Thalidomide:What happened all those years ago?

Thalidomide is a drug first developed by the German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal in the 1950s. The intentions of the drug were similar to paracetamol but were not tested properly by the company, and resulted in birth deformities and a rising number of miscarriages.
The Australian obstetrician William Mcbride, first noticed the pattern between the drug and the miscarriages.
In the United Kingdom, the drug was licensed in 1958, and due to the discovery by Mcbride, was taken off the market by 1961 and after a long campaign by the sunday times newspaper, compensation was recieved by the victims of the drug defects, paid for by Distillers Company Limited.

Today, research is still carried out on the Thalidomide drug, and is becoming more managable towards treating diseases and terminal illnesses such as cancer, but are still undergoing tests.

Other corporations have started to manufacture other analogues of the drug, such as lenalidomide, which is alot more powerful than thalidomite, with less side effects.

In present day, doctors and patience must follow procedure and a number of tests before the drug can be administrated, to avoid damaging effects to the user and unborn child alike.

VOX remembrance31 by Jake Karim

VOX remembrance31 by Jake Karim

We asked the public of Farnham whether they thought that Remembrance Day was still relevant and appreciated in today's society.

Vatican vs. Poverty: ROUND 600!

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
(Isaiah 11:4)

Never has a contradicting problem been highlighted as the secret war between the infamous Vatican and the poverty that outlines the streets and walls of the city. The Vatican officials claim that the Roman Catholic Church is ‘a non profit organisation’.

With a charge of 14 Euros per person entry to the Vatican and an easy daily average of 30,000 entrants, it makes others like myself question what a net of 420,000 Euros per day is being put towards.

Earlier this year, Pope Benedict highlighted the problem on global poverty. However, what he fails or chooses not to see is the poverty within his own city walls. As one of the most influential figures in the world, he seems to dismiss the clear evidence of poverty within the city of Rome.

As I walked 300 meters from my hotel to the Vatican to view the hand crafted beauty that was held within the walls, I noticed 7 beggars of whom all had a major disfigurement with their body which appeared to be self inflicted. What I began to question was why they wouldn’t seek refuge, sanctuary and guidance within the foundations that claim to represent the war against poverty. One woman I came across was wheeling herself along on a skateboard with her hands as her feet were clearly broken and beginning to die.

The 600 year foundation of an organisation with a wealth of $10 billion to $15 billion the Vatican still fail to impress with their efforts to end global poverty.

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.
(Psalm 37:25,26)

Does anyone else detect a sense of irony?

Jake Karim

Sex in Advertising - Does It Work?

DID YOU KNOW, an American 18 year old will have seen around 350,000 commercials on television and a 40 year old around 1.5million. Based on that sheer scale, are these adverts too explicit in the sense that audiences can become too psychologically affected leading to anxiety, which can trigger a number of mental and physical complications. Underwear advertisements use explicit sex to sell their products. For example, Calvin Klein adverts selling boxers will always have a physically perfect male model shown just in his underwear. If a self-conscious male were to take this advertisement to a personal level, having bought the product with no prevailing similarity to the model, then it could lead to certain forms of eating disorders, body enhancers such as drugs, even surgery, which could also lead to mental disorders.

However, the sub-question that needs to be focused on is whether sex in advertising works or not. It’s hard not to notice an advertisement reeking with sex but it can be argued that it’s not being used to sell, but being used to grab attention. It is scientifically proven that sex triggers a chemical in our body that is meant to be used to preserve species’ survival, but is being misused to sell products.

Also, sex in advertising can lead people to think, ‘are men and women in advertising causing different genders to become objectified’? It is without a doubt that teenagers today are becoming more image obsessed and materialistic. This could evidentially lead to anxiety, depression, and physical abnormalities as a result of extreme dieting.

It has come to researchers attentions like myself that adverts in magazines and televisions etc are abided by a simple but extremely effective formula, ‘buy this, get this’. On a study by a Dr Tom Reichert that this is evident in almost 75% of all advertisements. This Dr also discovered that there are plenty of cases in which sexual positioning strategies have resulted in long-term success. One of those is Calvin Klein. He has successfully imbued his brand’s identity with sexuality. For well over 30 years, sex in one form or another has been a mainstay in Calvin Klein fragrance, fashion, underwear, and accessories ads. The result? In 2005, products with Calvin’s name generated at least $1 billion in annual revenue. The same is true for businesses like Anne Summers and Victoria’s Secret. However, why should it be up to the big corporations to decide what standard of beauty should be modeled in? It is this sort of advertising which allows teenagers and adults alike to become so self-conscious about their own image, leading them to diet and take other drastic measures to look anything like the models that have become the guideline of perfection.

It is possible that for as long as people desire lustfully and remain attracted to a thinner, ‘perfect’ male or female, that the mental and physical stability of the average person will be affected.

To increase cigarette sales in 1885, W. Duke & Sons inserted trading cards into cigarette packs that featured sexually provocative starlets. Duke grew to become the leading cigarette brand by 1890 (Porter, 1971). Woodbury's Facial Soap, a woman's beauty bar, was almost discontinued in 1910. The soap's sales decline was reversed, however, with ads containing images of romantic couples and promises of love and intimacy for those using the brand (from Account Histories, 1926). Jovan Musk Oil, introduced in 1971, was promoted with sexual entendre and descriptions of the fragrance's sexual attraction properties. As a result, Jovan, Inc.'s revenue grew from $1.5 million in 1971 to $77 million by 1978.

It is clear now more than ever, from looking at the timeline of sex in advertising, adverts are becoming radically more explicit, but is it going too far? It is evident that the general public according to a number of surveys are becoming less aware of sex in advertising and are just becoming used to it.

Sex is not only used to sell products such as clothing but completely different products such as tobacco. As far back as 1871, the tobacco company Pearl used a picture of a naked woman, preserved in very few items of clothing prevailing her top half, was used to promote this product and attract men.

Much anxiety in advertising can be linked to success, leading teenage girls and boys to believe that they have to look like a perfected and image altered model to succeed in life. However, is it not always just imagery that promotes sex in advertising. Much of the time is can be in sexual behaviour that promotes the product. Sexual interaction between two or more people typically includes, hugging, kissing, voyeurism, and more intimate forms of sexual behavior. It seems somewhat unfair that adverts like this are shown in public. For example, at football games, Superbowl, basketball games, there are always adverts been shown in the background for the whole audience to see, and when there are adverts promoting sex in their products, the audiences are given little choice but to watch. Whenever an advert is being shown on television, it is always difficult not to look at least once. It is most likely out of boredom and we can’t help but look. Highlighting the numbers watching the Superbowl, reaches an estimated 90Million viewers, most watching the advertisements.

Many other companies have sponsored and supported the Dove campaign such as NIKE. The campaign has been proved successful from a public survey through bill boards, showing an average sized woman with a caption ‘fit or fat?’. 51% of the public who voted said fit and 49% said fat, proving that the women in the campaign have more representation in numbers in the public.

It is obviously clear that sex sells, but it is not without its contradictions causing anxiety, depression and other medical issues both physical and psychological.