Fresh Off The Boat : Examining Past Consumer Culture Essay

Advertising is not only used to sell products, it also affects the ideas of who we are. Each and every day we are induced to believe that we must spend money to attain an ideal

For the longest time now, advertising has played a huge role in how we identify ourselves in the United States with the American culture, and how others identify themselves with all the cultures of the rest of the world as well. It guides us in making everyday decisions, such as what items we definitely need to invest our money on, how to dress in-vogue, and what mindset we should have to prosper the most. Although advertising does help make life easier for most, at the same time it has negative affects on the people of society as well. Advertisement discreetly manipulates the beliefs, morals, and values of our culture, and it does so in a way that most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happened. In order to reach our main goal of

Kilbourne demonstrates three major main criticisms of advertising. First, advertising objectifies people and objects for the purpose of sales. This critique promotes products as more important than people and exploits human deeds and desires. Kilbourne offers ample evidence to support her first criticism of advertising. For example, Kilbourne examines advertisement such as the Thule car-rack - which humorously places more value on sports equipment been a child's life - is evidence of the trend that advertising is “objectif[ing] people…trivializ[ing and exploiting] our most heartfelt moments and relationships. Every emotion [,person, animal, and natural phenomenon] is used to sell us something” (Kilbourne, 2006, 369). Second - according to Kilbourne - advertising promotes and perpetuates the unnatural passion for products rather than personal relationship. “Advertising corrupts relationships and then offers us products, both as solace and as substitutes for the intimate human connection we all long for and need” (Kilbourne, 2006, 370). Within this concept, advertising also commits ‘cultural rape’ by manipulating sacred symbols for their utilization as emotional leverage in advertising. Third, advertisements damage the personality and structure of culture. For example the Giwch’in tribe’s traditional culture was almost erased by the introduction of advertising through television. “As multinational chains replace local character, we end up in a world in which everyone is Gapped and Starbucked…[Thus] rampant commercialism undermines our physical and psychological health, our environments and our civic life, and creates a toxic society” (Kilbourne, 2006, 371), which robs individuals of cultural and personal diversity. Based on the evidence presented by Kilbourne, I strongly agree with all three of these

Advertising is the marketing of an idea in ways that encourages and persuades audiences to take some sort of action. In most cases, the action would be to buy a product or service while other are simply to raise awareness. Whatever the case may be, money is poured into advertising every day. Marketing agencies try various ways to convince people to buy their products using different persuasion techniques. After first examining an advertisement, one could analyze how each detail in the ad was specifically designed to affect its audience in a way that convinces them that they need what is being advertised. One would also be able to notice the values and important aspects of a culture through its advertisements. For

This semester having to track all of my buying has been very helpful and eye opening. I was able to break down all of my buying into 8 categories; clothes, food (groceries), food (restaurants), entertainment, gas, gym, miscellaneous, and school. I was able to conclude that most of my purchases were paid with a debit card with the exception of my school payments. Most of my purchases were in store with the exception of a few purchases online. The majority of my purchases were wants and not necessities, and after doing this project throughout the semester I have a lot of unnecessary buying. This paper is a reflection of all of my buying.

American society has changed drastically over the past years and some people say advertisements reflect the society that we live in now. Advertising in our society encourages unhealthy habits, focuses in on our weaknesses and leads us to believe that we are materialistic. Advertisements can also change our vision of reality and makes us believe the impossible. Advertisements use sexual and racial stereotypes to help sell their products. People in our society encourage the commercials that demonstrate these things, like focus in on our weaknesses.

As a country, Americans love to shop. Whether in malls, grocery stores, on the Internet, or elsewhere, the culture of buying is deeply ingrained in American culture. Fueled largely by advertising and the current credit system, America’s consumer culture is depleting our planet’s finite natural resources and polluting our environment. Consumerism has instilled in Americans an artificial, ongoing, and insatiable desire for mass-produced and marketed products, and the money with which to buy them, with little regard to their actual usefulness or necessity. This constant desire to acquire more possessions is poisoning the planet, as it can never be sated and thus results in the never-ending exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources, and

Advertising has been defined as the most powerful, persuasive, and manipulative tool that firms have to control consumers all over the world. It is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Its impacts created on the society throughout the years has been amazing, especially in this technology age. Influencing people’s habits, creating false needs, distorting the values and priorities of our society with sexism and feminism, advertising has become a poison snake ready to hunt his prey. However, on the other hand, advertising has had a positive effect as a help of the economy and society.

Advertising has had a major impact on society. Some may be considered positive and some negative. Take a look around, advertisements are placed everywhere, television commercials, billboards, newspapers, and even on the sides of buses. Advertising is the basic form of marketing and trading throughout the world. Today’s society knows it as marketers trying to influence or persuade consumers into buying something. It also serves as a medium for services and businesses. There are many advertising strategies, but television commercials will always remain the number one strategy. Think about it, how much television is watched a day, probably a lot. What better way to advertise a product or service? Advertising has a positive effect on our economy. It does not only influence and persuade consumers, but it also benefits them in many ways. It also benefits manufacturers and their company, and the world as a whole.

Every person is influenced one way or another by popular culture. Popular culture is a force that “reflects and influences people 's way of life” . It is a part of our society, and culture. The media and advertisements play big roles in shaping our views and beliefs. They are the “ideas and images that inform our daily activities” (5). Simply, Americans learn what types of behaviors are acceptable and appropriate and desirable. Advertisements affect the way we dress, talk, eat, play, and interact. Advertisements affect the way we see the world.

Consumer culture has developed over the years for many different reasons such as the demise of the social class and embourgeoisement which are both key factors in capitalism and has therefore led to the argument that consumer society merely reflects the rise of capitalism which I plan to discuss within this assignment. The origins of consumer culture have been discussed by Grant McCracken (1998) who argues that there is minimal agreement in regards to the origins of consumer society. McCracken took on the viewpoint that it would not be beneficial to look at a specific point in time in which consumer culture arose but to primarily focus on patterns of changes within culture and how these pattern of changes led to the reformation of society.

Advertising does not function by formulating values and attitudes on its own; rather, it draws upon and redirects issues that the target audience or common culture already shares. Advertising packages our emotions and sells them back to us. In other words, advertising reflects (not affects) beliefs, values, and ideologies (cultural beliefs that serve to justify social stratification). Researchers in advertising agencies attempt to discover and expose our attitudes, moral judgments, and, sometimes, how we interact with others (Cortese 12-13).

Advertising plays a pivotal role in the lives of consumers. Advertising moulds the attitudes of

Food and drink, cars, alcohol, cigarettes — “The average American is exposed to some 500 ads daily” (Fowles 540). Are advertisements influencing people negatively or positively? According to Jib Fowles in “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” advertisers create ads that appeal to one’s motives (541). Regardless of negative outcomes, people believe that buying advertised products will help satisfy their basic needs. Based on Fowles’ article, although advertising has some negative aspects, advertising influences people positively by fulfilling the needs to nurture, achieve, and for affiliation.

Looking at consumer culture through the lens of sociology. *Seeing how consumer culture has changed throughout the past few years. We will be discussing four different topics in depth; how companies have been abusing this consumer culture, how consumer culture is dominating free time, how consumer culture has shaped me throughout my life, and what activities might not be associated with consumer culture.