PART I:

1. Do you work or do you study?

I’m a student at the moment. I’m at university, and I’m in my first year. I’m doing
a Bachelor1 of arts in literature.
2. Do you like math?
I’m not particularly a fan, no.
3. Why is math so important?
I think it is very fundamental for a lot of degrees and a lot of not just educational
but occupational things that you might go into. Math has always provided to be a
basis for everything.
4. Is math easy for everyone?
No, I can’t say that it is. I think it’s a personality trait that you are either more
inclined towards mathematical thinking or you are not.
5. What makes you smile?
Everything, as you can tell. Everything will make me smile. I think I’m a very
smiley person.
6. How often do you smile?
A lot of the time, I can honestly say.
7. When do people smile at each other?
When they’re happy, when they’re loving, in love, just excited. Sometimes when
you are sad, you can give a sympathetic smile, and smiles can convey so much.
- To convey = to show
8. Do you smile when you’re having a photo?
I try to, but you know, sometimes you’ve got to give that, the blue steel look, I
think it’s cool.
- A blue steel smile = a steely complexion = quite stern and not always smile
Or: Well, yeah, I tend to smile often in photographs, but I suppose it depends on
the situation. If it’s an active photograph and we’re doing something, then maybe
there’s no chance to smile.
PART II:
Describe an advertisement you remember
You should say
What the advertisement was for
What type of advertisement it was
When you saw this advertisement
And explain what you remember the most about this advertisement.
Well, an advertisement that has stuck to me a lot is, I don’t know if you remember
it, the 2016, I believe, the Pepsi advertisement with Kendall Jenner. Basically, she
breaks up a protest between the protesters and the cops by handing a can of Pepsi.
And this was a video, and it went viral across the Internet because of the racial
backlash that it faced. After, you know, it came out and went so popular, because I
think the idea was that, it would, it trivialize the ideas of race and protesting and
things that people might believe in. And also just the social values of culture, race,
everything. And basically by, you know, dissolving a protest and dissolving
tension by a can of Pepsi, it just trivialized things like the Black Lives Matter, any
sort of protest. Whether it was racial, cultural, sexual, anything. And this went
viral, and I do remember it because people still talk about it today, and I was
actually having a conversation recently, about how even though this was so long
ago, and people have apologized, Kendal Jenner has apologized, Pepsi has
apologized, it has not taken away from just how iconic it was and how it
commemorated how people saw, how people trivialized racial tension. And that’s
an advertisement that I fully remember very, very vividly. And that’s it. Yeah.
Where were you when you first saw it?
I think I was in Sri Lanka. And it just came up on a Youtube post, like, you know
how they gave you the advertisements before they actually get to the actual video?
It was one of those things, and you don’t actually think about how iconic it is,
because you just skip, get to the skip button. But I actually watched the entirety of
that video and I remember thinking, you know, “What are you doing?”. I
remember considering Pepsi’s like, what, that is not what you should be doing. As,
yk, such a multi-million dollar company, and even Kendall Jenner as an individual
and as somebody who signs up to do this sort of protests. Exactly. You just have to
question where their morals are.
PART III:
1. Why do companies advertise?
Because it attracts the attention of consumers, and they can capitalize on their
product.
2. Is advertising becoming too commonplace?
I think it might be because we’re at a point now where we see product placements
in the news, in TV, in movies, and we don’t actually realize how it’s so
commonplace, that we don’t actually realize that we are being advertised too.
We’re just there and we see it was like, “Oh! I could do with a coke, because I
have seen somebody drink a coke in this film”, it’s that sort of thing that’s made it
ridiculously commonplace, yes.
- Product placements = quảng cáo sản phẩm như không quảng cáo, nhãn hiệu
đó tài trợ cho bộ phim,…
- I could do with a Coke = I really want/need a Coke
3. Should advertising be regulated?
I think it should be because otherwise we fall into. We’re in a very capitalist
economy and society, and I think that without the regulation of advertisements,
you don’t actually realize that you are being advertised, too. And you lose that
sense of control over yourself, you’re spending, you don’t have any autonomy.
4. Is celebrity endorsement a good or bad thing?
I understand how for the company that could be a good thing, it’s an excellent way
to get, yk, the layman’s attention. But at the same time, like you said, I do believe
that it has to be regulated. Because celebrity endorsement is excellent. And it’s
very, very effective. But at the same time, it does come with its issues.
5. Have you ever found yourself buying something because a celebrity
promoted it?
I have found myself considering things because a celebrity has promoted it.
Because I’m just saying, “Aha! I mean, her skin is great, she’s using the skin care
product”. There has to be some sort of correlation. But you don’t actually think
about, yk, the amounts of editing, etc. that goes into her skin being great, that sort
of thing.
6. And what celebrity might that be?
I think it was just some model, I remember. I think it was Gigi Hadid because I
think when it comes to young girls, and women, and fashion industries, you see a
model of somebody who very high up and very popular, and immediately you
think, “Oh, well, yk, if they’re doing, it must be right”. So that’s just that sort of
thing.