Blackout in a Can

I have already blogged about alcoholic drinks as a medium but I now want to focus specifically on Four Lokos.  This “blackout in a can” packs a powerful punch that usually marks the beginning of a rough night for many college students.  Many states are now taking action to ban this drink, deeming it extremely unhealthy.  The cans themselves are very colorful and come in an extra large size which made them enticing before they became popular.  Upon further investigation on the cans, one can see that they contain 12% alcohol and come at a relatively cheap price.  Now that they are becoming regulated, it only furthers the interest people have in these drinks.  Similarly to our discussions of when radio became regulated, the masses are beginning to increase their demand for the product to go against these rules.  A person sees the popularity and has these strong feelings to join in and try the drink.  When you see someone drinking a Four Loko, you know they fall into one of two groups.  The first category is people that want to try it out and see what all of the craze is about.  The second group consists of those that have had it before and want to get drunk as fast as possible and party hard.  The creators of this alcoholic energy drink wanted to spread the message of a party in a can to college students, however they did not expect such a backlash from the media and older generations.

See it my way

Glasses and contacts are media that not only allow people to view messages but also act as a way to show off a message.  When your vision goes, you are limited in decoding messages.  For instance, watching television may be blurry causing the medium to become cool rather than hot.  Furthermore, you may wear a stylish pair of glasses if you have the money and care about how you look.  If you are retired and don’t go out very often, you may wear that favorite pair that you have.  If it breaks, the person may even tape it up to show that they don’t really care how it looks as long as they can see.  Some people do not enjoy wearing glasses either because they are less comfortable or they fear they will be seen as a nerd.  These people resort to wearing contact lenses in order to hide the fact that they need vision correction.  Some even use contact lenses to change their appearance.  Now that there are contact lenses that change your eye color or give you cat eyes, people that may not even need contacts will wear them to give off a certain message.  Someone that always wanted blue eyes can now give an artificial message about themselves that show this to others.  Lastly, there are new contacts that are supposed to aid you in sports, specific ones that help athletes play sports such as baseball and golf.  Nike has come out with these contact lenses to help see the ball better, possibly giving players a new advantage.