survey many businesses put posters in their windows announcing that they were voting ‘yes’. This served two purposes, firstly, it was a show of solidarity towards the LGBT+ community; and secondly, it was a marketing ploy. Not only did it aim to make the businesses appear more welcoming to queer customers, and therefore be chosen over their competitors, but it also drew media attention to many of the companies, such as the various businesses mentioned in a Broadsheet article, which included big name corporations like Amazon, eBay, Testra, and Wordpress, as well as a plethora of small cafes and restaurants. An entire article on Techly was devoted to a Melbourne Subway store after it started printing pro-marriage equality messages on its receipts, which increased sales exponentially. Of course, I am by no means saying these acts of support were bad or selfish, even if they led to financial gain, because they likely had a hand in the postal survey’s positive results. The constant presence of the ‘vote yes’ posters may have caused what is known as the socialisation effect, a form of herd behaviour which is described by Teraji (2003, p.162) as when we are ‘influenced in our decision making by what others around us are doing’ and is a common way that humans deal with ‘environmental uncertainty’, meaning that those who were undecided on which way to vote may have chosen to vote ‘yes’ because the advertisements made it appear like the most popular option. This demonstrates how advertising’s recent indulgence of more controversial issues can both benefit the company and make society more progressive.

The first openly gay character on primetime television was the one-time character Steve (Philip Carey) on All in the Family. Steve appeared in the episode ‘Judging books by covers’, which received extreme backlash, with at-the-time president Nixon even stating in a 1971 interview that he ‘had to turn the goddamn thing off’ because homosexuality should not be glorified ‘anymore that you glorify whores’ (RICHARD NIXON TAPES: Archie Bunker & Homosexuality 2008). Despite the outrage, the episodes high rating, historical significants and praise from the gay community – which was still fairly new in the public eye – broke the ice, in a sense, and in 1972 The Corner Bar introduced the first ever recurring gay character in a primetime television show, Peter Panama (Vincent Schiavelli). Peter was largely criticised by the gay community, who saw him as little more than an offensive caricature, but that didn’t change the fact that producer Allen King was trying something that no one had had the courage to try before.

In 1994 Ikea began running the first ever television commercial to feature a gay couple, which showed the pair discussing how they met and their differing tastes in furniture while picking out a dining room table. Despite it’s late night runtime (beginning at 10pm), the ad still saw quite a bit of backlash, particularly from religious groups, with Reverend Donald Wildmon calling for an Ikea boycott and one New York store facing a bomb threat. According to an LA Times article, the Ikea headquarters were flooded with ‘hundreds of phone calls and letters’, mostly complaints but also some commending the company for its open-mindedness (1994). This wasn’t the first advertisement to feature openly gay individuals, however it was the first TV commercial to do so. It broke the ice, in a sense, and opened the door for more ads starring gay individuals. A European study on the impact of alcohol advertisements on teen drinking habits found that ‘exposure to televised alcohol advertising was found to be a significant predictor of drinking behavior’, meaning that, according to their research, teenagers who were exposed to alcohol advertisements were more likely to consume alcohol. Multiple other studies have made this same connection between tobacco advertisements and cigarette smoking in youths. While there have been no studies done on the effects of gay couples in commercials, it can be assumed that this advertising exposure effect can be applied to pretty much everything that is advertised. While gay people in ads cannot turn people gay, like so many religious organisations fear, it does normalise it and may, in the same way alcohol ads promote drinking, promote acceptance of LGBT+ individuals. Along with the increase in support for the LGBT+ community, these ads have also put pressure on other companies to create more inclusive advertisements – or at the very least remain quiet about their prejudices. A bakery that refused to serve a lesbian couple in 2o13 was forced to close its storefront and move online soon after the controversy, then close completely in 2016 due to continued backlash and poor sales brought on by their discrimination. It’s unlikely their actions would have prompted such outrage if it weren’t for other companies promoting the acceptance of the LGBT+ community. Up until 1994 the only times homosexuality had been mentioned in television advertisements were in fear-inducing Public Service Announcements about HIV/AIDS that directly or indirectly blamed the disease on ‘the depraved activities of homosexuals’ (Sendziuk, P. 2003, p11), such as the way the 1987 Australian AIDS PSA (Grim Reaper Bowling) specifies that ‘at first only gays and IV users were being killed by AIDS’, an unnecessary distinction considering the ad itself is about how anyone can contract it (Grim Reaper [1987] 2006). The ways LGBT+ rights are treated on television has a direct impact on how the public sees the matter, and so advertisements that normalise the LGBT+ community help to foster an accepting society.

Disney Channel’s live-action series ‘Good Luck Charlie’ went down in history as the first kid’s show to depict a gay couple, with the 2014 episode ‘Down a Tree’ showing the protagonist’s parents entertain a lesbian couple while their toddlers have a play-date. This episode aired near the end of what was already confirmed to be the show’s final season, so the writers did not have anything to lose from this decision. Reception for the episode was mixed, but ultimately the positive outweighed the negative and other series have followed Disney’s example. Since 2014 three non-Disney series have featured LGBT+ characters and relationships, and Disney has made history a second time with Andi Mack, a live-action show that features a gay main character. Each of these series has received media attention and polarising receptions, leading more people to discover the shows and increase their ratings, while also making queer children feel more comfortable with themselves by finally having characters to relate to.

In 2015 Target made what some considered to be a bold move by removing gender labels on their toy aisles, an act that elicited outrage from many conservative parents who didn’t seem to trust their own children to pick gender-appropriate toys without this signage. These complaints changed nothing, and soon Kmart and Toys ‘R’ Us followed Target’s example. While these stores still pack all of the traditional boys and girls toys in separate aisles, there are no labels, and so nothing to cause shame in children who wander down what some might consider the wrong aisle. This change coincided with a societal shift that brought gender politics into the spotlight, with both Caitlyn Jenner coming out and the transgender bathroom debate reached the US courts that year. This demonstrates the company’s understanding of social issues and willingness to take risks in order to appeal to a more evolved, modern audience then their previous store set-up. This became even more apparent in 2017 when Target released an ad showing an adolescent boy with their nail polish, subverting gender norms in a way that no other mainstream company has done on Australian TV since. This change reflects how society itself is becoming more open-minded, and instead of playing it safe and pandering to conservative views, companies are realising how diverse their consumers are and altering their advertisements to be more relatable.  

To summarise, the ways companies advertise has moved from promoting safe and traditional values to more controversial, yet modern subject matters. This has not only benefitted the businesses by giving them an edge their competitors don’t have, but has also helped to normalise the different identities and lifestyles being featured in these advertisements, which in turn assisted in creating a more inclusive society. Changes in representation in television programmes has had a similar effect, reflecting our current society more accurately now than ever before, and therefore to normalising certain identities and more accurately representing society than ever before.

 Sources:

Willet, G. & Smaal, Y. 2013, ''A homosexual institution': Same-sex desire in the army during World War II', Australian Army Journal, vol. 10, no. 3, p.25

Curthoys, A. 1994, 'Australian Feminism since 1970', Australian women: contemporary feminist thought, p.16

Sendziuk, P. 2003, 'Anally injected death sentence: the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ and the origins of Aids', Learning to trust: Australian responses to AIDS, p.11

Huang, Y. & Hutchinson, JW. 2008, 'Counting Every Thought: Implicit Measures of Cognitive Responses to Advertising', Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 35, no. 1, p.98

Teraji, S. 2003, 'Herd behavior and the quality of opinions', The Journal of Socio-Economics, vol. 32, no. 6, p.162

Bruijin, A., Engels, R., Anderson, P., Bujalski, M., Gosselt, J., Schreckenberg, D., Wohtge, J. & Leeuw, R. 2016, 'Exposure to Online Alcohol Marketing and Adolescents' Drinking: A Cross-sectional Study in Four European Countries', Alcohol & Alcoholism. Supplement, vol. 51, no. 5, p.620

Pineros B. 2017, An Aussie Subway store is taking it upon themselves to fight for marriage equality, retrieved 19 September 2018, https://www.techly.com.au/2017/09/08/aussie-subway-fight-for-marriage-equality/

McDermott C. 2017, Australia’s Institutions and Businesses Are Backing Marriage Equality at Every Level, retrieved 19 September 2018, https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/city-file/article/australias-institutions-and-businesses-are-backing-marriage-equality-every-level

McMains A. 2014, 20 Years Before It Was Cool to Cast Gay Couples, Ikea Made This Pioneering Ad, retrieved 21 September 2018, https://www.adweek.com/creativity/20-years-it-was-cool-cast-gay-couples-ikea-made-pioneering-ad-161054/

Horovitz B. 1994, TV Commercial Featuring Gay Couple Creates a Madison Avenue Uproar, retrieved 21 September 2018, http://articles.latimes.com/1994-04-05/business/fi-42403_1_madison-avenue

Tharrett M. 2016, Homophobic “Sweet Cakes” Bakery Finally Closes, Three Years After Enforcing “No Gays” Policy, retrieved 21 September 2018, http://www.newnownext.com/sweet-cakes-bakery-melissa-aaron-klein-closed/10/2016/

Grim Reaper [1987] 2006, streaming video, Paul Kidd, 22 November, retrieved 24 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U219eUIZ7Qo&t=2s

RICHARD NIXON TAPES: Archie Bunker & Homosexuality 2008, streaming video, rmm413c, 24 December, retrieved 28 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivVcfSBVSM

Mitchell B. 2017, Who was the first openly gay character on TV?, retrieved 28 September 2018, https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/07/28/first-gay-lgbt-character-tv-show/

Poul Webb 2015, 'World War 2 Propaganda Posters – part 8', Art & Artists, weblog post, 1 June, retrieved 18 September 2018, http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2015/06/world-war-2-propaganda-posters-part-8.html

Hobson, C. & Hobson, P. 1910, Postcard, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa

#essay #gender #history #lgbt #queer history #advertisement #effects of advertisement #academic article

[miki-agrawal]

From Carole Baskin to Leslie Jordan, the Unlikely Stars of the Quarantine

A look at the people and products who captured our imaginations (and, in some cases, our hearts) during a strange moment in history

Originally Posted On lamag.com By Paul Schrodt On May 17, 2020

It’s hard to think of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact as anything other than a series of downturns: in global health, the economy, our cultural lifeblood, and moods. But as in any crisis, there are positives deserving praise. Dr. Anthony Fauci, unknown to many of us months ago, now has his own bobblehead—and deservedly so. But other experts and personalities—some with direct ties to the novel coronavirus, others who are delightful distractions—have captured our collective imagination. Here are 20.

Carole Baskin

Netflix’s zeitgeist-defining docuseries Tiger King is teeming with wilder-than-the-last characters, but one rises above the rest. Baskin—the 58-year-old former big-cat breeder turned conservationist and archrival/attempted murder victim of central subject Joe Exotic—sports an enviable feline-inspired wardrobe; coos her memed-around-the-world tagline, “Hey all you cool cats and kittens”; and prefers not to answer questions about her mysteriously missing ex-husband. A morally ambiguous figure for our uncertain times, she’s also sure to be one of Halloween’s most popular costumes—so stock up now on the fiercest tiger prints you can find.

Dua Lipa

The British singer, 24, didn’t want to release her second album, Future Nostalgia, into a pandemic—she announced its arrival with tears on social media. But its neo-disco bangers are exactly what a lockdown dance party demands, and the release is her first Top 10 LP in the U.S. She’s liberated the masses to move while (fabulously) self-quarantining with her model-celebrity-spawn boyfriend Anwar Hadid. But how hard is that?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAayNagnmHF/

Ryan Heffington

Heffington, 46, had already been motivating Angelenos to hone their hip shaking 
at his Silver Lake dance studio, the Sweat Spot, but the Grammy-nominated choreographer has turned his Joshua Tree house into a makeshift gym space. For his five-day-a-week Sweatfest cardio class on Instagram Live, he coaches around 8,000 viewers at a time through unique moves. Fans are known to end sessions with a cathartic cry.

D-Nice

Born Derrick Jones, 
D-Nice had a moment as a hip-hop
 artist in the ’90s that
 quickly faded. But 
the 49-year-old DJ 
reached newfound fame streaming his live Club Quarantine sets from his downtown L.A. apartment, drawing hundreds of thousands of stay-at-home revelers, including Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Michelle Obama. The funk-and-soul-heavy playlists are more than a sonic escape—they’re an act of communal transcendence against all odds.

Zack Fox

A previously undersung L.A. comedian and internet provocateur, Fox, 29, racked up more than 300,000 views with a stone-faced parody—which made perfect use of Three 6 Mafia’s “Slob on My Knob”—of Gal Gadot’s viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons “Imagine” sing-along.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B98XjQ7AK9X/

Juan Delcan and
 Valentina Izaguirre


The local artist couple, based in View Park-Windsor Hills, illuminated the power of social distancing with their “Safety Match” viral video, in which animated matches light up in a row until one of them steps out of the way. Viewed roughly a million times, the contemporary art piece achieved what no government PSA could.

Alison Roman

The New York Times cooking writer (and native Angeleno), 34, had already achieved food-world stardom with two best-selling books before lockdown. Under quarantine, Roman’s simple yet flavor-packed recipes for dishes like caramelized shallot pasta—and her unfussy-but-particular Brooklyn boho banter—have become required reading and eating. Roman went from darling to pariah in May when controversial comments she made about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo went viral. If only shallots made you immune to Twitter backlash.

Ina Garten

More than 3 million people on Instagram watched the tranquil Barefoot Contessa, 72, demonstrate how she keeps her “favorite tradition,” the cocktail hour, alive under desperate conditions. The Food Network star has been a rightfully beloved figure for nearly two decades, but her mixing a gigantic cosmo was a hilariously refreshing reminder of what a true treasure she is.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-cJUwUpxbM/

L.A. tap water

You’re not good, we never loved you, and yet without gallons of overpriced filtered alkaline H2O, we’re suddenly overjoyed to guzzle you.

Bidet attachments

After hoarders cleared out the toilet paper aisles, the makers of bidet products began cleaning up with their water-jet-shooting self-cleaning devices. The brand Brondell saw a 300 percent spike in sales, while the cleverly marketed Tushy sold out entirely. The future may be wipe free.

Zoom

The video-conferencing platform—which has raised security concerns and provides the same service as FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and Facebook Messenger—has become a key part of life under quarantine. Zoom stock has jumped more than 100 percent since January.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAAihoslm_O/

The brothers Cuomo

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, 62, has been lionized for leading his state through the darkness. But his cute younger brother, 49-year-old CNN anchor Chris, stole plenty of shine when he 
tested positive for 
COVID-19 and 
without missing a
 beat continued hosting 
his show in self-isolation
from his basement. Despite regular potshots from 
right-wing critics, the younger Cuomo managed to come off 
as more sincere and urgent than ever. One NYC matchmaker says the duo are topping her “most wanted” list, beating out even the Jonas brothers.

Reply All’s “The Case
of the Missing Hit”


Podcast Reply All delivered a blockbuster with a mind-bending search for a song—which might not exist—that a man says got stuck in his head in the ’90s. A reflection of the unanswered questions inundating our lives, except with far lower stakes, the March episode has sparked a 35 percent increase in the show’s listenership.

Trolls World Tour

Universal’s Trolls sequel, with a bizarre rock-versus-pop premise and a message about cultural appropriation that will likely go over the heads of its intended audience (and perhaps that of star Justin Timberlake), set a record for the biggest debut for a digital release, topping every relevant platform during its opening weekend in April. The $20 two-day rental price seemed steep to some, but to parents with stir-crazy kids it was a bargain.

The Womanizer vibrator

With Tinder hookups on hold, we’re turning inward—and reaching for sex toys. This cheekily marketed device has seen
 a 152 percent year-over-year rise in U.S. sales thanks to quarantine orders. Its resonant new slogan for those hungry for pleasure: Stay home.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAp1cWNpQz6/

Sourdough
bread


It’s a cliche at
 this point, but
 making it ourselves is truly com
forting, if not always Tartine level. No wonder more than 100,000 posts have been tagged with #crumbshot on Instagram.

The new class of badass reporters

Journalism is never more important than during a national emergency or the mass dissemination of misinformation. We happen to be living through both. A young crop of reporters in the White House briefing room—including Weijia Jiang of CBS, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond of CNN, Yamiche Alcindor of PBS, and Kristin Fisher of Fox News—has resisted President Trump’s theatrical boasting and mugging, pressing for straightforward information and fact-checking on the spot.

Leslie Jordan

The 64-year-old veteran actor from Will
 & Grace and American Horror Story has amassed more than 3 million Instagram followers since March as a result of absurdist check-in videos in which he appears to be either very bored or very stoned. Pointing to his DIY painted toenails, he shares: “I messed this one up.” Relatable.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAtA9Nfhat7/

My Year of Rest
 and Relaxation


Ottessa Moshfegh’s
 2018 best-selling novel, about a beautiful, lazy, pill-popping
 young woman who attempts a yearlong 
hibernation in a Manhattan apartment, had
 been celebrated at the time of its publication for its dark humor. Now its wit is hailed as beautifully horrific, as evidenced by the literary critics who are circling back to it. Vice declared of the book in one recent headline: “Blacking Out in a Juicy Couture Tracksuit Is a Lockdown Mood.”

The smart bike

Already a cult obsession, Peloton’s $2,245 souped-up stationary bike has never been more covetable as gyms lie dormant. The company’s stock bounced 50 percent in March, leaving an offensive Christmas-ad debacle in the dust. Cheaper competitors are also racing ahead. Echelon, whose bikes start at $839, reported a tenfold increase in sales the same month.

Tushy is a bidet startup which aims to replace toilet paper, Tushy was founded by Miki Agrawal.

[mirrormirrormag]

(the good, the bad, and) the ugly beauty standards

PSA: IF YOU CAN’T TELL BY THE TITLE, BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE JUST UGLY. THERE IS NO HIDING IT.

As the internet community continues to grow, our standards for the way we conceptualize and understand beauty is also morphing into something as bad as systemic and societal oppression. A lot of our interactions are through social medias like Instagram and our feed is filled with beautiful girls laughing with their arm around a boy or the coolest girl ever. All social media does is capture the right moments and blur out the real life. Everything outside the picture frame is normal life, but compared to the edited, filtered, beautified version of the real picture, what was once considered normal is now actually trash. And no matter how much we know the fact that life is unedited and isn’t meant to always be this pretty, the pictures distract us, and we strive to be better. But what is better? Who determines what is better or worse? Not pretty and popular Tiffany down the street. You define what you want for yourself and don’t let society paint a life that isn’t true to you. What is worse is that now there are guides specifically made so you know exactly how to beautiful. As if the maker of this guide is superior to everyone else and the viewer is inferior and desperate. We need to reform the internet community so that we can learn to accept everyone’s beauty the way it is. No PhotoShop. Just real smiles, real wrinkles, real life. If we continue to make content that forces people into one mold who is to say who is beautiful if we all look alike? That YouTuber doesn’t know how you look, yet, she seems to know once you do this you’ll be sure to look effortlessly good and have a great Instagram. I encourage you all to break out of this status quo and don’t do your makeup or your hair by the book.

-s

#openyoureyes #beauty standards #standards #social #social commentary #beauty #societal expectations #social norms #social media #instagram #youtube #instagram worthy #nofilter #no filter #unedited #pictures #likes #socialmedia #societal oppression #open your eyes #the perspective #perspective #THEPERSPECTIVE #the #tumblr #trending

[chaosangeldown-blog]

PSA: A Lola Hayden does not exist. It’s a scammer named Ashley Hoff.

I know all of you probably know me for being in a relationship with Lola aka heroinkilledtherockstar aka taintedinsin aka dreamvein. That was true for a while but I found out a lot of things that made me question my relationship with her, and thus it is important for me to let all of you know that there’s someone that’s trying to abuse you by becoming close to you. All the photos this girl “Lola” posted, were nothing but some stolen photos by some other girl whom I don’t know. This person even had videos of this “Lola” and posted them or sent them online. That person in the photos is NOT the same person that posted everything on here under the URLs listed above.

The girl behind those posts and the facade of “Lola Hayden”(known as heroinkilledtherockstar) is Ashley Hoff. Someone we also knew through blogs like rockandrollvalentine and her “secret” personal one normalyouwere. She was supposed to be Lola’s financially poor cousin. 

I will break the story down for those who don’t know, so most people can have an idea of what this girl is about.

The Lola Hayden Character (HOW LOLA WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE)

Ashley seems to have created this persona or character prior to 2008. Lola was described as being someone with money, someone with a lot of knowledge regarding plenty subjects (music, social media, politics, etc.). You could say she was presented as a know-it-all. She rose to fame on Tumblr by talking about certain bands and sharing “small known facts” (most possibly lies) about certain celebrities. On the internet, she presented a personality that showed she was caring, friendly and overall nice to strangers; a huge part of her whole persona was that she struggled with eating disorders, substance abuse, bullying while at school and most recently homophobia because she came out as a lesbian while “dating” me. 

To “close friends” she often seemed as though she was someone you could trust, and certainly, she tried to manipulate you into believing she truly cared about what you had to say, only to later on use this to manipulate you and abuse you emotionally and psychologically. She often shared details of her family, going on to say she had several brothers: Derryck, Jake, Corban and Ayden --her so called twin brother that killed himself when he was 16. She claimed her father was Chris Hayden and that his worked involved doing PR for celebrities and had graduated Yale. Jake was allegedly a surgeon, Derryck was supposed to test video games and Corban just lived off the family’s wealth. 

She also claimed to have lived in Tampa, FL, then moved to Toronto, Canada only to live for a bit at The Catskills, NY and move on to NYC itself. The truth? She had lived in Jersey City, New Jersey all this time. 

Now that there’s an idea as to who she is, let’s move on to the actual person: Ashley Hoff.

ASHLEY HOFF. (THIS IS HOW SHE LOOKS LIKE) - HER MOTHER BARBARA HOFF IS ALSO A SCAMMER. HERE’S HOW SHE LOOKS

There’s a lot of things we don’t know about her. From what we understand, she is a white-looking black woman (her mother is supposed to be black) and lives in Jersey City, New Jersey. She has been pretending to be this Lola Hayden character for several years now. This person went on to create several fake Facebook accounts to try and make people believe that she had several friends there (especially ones that were related to the wrestling industry; again, this girl is OBSESSED with celebrities). She even went on to create a FaceTime screenshot of her and known wrestler Sami Zayn. She then claimed to have been in a relationship with another famous wrestler Kenny Omega.

I know all of this sounds like it should be easy to figure it out, and even though most of us had suspicions one way or another, the reality is that she is very clever and well spoken when talking about these “stories” that are just actually well-elaborated lies. Several websites regarding catfishing (because that’s what she did, basically) talk about how the abusers use sad or traumatic stories to generate a sense of empathy around this person, and that’s what both Ashley and “Lola” claimed to have. Both suffered either biphobia or homophobia as Lola was presented to be a lesbian, that she had lost her twin brother due to suicide, had committed several suicide attempts, eating disorders, you name it. Ashley claimed she was half black, had lost her father due to alcoholism, was poor, had eating disorders and depression.

Several people and I have gathered information as the scamming included even family members that she stole money from by pretending to be in need of it. To close friends that she had created online, she presented herself as caring and loving while emotionally manipulating us and abusing us psychologically. This is a person that craves control over other people and needs to be able to create lies that are bigger than her because she has low self esteem.

I urge all of you that had ever had any type of encounter with Lola Hayden and/or Ashley hoff TO PLEASE report her on the FBI Internet Crimes section listed here. 

You can enter the complaint by talking about the victims (me or someone you know, or even yourself) and mention how this person abused you. The fact that she pretended to be someone else while trying to seem caring to you is crime enough and punishable by the law. We need as much complaints as we can get so this is taken seriously. We have also approached local law enforcement offices to pursue this case and we’ll update as we see continue to gather more information.

INFORMATION

At the risk of posting information and having this blog/post be deleted, I am going to post the information needed for the complaint, or just so you are aware of who she is, I will make two post for the photos and the information. This person has spent almost ten years of her life with her mother (she’s her partner in crime) creating false personalities, only sticking with Lola Hayden as she rose to fame in 2010-2011. If we get this post to be viral or at the very least popular within our circle, she won’t be able to come back or deflect this. 

For the photos of Ashley. For photos of Barbara Hoff (Ashley’s mother). For “Lola Hayden”. For their INFORMATION.

Also, please refrain from contacting these people. They are extremely intelligent and will be able to try and manipulate you, and wrap you around their lies. This is not a good thing to do. Let’s just popularize this post so more people are aware of, especially those who knew her through the heroinkilledtherockstar moniker.

I REPEAT: PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. Ashley Hoff particularly has ripped off HER OWN FAMILY MEMBERS for up to $7000. She has multiple secret accounts on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Flickr, from where she steals other people’s photos. The main give away that she is trying to catfish someone is the fact that 1) she will refuse to videochat with you and come up with really weird excuses about it. It may seem factual but they aren’t. 2) she may have a group of “friends” that will also remain anonymous or share very little information or have no personal photos. 3) she will try to empathize with you by opening up about certain “traumatic” instances on her life. Please do not believe anything she says. 

OTHER TUMBLR ACCOUNTS ASSOCIATED WITH ASHLEY HOFF AKA LOLA HAYDEN AKA HEROINKILLEDTHEROCKSTAR:

@heroinkilledtherockstar (pretended to know a bunch of celebs and even being emotionally/sexually involved with them. Completely false)

@makeamericalesbianagain (pretended to be a lesbian)

@dancinginadaze (yeah, she pretended to be a black man lmao)

@rockandrollvalentine (Ashley’s own personal blog)

@normalyouwere (her “secret” personal blog she pretended to be in a relationship with Kenny Omega and posted “secret” photos of him + his friends)

Ashley Hoff is 22-23 years old. Lola Hayden was supposed to be 27 years old. ASHLEY’S REAL AGE IS 22-23 years old! She constantly lies about her age. Do not trust her.

#heroinkilledtherockstar #Lola Hayden #Ashley Hoff #scammers #catfish #lady gaga #kenny omega #sami zayn

[marcusbattaglia-blog]

Assessment of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s website and social media use

Abstract

This report entails a compilation of the findings related to a comprehensive audit of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s online presence and use of social media in 2019. Our group selected CMHA due to its century-long standing as a not-for-profit organization, and the recent increase in awareness and support concerning issues related to mental health and the need for a more holistic approach to general wellbeing. The audit reviewed CMHA’s use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  It also analyzed its website usability and prominence on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Key Findings

Our group’s preliminary investigation of CMHA’s use of social media noted that while the organization is making good use of social networking platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube as well as LinkedIn, there is further room for improvement.  For a national organization geared not only towards supporting consumers of mental health services and their families, but educating all Canadians against the stigma associated with mental health and the fact that mental health affects us all in one way or another, its organic reach and audience retention and participation on social media remains low.

CMHA’s national site also seems to serve as an umbrella under which numerous provincial and community branches operate, but they seem to be largely working in silos. As a national organization, there is benefit to leveraging the experiences, voices, and connections CMHA has in each community by linking frequently to the content on its sister sites.  

Website

CMHA’s national website is comprehensive, user-friendly and easy to navigate.  The organization has employed communication and marketing professionals, an excellent sustainability strategy for an organization that relies heavily on donations. Their website is chalk with valuable information and personal blogs that are worth linking back to through social media platforms, with solid teasers, in order to drive traffic back to the website.

It was also noted that when searching for mental health issues via web search engines such as  Google and Yahoo, CMHA could be more prominent.

Observations:

YouTube

CMHA’s productivity and presence on YouTube is strong with numerous 2-minute PSAs on a variety of mental health topics. However, CMHA YouTube subscribership views and “likes” are concerningly low given the 1.3 million consumer exposure. Viewership on YouTube indicates only 437 subscribers and numbers of views ranging from below 20 to around 34,000 (8 years ago). Given the CMHA’s consumer base of 1.3 million, social media performance is a considerable area for organizational development.

Facebook

While more than 17,000 people have liked CMHA’s national Facebook page, “shares”, “likes” and “comments” remain low by comparison. The posts that seem to get the most traction involve the personal stories of ordinary people struggling with extraordinary obstacles as well as tips for balancing mental, emotional and physical health. Notably absent from most posts on CMHA’s national Facebook page are links directing readers back to valuable information found on its own website. Most posts seem to share content from other sites, rather than promoting its informative website and the blogs contained therein.

Twitter

CMHA seems to enjoy the greatest following on Twitter, albeit considering its 31.9K followers its traction could use some improvement as well. What becomes apparent here is that CMHA is a highly respected voice in this country when it comes to issues associated with mental health, yet very little of the content it tweets links back to its website. It merely seems to share content from others, which is fine if you’re trying to simply post more frequently but it tends to defeat the purpose of also using social media as a tool to drive traffic back to your own website and content.

Instagram

Likewise, traction could be greater with this social media platform as well. Most of the images CMHA’s Instagram curators post are shared from others. It might be wise to focus on creating more original content by sharing photos of events held in other communities where  CMHA has a presence while directing viewers back to its website for more details.

LinkedIn

CMHA’s national site on LinkedIn is thoughtfully developed with posts related specifically to mental health issues and the workplace, although some posts do not display well. They appear blurry.

Website Blog Page

The CMHA’s blog page on their website is functional but does not capture readers attentions. The stacked small text boxes give readers too much information all at once. The CMHA should consider organizing the stories from most to least relevant and remove the high number of stacked text boxes on a single webpage. It would also be useful to increase the font size for the individual blog titles as it may capture a potential readers attention better. 

Website

Buttons that link to each network are prominently displayed on the website and the site is mobile friendly and allows easy social sharing of articles and resources. However, the CMHA newsletter format and content needs improvement. The periodical does not display well on the CMHA website. The curators of the website may also consider adding an interactive option to the site.

Content

CMHA has a notable lack of connection on social media to current affairs related to Mental Health (i.e. highly publicized stories in the media of systemic discrimination towards people struggling with mental illness. While it may be prudent to avoid a political partisan approach to current events, advocating for the importance of mental health services, programs and education is important, particularly on social media platforms such as Tweeter. The lack of social media engagement on such issues is conspicuous and creates a sense that CMHA may be out of touch with current events.

Recommendations

Improve the content of CMHA’s 2-minute PSAs. While the information in the videos is helpful it is testimonial-based and less engaging than many widely available mental health resource videos on YouTube. CMHA would benefit from vetting and providing links through their website to popular mental health education videos sponsored by a globally funded organization such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Subscribership and viewership of these organization’s YouTube channels are high and could potentially drive traffic back to CMHA. Examples that would work for CMHA is the RSA’s cartoon of B. Brown’s discussion on empathy or WHO’s Black Dog informational video on depression.

Create more personal content and blogs related to issues impacting consumers of mental health programs and services and use adequate social media tools, such as Twitter, to link the post back to the organization’s website. The Toronto branch did this effectively when posting a letter to a Globe and Mail article by its Executive Director. Again, formulating fresh content that’s a little more personal to the organization, like for example ‘why I volunteer for CMHA’, would help generate more views.

Social media is grounded in participation and rewards to entice users to return based on positive experience. Use of gamification (e.g. answer correctly and win tickets), listicles (e.g. top 5 strategies for wellness) and infographics would update the content of the newsletter to a more current and engaging promotional tool.

CMHA should provide regional staff with guidelines, templates, and education on social media marketing including how to enhance user experience through shared vision and ensuring the sites refer to one another on points of particular interest, such as fundraisers, personal stories, local initiatives, etc.

Posts should focus on personal stories and provide backlinks to the CMHA website for information on, for example, the type of mental health issue features in the post.

Engage social media audience by asking questions and inviting feedback (e.g.  What makes you anxious? Do you know a person with a mental health diagnosis? How would you improve the mental health system?). Likewise, CMHA could create an option for moderated interaction on its website.

High profile news stories related to mental health issues should be referenced as a talking point and feedback to resources and information on CMHA’s website. Organizations do not always need to weigh in on an issue to acknowledge that people are talking about it. For example, backlinking a “CMHA #lets talk about it” campaign to a public interest story with mental health content, could help CMHA provide solutions based resources to motivate people who may not have otherwise searched for the website. It is important to note that if CMHA does participate more frequently on stories in the media with mental health components, it will become a source for media and the voice of advocacy for such issues, which will increase the visits to its pages.

Conclusions

The CMHA has many of the resources in place to implement a top performing social media marketing and engagement strategy. The organization would benefit from Search Engine Optimization techniques of linking its posts to high profile news articles and popular global YouTube videos that support CMHA’s client needs as well as their allies and Canadians’ mental health in general. Increased audience participation elements will enhance its social media traction and improve the user experience of CMHA’s website and newsletters, allowing more and more users to access the CMHA’s resources and encouraging them to participate in charitable events.

#mentalhealth

[ourlordandseivior]

PSA

Hey guys,

First off, this IS a scheduled post and i am not actually online rn, but I just wanted to hop on here and tell you all that i will probably not be active on here for a few days. I have stuffed my queue to the brim and it should be running for the next week ish. In case anyone is concerned about me being quiet and notices me operating off my queue, I will explain below the cut.

There is a lot of Killing Stalking on my dash. A. Lot. And i am not shitting on anyone who likes it. Everyone is entitled to like whatever. My dearest friends like it, my boyfriend likes it....everyone around me is getting into it, and several have recommended it to me as i am the Angst Queen and will have that fucking engraved on my tombstone. 

HOWEVER, I am having issues with getting into it. before you all go acting like i’m the little tumblrina who cried “#triggered”, let me explain myself. I am not into horror, I am not into shit that plays mindgames with me. I am not into thrillers. I can do spoopy, not intense shit that’s meant to fuck. you. up. I make an exception for video games because I watch Markiplier play them on Youtube, and something about him being there to.....verbalize my feelings as i’m having them and also his screeching....it keeps me from getting too panic-y. 

That being said, I am unsure about KS. Part of me wants to jump on the hype, but i have never been good at getting into things that are super popular or that people are telling me to read. Ask Bronwizzle. She knows the struggle of trying to get me into things. I’m very stubborn, and I have a reading list i have set for myself already, and goddammit i like having order in my life.

Other than that, it seems incredibly gruesome. Now, as one who has played n+c games, who has seen the gorefest of snk, was heavily into tokyo ghoul to the point where i had erotic dreams about Tsukiyama Shuu taking a bite out of my left boob whilst fricking, like it was someone biting into an apple, as someone who has been through this shit, KS makes me incredibly uncomfortable. I have yet to see more than what tumblr has shown be but...idk if i want to, y’know? TL;DR, I don’t think it will (god i hate this word) trigger me, but there is a possibility it will based on the discomfort that i feel when it’s brought up. Ask Eren. 

But it does look like a good story and i love Korean comics, they are so underrated. and it does seem to be something all my friends and people close to me are getting into. So it could be worth a look. How will I know my own boundaries if i don’t play with them a bit.

so, TL;DR, I don’t know where I stand on Killing Stalking. And because of that, I will be avoiding tumblr like the fucking plague. Eren has discouraged me from reading it if i thing there is any remote possibility that it will negatively impact my mental health. And i am taking that into consideration, and is part of why I will be off tumblr. Until i decide, i will be extremely cautious. If i decide to read it, anything i see might be a spoiler. if i decide to not read it, everything i see could be a (fuck this word leaves SUCH an awful taste in my mouth without me even verbally saying it) trigger. And working off mobile most of the time, blacklist isn’t there to save me. If you have anything you need to say to me, i will check messages now and then, and i will be on skype, insta, facebook, snapchat......y’know, my regular social media outlets. Also text message if you have my number. I’ll see ya’ll when my queue runs out.

Mallory out. Peace.

#longass post #if u don't wanna read #the extremely tl;dr read version is #ks is taking over my dash and idk how i feel about the series yet #it mildly squicks me so idk....??? but yeah. taking a tumblr break. #don't listen to me i'm dumb

[brandonkjohnson17]

*Tumblr #3*

In this entry, I will be examining the critical question: What gender/sexuality norm is constructed or undone in this artifact, how is it rhetorically done, and/or how does it promote a dominate ideology over a marginalized group or push back against the ideology or gender norms? Is it productive/unproductive (ethical/unethical)?

           To further examine these questions, I searched for examples of gender/sexuality norms across various film genres. In finding obvious examples in popular movies (Anchorman, Grease, etc.), I realized such depictions were relatively unhelpful, as they resided in somewhat fictional situations. I ended my search when I discovered the video, “Touching Halloween PSA Brings Awareness to Gender Stereotypes in Children” or originally titled, “My Heroes” (Plus). In this public service announcement, the dominant norm of dressing in gender specific apparel is challenged by the video’s imagery, tone, and effective play on ethos to propel an alternative frame/angle to view gender norms in children and the rest of society.

           The title of the PSA, “My Heroes,” is described by its publisher as a video that “challenges gender stereotypes with Halloween costume choices” and introduces an alternative angle to viewing dominant gender norms in society (Plus). The commercial starts as many other family commercial airings for the holiday of Halloween do: kids are running around excited for the a famous night of collecting candy and dressing up in costumes that display a favorite character, monster, or that of their family’s choice. There is one boy and one girl in the star family, and each excitedly grabs their costume and gets dressed for the big night. From my own viewing experience, the first minute and a half seems like an average Halloween commercial that would finish with the advertisement of some product or service. It isn’t until the end that you understand the rhetorical message behind the video.

           Butler (2008) explains the concept of undoing “normative conceptions of sexual and gendered life” that we are surrounded by in every facet of life (1). Butler states, “Sometimes a normative conception of gender can undo one’s personhood, undermining the capacity to persevere a livable life. Other times, the experience of a normative restriction becoming undone can undo a prior conception of who one is only to inaugurate a relatively newer one that has greater livability at its aim” (1). In other words, dominant norms in society have consistently clouded and barriered out marginalized ideologies in favor of gender stereotypes. As a result, people who challenge these established gender norms have been living hindered lives that have been subsequently restored by the undoing or alternative view of gender. Butler also believes that both our dominant societal beliefs of gender have changed and that they also have no reflection of an individual’s expression or identity. She states, “What does gender want? To speak in this way may seem strange, but it becomes less so when we realize that the social norms that constitute our existence carry desires that do not originate with our individual personhood” (2). Butler then expands on this idea by asserting these norms hurt our ability to thrive as a person, stating, “the viability of our individual personhood is fundamentally dependent on these social norms” (2). As we have seen in United States history, people have always been seen as less than human in the eyes of dominant ideologies. Butler states, “The human is understood differently depending on its race, the legibility of that race, its morphology, the recognizability of that morphology, its sex, the perceptual viability of that sex, its ethnicity, the categorical understanding of that ethnicity. Certain humans are recognized as less than human, and that form of qualified recognition does not lead to a viable life” (2). In short, from a young age, individuals experience a certain degree of criticism based upon their behavior, mannerisms, and beliefs that directs them to follow the dominant gender and societal norms set by the societal majority.

           After watching this PSA, the most evident gender norm being challenged is related to the clothes and costumes designated to a specific gender (boys and girls). Specifically, the costumes in the commercial, “My Heroes,” are Wonder Woman and Batman, which are traditionally known as costumes designed for a girl and a boy, respectively. By having the boy and girl dress up in the costumes they feel the most comfortable in, which is contrary to what society deems normal, the commercial positively promotes an alternative approach to parenting and weakens the norm that children must wear gender specific clothing. Although there is little dialogue to depict what is actually occurring in the commercial, the combined use of uplifting music, imagery highlighting the joy the kids feel by dressing up as their favorite hero, and the mother and father being supportive, loving, and understanding, going so far as to even state “My Heroes” at the end, ultimately demonstrates that, as Butler put it, “… a certain gender does not imply that one will desire a certain way”(Plus) (Butler 1). In admiring the kids’ excitement, you can see they were okay with dressing up in costumes that reflected heroes of the opposite sex. They didn’t care whether it was designed specifically for a boy or a girl. The kids only wanted to be happy, and they made their own decision based on what made them comfortable, irrespective of the gender norms of their parents.

           Halfway through the video, the father looks concerned after his two kids chose their respective costumes. Was he worried they were choosing the wrong costumes? No. Did he choose for them? No. In the end, he respected their decisions and, as long as it made both his kids happy, both the parents were going to be happy too. I believe this video effectively captures the parents’ feelings of empathy and uncertainty in a manner that makes you feel like you would want to make the same respectful decisions the parents made. In line with what Butler states, that, “…life is constrained in order to open the possibility of different modes of living; in other words, not to celebrate difference as such but to establish more inclusive conditions for sheltering and maintaining life that resists the models of assimilation” (4), this commercial is aimed to spark a conversation about making space for new gender stereotypes in the context of Halloween costumes, showcasing not only that it is okay to act or dress differently than societal gender norms, but also highlighting how we are all different, thus necessitating an inclusive environment in order for everyone, young and old, to live an enjoyable life.

           This commercial also allows me to analyze the other facet of my critical question regarding why a certain PSA/commercial is a productive step towards creating a more inclusive society that doesn’t rely on gender specific norms or stereotypes. To reiterate, our society has created “norms” for the majority to conform to, and these same ideas have negatively affected individuals’ lives when they don’t match their own ideas or “norms.” As Butler puts it, “If I have any agency, it is opened up by the fact that I am constituted by a social world I never chose” (3). No one is born a certain way; thus, it is impossible to be completely aligned with all the popular societal views. Given that everyone is unique, there cannot be one societal or gender norm that accommodates all of society. This PSA does a productive job of championing untraditional families in which masculinity and femininity have transformed from a binary into a spectrum in spite of societal pressure. In short, we should view this commercial as a measure of progress regarding what it takes to abolish gender stereotypes and norms in children, as well as the rest of us.

           Kassay (2018) explains that while gender norms and narratives strongly rooted in stereotypes are created in children’s lives from an early age, new gender tendencies among children from Romania are emerging. Though the norms and social stereotypes are specific to a particular country’s beliefs and people, her study reflects the context of the commercial, as it was conducted with children and the gender stereotypes associated with their favorite heroes. Kassay stated, “The Romanian context is more patriarchal compared to the European and American standard; however, the global trends can be observed as more pronounced in the cities” (15). Kassay conducted 80 interviews and analyzed the findings to discover whether gender played a difference in children’s preferences of heroes. Kassay stated, “The findings of the suggest that gendered heroes have a greater impact than genderless characters; however, several factors influence the process of children’s identifying with their favorite characters, such as social background, parents’ education, and the effect of the larger community” (1). In other words, the social norms and outside factors surrounding the children’s consumption of media and entertainment is heavily influenced by what society already believes is “right” or the dominant majority. Kassay also found that marketing to children is very gendered, which has an impact on their playing and consumption, while their social context and peer group have an increasingly larger influence on their attitude towards gender roles and stereotypes (15). Given that these findings are valid, the commercial/PSA that I chose may elicit a positive impact on marginalized children and groups that feel uncomfortable in their own skin regarding the established gender norms in the United States. Kassay stated, “The global trends show there are signs of change in the strong gendering of products, and gender consciousness is becoming more and more prevalent” (15). Applying this trend to the Halloween commercial, I believe that the more messages showcase the abolishing of traditional and openness to alternative gender stereotypes, the more people will begin to shift away from the shackles of the majority.

           In summary, “My Heroes,” or the video titled “Touching Halloween PSA Brings Awareness to Gender Stereotypes in Children,” promotes a positive rejection of societal gender norms that perpetuate throughout not only children’s Halloween costumes, but also society in general. This rhetorical artifact is a powerful display of a hopeful change to a narrative that entails ascribing fewer and fewer gender norms to our children’s development as well as the rest of society’s consumption of media.      

Works Cited

Butler, J. (2004). “Introduction: Acting in concert.” In Undoing gender (pp. 1-4). New York: Routledge.

Kassay, R. (2018). Barbie princesses and Star Wars clones: gender stereotypes in the representation of children’s favourite heroes—a participant study in urban and rural contexts, among Hungarians from Romania. Feminist Media Studies, 1–18.doi:10.1080/14680777.2018.1508048

Plus, A. “My Heroes: Touching Halloween PSA Brings Awareness to Gender Stereotypes in Children.” Youtube, 31 October 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pC2UHYizag.

[carsonosullivan-blog]

Assessment of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s website and social media use

Abstract

This report entails a compilation of the findings related to a comprehensive audit of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s online presence and use of social media in 2019. Our group selected CMHA due to its century-long standing as a not-for-profit organization, and the recent increase in awareness and support concerning issues related to mental health and the need for a more holistic approach to general wellbeing. The audit reviewed CMHA’s use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  It also analyzed its website usability and prominence on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Key Findings

Our group’s preliminary investigation of CMHA’s use of social media noted that while the organization is making good use of social networking platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube as well as LinkedIn, there is room for improvement.  For a national organization geared not only towards supporting consumers of mental health services and their families, but educating all Canadians against the stigma associated with mental health and the fact that mental health affects us all in one way or another, its organic reach and audience retention and participation on social media remains low.

CMHA’s national site also seems to serve as an umbrella under which numerous provincial and community branches operate, but they seem to be largely working in silos. As a national organization, there is benefit to leveraging the experiences, voices, and connections CMHA has in each community by linking frequently to the content on its sister sites.  

Website

CMHA’s national website is comprehensive, user-friendly and easy to navigate.  The organization has employed communication and marketing professionals, an excellent sustainability strategy for an organization that relies heavily on donations. Their website is chalk with valuable information and personal blogs that are worth linking back to through social media platforms, with solid teasers, in order to drive traffic back to the website.

It was also noted that when searching for mental health issues via web search engines such as Google and Yahoo, CMHA could have better SEO.

Observations:

YouTube

CMHA’s productivity and presence on YouTube is strong with numerous 2-minute PSAs on a variety of mental health topics. However, CMHA YouTube subscribership views and “likes” are concerningly low given the 1.3 million consumer exposure. Viewership on YouTube indicates only 437 subscribers and numbers of views ranging from below 20 to around 34,000 (8 years ago). Given the CMHA’s consumer base of 1.3 million, social media performance is a considerable area for organizational development.

Facebook

While more than 17,000 people have liked CMHA’s national Facebook page, “shares”, “likes” and “comments” remain low by comparison. The posts that seem to get the most traction involve the personal stories of ordinary people struggling with extraordinary obstacles as well as tips for balancing mental, emotional and physical health. Notably absent from most posts on CMHA’s national Facebook page are links directing readers back to valuable information found on its own website. Most posts seem to share content from other sites, rather than promoting its informative website and the blogs contained therein.

Twitter

CMHA seems to enjoy the greatest following on Twitter, albeit considering its 31.9K followers its traction could use some improvement as well. What becomes apparent here is that CMHA is a highly respected voice in this country when it comes to issues associated with mental health, yet very little of the content it tweets links back to its website. It merely seems to share content from others, which is fine if you’re trying to simply post more frequently but it tends to defeat the purpose of also using social media as a tool to drive traffic back to your own website and content.

Instagram

Likewise, traction could be greater with this social media platform as well. Most of the images CMHA’s Instagram curators post are shared from others. It might be wise to focus on creating more original content by sharing photos of events held in other communities where  CMHA has a presence while directing viewers back to its website for more details.

LinkedIn

CMHA’s national site on LinkedIn is thoughtfully developed with posts related specifically to mental health issues and the workplace. It provides information and awareness about conferences, competitions, and de-stressing tips that look very useful in the workplace.

Website The website for CMHA is easy to navigate, mobile friendly, and contains direct links to their social media platforms, along with information regarding newsletters, articles, and upcoming events. However, simply having these features does not constitute great quality. The CMHA newsletter format and content needs improvement. The periodical does not display well on the CMHA website. The curators of the website may also consider adding an interactive option to the site.

Content

Unlike on its website, CMHA has a notable lack of connection on social media to current affairs related to Mental Health (i.e. highly publicized stories in the media of systemic discrimination towards people struggling with mental illness. While it may be prudent to avoid a political partisan approach to current events, advocating for the importance of mental health services, programs and education is important, particularly on social media platforms such as Tweeter. The lack of social media engagement on such issues is conspicuous and creates a sense that CMHA may be out of touch with current events.

Recommendations

1. Improve the content of CMHA’s 2-minute PSAs. While the information in the videos is helpful, it is testimonial-based and less engaging than many widely available mental health resource videos on YouTube. CMHA would benefit from vetting and providing links through their website to popular mental health education videos sponsored by a globally funded organization such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), or Jack.org to get involved with students. Subscribership and viewership of these organization’s YouTube channels are high and could potentially drive traffic back to CMHA. Examples that would work for CMHA is the RSA’s cartoon of B. Brown’s discussion on empathy or WHO’s Black Dog informational video on depression.

2. Create more personal content and blogs related to issues impacting consumers of mental health programs and services and use adequate social media tools, such as Twitter, to link the post back to the organization’s website. The Toronto branch did this effectively when posting a letter to a Globe and Mail article by its Executive Director. Again, formulating fresh content that’s a little more personal to the organization, like for example ‘why I volunteer for CMHA’, would help generate more views.

3. Social media is grounded in participation and rewards to entice users to return based on positive experience. Use of gamification (e.g. answer correctly and win tickets), listicles (e.g. top 5 strategies for wellness) and infographics would update the content of the newsletter to a more current and engaging promotional tool.

4. CMHA should provide regional staff with guidelines, templates, and education on social media marketing including how to enhance user experience through shared vision and ensuring the sites refer to one another on points of particular interest, such as fundraisers, personal stories, local initiatives, etc.

5. Posts should focus on personal stories and provide backlinks to the CMHA website for information on, for example, the type of mental health issue features in the post.

6. Engage social media audience by asking questions and inviting feedback (e.g.  What makes you anxious? Do you know a person with a mental health diagnosis? How would you improve the mental health system?). Likewise, CMHA could create an option for moderated interaction on its website.

7. High profile news stories related to mental health issues should be referenced as a talking point and feedback to resources and information on CMHA’s website. Organizations do not always need to weigh in on an issue to acknowledge that people are talking about it. For example, backlinking a “CMHA #let’s talk about it” campaign to a public interest story with mental health content, could help CMHA provide solutions based resources to motivate people who may not have otherwise searched for the website. It is important to note that if CMHA does participate more frequently on stories in the media with mental health components, it will become a source for media and the voice of advocacy for such issues, which will increase the visits to its pages.

8. Get involved with mental health awareness committees at universities, like Jack.org. This will create CMHA awareness within the university campuses, but most importantly these same students will take this awareness with them to the workforce (CMHA’s true target market). If CMHA can show that they care for university students’ mental health, they will make an everlasting impact on our generation. This impact can translate to higher social media viewership, donations, job applications, and more.

Conclusions

The CMHA has many of the resources in place to implement a top performing social media marketing and engagement strategy. The organization would benefit from Search Engine Optimization techniques of linking its posts to high profile news articles and popular global YouTube videos that support CMHA’s client needs as well as their allies and Canadians’ mental health in general. Increased audience participation elements will enhance its social media traction and improve the user experience of CMHA’s website and newsletters, allowing more and more users to access the CMHA’s resources and encouraging them to participate in charitable events.

References

https://www.linkedin.com/company/canadian-mental-health-association/

https://www.instagram.com/cmhanational/

https://twitter.com/CMHA_NTL

https://www.youtube.com/user/cmhanational/videos

https://www.facebook.com/CMHA.ACSM.National/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCrniLQGYc

https://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/WB_event_infographic_1.pdf?ua=1

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/segregation-class-action-1.4830482

https://toronto.cmha.ca/news/steve-

https://www.wearenexo.com/knowledge/story/10-amazing-benefits-of-interactive-websites/175/

https://jack.org/Home