Analysis Of Sex Sells

“Sex Sells!” is a concept advertising executives have known and used for years. However, this perception has also crept into other areas of our lives, particularly our online lives. If people want to garner attention for themselves online-steamy, sexy content is the tried and true method. If one wants their online gossip to be noticed by multiple viewers, include some sexual content for maximum views. Perhaps, a quick way to shame someone online is taking a piece of confidential information about the person and presents it in a post completely out of context. Nevertheless, the subject sex is not the only content used for self-promotion, gossip and shaming on the internet. Law professor and noted internet privacy expert Daniel J. Solove
60). Rarely in the past did gossip reach what Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell dubs a “tipping point”. Concerning social media, this when the gossip travels via people he calls “connectors.” Gladwell describes these people as gregarious people that have multiple social networks. For an example, he gives a historical reference to Paul Revere. Revere, who was well known already by scores of different people in various social circles. He was able to push his “gossip” that the British were coming to the tipping point when diverse groups hearing the news spread it even further. Gladwell compares this phenomenon to the way an epidemic disease spreads (p. 60-61). While this is a case where the content of the gossip was good, there are other useful purposes for gossip. Gossip is the cornerstone for building reputations. As psychologist Nicholas Elmer points out, the only way reputation can exist - when people have conversations about one another. Philosopher Martin Heidegger draws the analogy of gossip to greasy fast food, delicious and incredibly satisfying but offers little nutritional value (p. 64). We may draw out that analogy out a bit further and say gossip in small doses occasionally does little harm, but eat it every day the results can be devastating. Particularly damaging is when gossip leads to public
In fact, in the past public shaming often took the role incarceration does now for minor offenses. The ancient Romans used branding, a Latin equivalent of the letter V, branded on the forehead for the petty offense of vagrancy. Shackled in the stocks in the public square has come to define Puritan era shaming (p. 91). For today, those who choose to violate societal norms are subject to internet shaming. Solove takes the time to distinguish between norms and breaking the law. He defines norms less official than law, but still a rule of conduct that is improper to transgress (p. 85). Interestingly, he uses a subject that has intrigued sociologist, psychologist, and economist for many years, the phenomenon of tipping in the USA. For any of us that have worked in the restaurant industry know, tipping is the lifeblood of many workers. In the past, there were few recourses if any a stiffed server could take. However, now with the internet and sites like BiterWaitress bad tippers can be publicly shamed. The site even offers the culprit an opportunity to apologize with just a click (p. 89-90). However, what the site does not allow is any context given to the particular situation. Another website used by the University of Colorado, to post pictures of “trespassers” on their Farrand Field certainly was subject to using information out of context. There had been a long tradition for students