manipulation via media

I know the media is a subject that has been beaten to a pulp, but it is still something I find myself becoming more and more aware of it and how manipulative it is. It is so hard to sit and watch a half hour long program and see commercial after commercial and not think just for a moment you want to try this or get that. I suppose the media would call that a success, being it is their primary goal to get people to consume their products. I mean sometimes, like when I get home after being out during the evening, I'll sit down in front of the T.V. and eat a bowl of cereal or something. There will be a commercial on when I sit down and then by the time I finish my cereal, I realize I don't know what program is supposed to be on and that I had just spent that entire time watching commercials. It's almost like our minds have become immune to advertisement and it is now our subconscious behaviors reacting to them. Like we aren't aware how much they truly affect us just because they have always been around. And advertisement has been dumbed down a lot too. I remember being in history class and looking at some old magazine ads and how intricate their designs were and how sophisticated the vocabulary was on the ad.

Advertisement then....

Advertisement now...



(I'm not supporting smoking or tobacco use by any means, I just thought it would be the easiest thing to google.)

Honestly, seeing the difference in the ads makes me just feel dumb because we don't have ads like that anymore. Even if a company were to try and use such an advertising tactic, it wouldn't be affective, honestly, who is going to take the time to sit and read a multi-paragraph ad. No one that I know of.

But the media isn't all about advertisement. The more I think about, I think it just lead to the conclusion that the media is just a representative of culture. Like television you would see in England would be different from that of America or Japan or Germany or whoever. And I mean more of a difference than just the language being spoke. Actually ads that are done in the English language are considered to be cooler in Germany.

Personally, I'm not too fond of the fact that shows on MTV are whats representing us as Americans anyways, how much of American culture is really respectable? Ha ha at least we know we're free....

Anyways, I know none of these thoughts are new or original by any means, but I still think we should stay aware of how much the media and advertisement is around us and affects us.