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Health

‘How to advertise to men’: Funny video destroys advertising clichés targeting men

“The product doesn’t even matter.”

connor simmons, male stereotypes, marlboro man

The strong, silent cliché.

One of the most pervasive male stereotypes in advertising is the strong, silent type. The most famous of these is the Marlboro Man, a dude alone on horseback with a pack of cigarettes and nothing around him but cattle and a wide-open prairie.

Tom Nakayama at the Center for Media Literacy says that this stereotype damages men because it presents a very limited form of masculinity. “In general, these concentrated views of manhood suggest the many ways in which advertising negatively affects men by narrowing the definition of what it means to be a man in American society,” Nakayama writes.


As times change the jobs and scenarios that the aloof, silent man finds himself may change, but the message is still the same. This representative of the masculine ideal is little more than a romanticized meat suit of bottled aggression waiting to be unleashed.

Three years ago, videographer Connor Simmons had some fun with this stereotype by creating a video called, “How to Advertise to Men.” The mock commercial features a man photographed in black and white, walking alone near a mountain range and looking extremely bored.

The video’s producers note that this scenario can be used to sell just about any product.

"The product is irrelevant at this point, it could be aftershave or whisky or sunglasses or this watch. It really doesn't matter. What matters is, the product looks cool,” the deep-voiced narrator says.

The ad hopes to mock these cliché advertisements out of existence because they’re not great for the male psyche and they’re predictable and boring. Spread this video far and wide and maybe, just maybe, advertisers will be forced to come up with a new idea.


@allbelongco/TikTok

How bizarre, how bizarre.

It should go without saying that it’s not cool to steal from your Airbnb. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

However, when one Airbnb host recently discovered a guest had—for some strange reason—stolen one of her paintings, then replaced it with a completely different painting, she decided to make the best out of a very uncool situation by sharing the story on TikTok.

As a result, viewers got to witness an continuously unraveling, truly bizarre modern-day art heist.

Okay, let’s get into it.

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Health

Scientists have just discovered the ‘anxiety gene’ and what turns it off

This could completely change how we treat anxiety and depression.

A young woman struggles with anxiety.

Living with an anxiety disorder can feel like a constant battle against an invisible enemy. People with anxiety disorders feel constant, excessive worry, restlessness and irrational fears, often accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing.

These overwhelming feelings cast a shadow over daily life and make it difficult to focus or enjoy simple pleasures. Anxiety disorders can also feel isolating, as the sufferer may struggle to communicate their feelings, making it hard to receive support and understanding.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common forms of mental illness and studies show that an estimated 31.1% of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder at some time in their lives. Around half of all people who suffer from anxiety disorders go into remission at some point.

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Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

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@abbycashman7/TikTok

From worst day to best day in less than ten seconds

Sometimes the best cure for a bad day is a good surprise.

Just ask Abbie Cashman, a woman in Ireland whose entire day was completely turned around the minute she began feeding a pet crow from the window of her taxi. Cause why not?

In an interview with Today, Cashman shared that after discovering she had a flat tire while at work, the planets seemed to align so that getting home was impossible. No taxi would take her. The bus was full. Luck did not seem to be on her side.

Cashman made one last attempt to book a taxi through a rideshare app. Finally, someone was able to pick her up.

Little did she know that the taxi driver would not only get her home, but also introduce her to a special winged friend to lift her spirits.

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Wedding DJ mashes up dance music and fandom theme music

There are those people who like certain franchises and those that would literally design their entire house around their particular fandom. It's a fine balance between loving something and it becoming part of who you are as a person but for some, they're totally cool with everything being Harry Potter. I may or may not have tried to convince my husband we needed an Avengers bedroom set. In my defense, they make them up to king size, so clearly they're for grown ups.

If you're one of those people like myself that has a borderline unhealthy love for all things Marvel, then you will be in for a treat and quite possibly a new wedding DJ. Dimitri Beauchamp has been mixing up tunes for wedding receptions and posting short clips on TikTok. But it's not just regular dance music, Beauchamp mixes in people's favorite franchise theme songs making the hits even more epic.

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Family

Son tells mom that he's 'scared of her' and she responds with a great lesson in parenting

'I know this might be a little shocking but I do sometimes actually find you a little scary.'

Raisingself TikTok screenshots

Son tells mom that he's scared of her and the exchange is parenting goals.

Parenting is a hard gig regardless of whether you planned to have children or they were a happy surprise. As many parenting books as there are out there, none of them have the perfect equation to get it right and most parents do the best with what they learned, or unlearned, from their own parents.

Samantha, a parenting content creator on TikTok under the name Raising Self, has been working hard to overcome generational trauma and parent her children differently. Recently she was doing a live video to interact with her followers when one of her children made a stunning revelation: he was scared of her.

You could tell by her expression that his confession was a surprise, and though her son barely took his eyes off the video game he was playing, the two had a very meaningful dialogue. Instead of being upset or even happy that her child was fearful, she responded with curiosity.

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