December 9, 2007 at 20:50:51

How Media and Advertising Breed Americans to Be Eternally Childlike Consumers

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Gustav Wynn (about the author) Page 3 of 3 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

In particular, youngsters need to become aware of motive. In the confusing amalgams of entertainment, infotainment, edutainment and advertainment it's important to understand who is behind it and why. Modern ad methods such as emotional branding can hit kids up with a free music video that turns into a cell phone ad at the very end. They should be encouraged to recognize that this is corporate co-opted "art" and take note of how the messages may be infused with materialism, sexuality and self-gratification in a new, underhanded form of salesmanship. They should learn that quick-cut editing is designed to invoke stress and control the viewer's heart rate, and how background music is used to manipulate emotions. Also they need to be aware that there can be subliminal messages or images beneath the surface, or that directors can introduce unfounded associations between two elements, for example superimposing a sinking ship behind an image of a political candidate.

Then there are ads and products that exist solely to rip us off. Just like we are buried with spam online, we are inundated with TV, radio and print ads for worthless products and "legal" scams, like postal jobs, hair growth serums and real estate schemes. Though it seems improbable, these scams are successful, preying on the weak-minded, and gullible -- and that is us! Until we see those ads disappear forever, rest assured these vendors are profiting and it's a sad commentary on how little credit for intelligence we are given - and just how responsive to manipulation our society truly is.

Several European countries have banned advertising to children on TV and in various family venues. This has come as a result of expansion of Western junk food franchises and marketing. Before you ask yourself why don't we have such laws here, forget it. Instead of being ashamed the Europeans are enacting laws to protect their kids from our American-style consumption habits, Kraft, Kellogg and General Mills have joined multiple food industry lobbies in creating an alliance that will pro-actively attempt to ward off any such regulation here.

Many don't realize that the U.S. wasn't always like this. From the early adoption of the radio around 1916 till the early 20s, there were no ads on the air because the scientific community was determined to make radio a positive and socially uplifting medium for information and relaxation. When radio began to use advertising to produce revenue, it was suspended during prime evening and "family" times because ads were considered noise pollution, a detriment to mental health, like that annoying "tom-cat on top of the back fence". During the depression, however, radio stations had to give in to the demands of advertisers for their survival, and ads have been part of commercial American radio ever since. Now they are everywhere, from our TV sets to web pages, movie previews, supermarket floors, and whole new waves of highway billboards as localities lease highways to private firms.

We not only need to teach our kids to spot these ploys, we need to seriously discuss whether we want to continue living lives so crowded by abrasive ads, so bent on commercial competition and moneymaking and ultimately whether parents or localities want to take steps to make their kids' lives more serene. My immediate suggestion for parents is to limit TV to 1 hour per day, insist on one day per week without TV at all, get your kids into books, teach them how to look at issues in balance, to deduce motives and never stop asking questions. To quote Oscar Wilde "the truth is rarely pure and never simple."

As for us adults, we need to fight to become aware of who we are doing business with and use our economic clout to reward only those companies who are committed to a sustainable future for our children. Besides the consumer products we buy, moving our investments into socially aware funds can help show the Halliburtons and Monsantos of the world that we are not willing to profit at the cost of our morals.

You may disagree, but I hope for better for my children then for them to be average American consumers.

1 | 2 | 3

rock-prog.org

(OpEdNews Editor) GW is a proud New Yorker, concerned about media manipulation and overconsumption. He believes in fiscal responsibility, small government and strict ethics. He recently changed careers to become an inner city schoolteacher. A firm (more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

Contact Author

Contact Editor

View Authors' Articles

Book Recommendations for "Corporate Media Economy"

Survive and Succeed...In Spite of a Bankrupt and Bailout Economy
by Michael Perry

$16.99

Number of pages: 248
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing

The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas
by John Howkins

$20.00
Lowest New Price $10.19
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Penguin Global