Schor lays out an artificial consumer culture cycle that lacks true human satisfaction, resulting in the perpetuation of social inequities. She argues that income is not a solution to keeping up with the Jones’ but instead, is part of the problem as it leads to maladaptive consumption practices. Schor’s theory partners nicely with last week’s reading and discussion of “prestige marketing.”
I’m looking forward to locating and reading the Lear’s piece in its entirety for further discovery of the conventions of advertising in the early 20th Century.
More recently, Ms. had some unexpected issues in regard to advertising. Steinem shares how her magazine had influence over the creation of ads geared towards her readers and how eventually, the magazine was powerful enough to reject ads that did not represent her constituents in a way the magazine felt was supportive of their advancement of the feminist agenda.
Although the OJ Simpson trial was about an entertainment figure, Lipsitz supports the theory that the trial was actually entertainment itself. Lipsitz attributes the public engagement with the unfolding events as a result of their relationship to the main themes that organize TV discourse in the US – primacy of products as the center of social life, the simulation and management of appetites and alarm about the family in jeopardy.
Perhaps some of the aforementioned discourse is assuaged by media conglomerates’ privatization of public spaces. More than anything, theme parks on one end of the continuum and planned residential communities on the other promote a safe haven or respite from the ills and ugliness of the world. Can the Warner Bros. backlot – home of Leave it to Beaver, Gidget, Bewitched and the Desperate Housewives be fabricated with any authenticity? Was this “neighborhood” ever real to begin with?
Compounding the problems of the Disneyization of our culture is the corporate culture that is growing in schools and other places where young people congregate. Giroux offers several examples of how children are being molded into consumers and are learning more in school about brand loyalty than they are the 3 Rs.
The Dines readings provided examples of media consumption, while Grossberg, et al explained how the consumption occurs, espousing that consumption is a cognitive process by which an audience shapes and makes sense of the world. Here, we were introduced to the idea that an intended use of media may be bypassed by the audience for a different and unexpected use. This disparity plays on the sociology and social psychology of consumption and can make it difficult for those sending messages to make sure they are reaching the right audience in the right way.
References
Grossberg, et al., Media Making: Mass Media in a Popular Culture, 2nd Ed., chapter 9.
Dines, et al., Gender, Race & Class in Media, 2nd Ed., p 155-159; chapters 16, 17, 18, 19, 23.
Lears, “The Disembodiment of Abundance” [incomplete]