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Media’s Promotion of Consumerism Demean Stared bombarding young audiences with persuasive messages through media such as television and the Internet. The average child Is exposed to more than 40,000 TV commercials a year, according to studies. And ads are reaching children through new media technologies and even in schools–with corporate-sponsored educational materials and product placements in students’ textbooks. ” -American Psychological Association(PAP) From the moment you wake up till the time you go to bed you are exposed to limitless types of marketing and advertisements from several sources.
The persistence and the amount of such persuasive messages have great repercussions in impressionable children. PAP studies have reported that under the age of eight, children are less than able to pick up on the message’s persuasive intent. The American Academy of Pediatrics (PAP) gives a dally figure of 3000 advertisements for American children. The art of manipulating opinion by simply entertaining or “Informing” has become one of the best-developed and well- performed strategies by media entitles and political corporations.
As society as a whole moves faster, we have less time to research claims by products and search out all sides of the story to make an informed opinion. We have become satisfied with the first thing we hear in television, radio or newspapers. Information is coming faster and faster also. Even in unbiased news programs, there are stock quotes on the side and banners flashing headlines across the bottom. These periodically contain advertisements in addition to the actual commercials.
Because of this, media’s role to inform people about the reality surrounding us has become easier by means of mass-broadcast. These media entitles attempt to sell us anything and everything by controlling what the audience are exposed to, bombarding society with he same absurd Images, messages, or unimportant Issues. They seem to be slowly convincing us to Join some political group, buy some product or service, they even tell us how we are supposed to look or act. Children lack the ability to tune out these messages and claims.
In Jean Skillfulness article, Jesus is a brand of jeans, “to not be influenced by advertisement would be to live outside of culture, No human being lives outside of culture” In a personal account, I remember watching way too much TV as a boy living in Mexico City. After school, all there was to do is watch television because my parents irked all day and my friends lived miles away. I remember having every single advertisement memorized, from the song to the product that they were selling. I didn’t even have to pay attention I was part of the advertisement.
I can say that I was deeply affected by these ads and when Christmas came around, I asked for all of the absurd things that the television had offered over and over. Is developing. The main problem that humanity is facing is the loss of our identities and cultures. This identity crisis, if you will, happens by adopting the news whims of the media manipulators. It wasn’t until the beginning of the twentieth century when studies were conducted about advertisements and its effects on consumers that psychologists started to realize that advertising is an effective way of communication.
In actuality the amount of advertisements that we are exposed to has grown exponentially, and they’re getting smarter. There have been numerous debates about modern consumerism such as ministers of religion, environmentalists, artistic and literary figures and even politicians. It seems like consumerism is one if the biggest contributors of today’s problems as ouch the disappearance of manufacturing Jobs, ecological imbalances, natural resources and psychological health. A large percentage of these people are against it, but there is something behind the persistent nature of the media.
To explain this problematic issue the media entities have come up with some questions like; What do consumers need? Is it a real or false need? Can we come up with a common and definitive set of universal human needs? What is it that consumers really need? Is it perhaps in order to stay alive? These questions can lead to different answers that in essence come down to particular human behaviors. Colic Campbell 282). One example of human behavior with regards to the food we eat is that most of the world’s population eats more that they really need to maintain proper nutrition and healthy lives.
Another is shown in the types of vehicles we drive. Is it really necessary to drive a huge 4 wheel drive, fuel inefficient SUP around the city or on a commute to work? Furthermore, is it really necessary to have 50 pairs of shoes? In order to specify some one’s needs it is essential to have a comprehensive knowledge of that person’s background and ambitions and their needs and desires. The media is creating shires that we confuse with needs. (Colic Campbell 28(:)-283). The most effective ads are ones that we don’t even recognize as advertisements.
Like ads we see in television series, news, movies and even on clothing. We are manipulated quickly by common objects, characters, or ideas that are transformed into things that all Americans desire, hope for, fear, believe the most. Jack Solomon). Sex never fails to catch the attention of everyone, and advertisers use this to their advantage by going for the sure thing. When advertisements show skin, they are utilizing the most coercive human emotions, triggering a chemical reaction on human rain that people find pleasant while watching advertisement and make them desire the stereotype that is been promoted.
Gerry Dorset) Advertisements are meant to convince people with the continuous bombarding of images or messages in very creative ways, and are meant to offer products, services, ideas or stereotypes determined by huge corporations and monopolies or political of followers of certain brands or products. The ‘pod in middle schools, is an excellent example of this. They have created a status symbol so strong that nearly everyone has one. In his article, Jack Solomon states, “By reading the signs of American advertising, we an conclude that America is a nation of fantasies. I do believe that this is a nation drawn by fantasies and the secondary effects of these so called fantasies are bringing society apart from each other by making people feel ugly, economically inferior and unsatisfied. (Mask and Solomon 160-170) Of course, it is natural to have desires. The problem comes when the media entities create all these false needs or desires that are only meant to make merchandisers accomplish their goals of creating a never before seen materialistic world. Another common strategy is the use of fear to persuade or manipulate us.
The sire to “belong” or not belonging to a particular stereotype that media suggests. Fear that if you don’t use certain product something bad might happen to you. Like your brakes might not work, you might have bad breath, or if you don’t have a smart phone you might get left behind in today’s fast paced world. Consumerism interferes with the goals of society. It replaces our desire of life’s necessities with an artificial want for things and the money needed to buy them. Http://www. Verdant. Net/ society. HTML This idea of manipulation by all the different media outlets is affecting the way very core in which society is communicating.
For that reason our generation is now a part of a consumerist society. It cares more about the materialistic things they don’t have than the much more important social, global, and community issues. These important issues, if solved, could lead us to a much more prosperous community. We are a society of people whose primary way of communication is through technological pathways. When we are so involved in the amount of materialistic things, we are forgetting about social values and other important aspects of the environment around us.
Aspects that include important global news and different points of view room all types of issues like: renewable sources of energy, global warming, the globalization of economies, war in Middle East, etc. Television news stories have become more of an obstacle than an aid to understanding and comprehending information given to us. Doris A Grabber states in her study, this is due to the amount of news crammed into a short period of time and the lack of interpretation, explanation, and the manipulation of the data given by most of the dominant news channels.
The media industry explains that errors occur due to deadline pressures, budgetary restraints, and difficulties if summarizing employ stories in to a small report. Nevertheless, what principle of selectivity is used? The direction that media takes, does not occur in a random manner. Rather it moves in a more or less consistent direction which is favoring management, corporations, monopolies, prevarication and free market “reforms”. The US maintains commentators and columnist (Michael Parents).
Political Journalists must give a better approach to the type of information that is given to the public, by having a background of political analysis and human information processing (Doris Grabber ). These types of communication are reorganizing the real information leaving us with a false sense of reality. According to the cannons of good Journalism the press is supposed to be impartial, and their main goal would be to give a fair approach to all parties of whatever issues are being treated. (Royce Carlson) Instead media personnel are trained to incapacitate the truth, their Job is to misinform the public in a very effective way.
The consumer choices have a great impact in the market and political institutions like Michel Michele posted in his work. Another way of manipulating the information is by bending the truth; communicators rate a desired impression without going too far from the appearance of objectivity. Labeling or generalizing is one of the most effective ways to create a wrongful sense of knowledge, terms like: Islamic terrorist, leftist guerrillas, conspiracy theories or civil disturbances have all been the most common.
If that does not seem to be enough, simple suppression by omission, in many cases the United States government has prohibited the airing of cruel murders, tortures, as well as events that they consider to be matters of “National Security’. For example, there was a recent video of civilians being murdered from a helicopter in Iraq that as never transmitted in the news. The incident of September 1 1, 2001 is one of the current examples where media took information and distracted every one’s eyes from the real issue. An important role in the manipulation of the information was creating the sense of patriotism. Michael Apparent). The Patriot Act was passed soon after which removed so many of the privacy rights American held within the constitution. But as it was titled, how could it be voted against. In order to not be manipulated we have to be aware of the intentions of the monopolies, governments, and different entities that are trying to brain wash society. We are exposed to a great amount of propaganda, bombarded by biased information from all directions. What we need to do is to see the source, and figure out what goal is behind what they are trying to convey to us.
We must try to research a different source, if possible, a less influenced one. This will allow us to decide what we want to believe and create our own point of view. In other words, we can’t take everything we are told as the truth. It is time to wizen up and see for ourselves what is happening out there. The only way that society is going to be able to get past the consumerist experience, is by realizing that we are not allowing our own wishes or desires. We really do not need to keep listening to all the unnecessary things that we are being pushed to consume.
In actuality, the path that we are almost forced to follow is not adequate, the information that is transmitted It is clearly shown that the resources of the planet are not going to support the way we are exploiting them. We have to realize that as a society, we must make a change. We have to come up with our own ideas and decide for ourselves. If we do not, then we allow the people with money to decide for us. This can be reduced too simple phrase, ‘Educate yourself. Amiable, con.