And advertising wins

One of the articles I felt was very thought provoking was Sut Jhally's "Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse." There is so much truth to this article everywhere. Advertisements today are not only to sell merchandise to people, but the life they hope to have, as well. Unfortunately, as Jhally mentioned, by buying the merchandise, the life doesn't just come with it. The author calls it the "irony" of the situation: "the market is good at providing those things that can be bought and sold and it pushed us--via advertising--in that direction. But the real sources of happiness--social relationships--are outside the capability of the marketplace to provide" (598). Jhally states that "Culture is the place and space where a society tells stories about itself, where values are articulated and expressed, where notions of good and evil, of morality and immorality, are defined." The scary question then is, what exactly is the story America is trying to tell of itself? It seems to me that to be happy, you need material commodities. If you have the right "stuff," then love, family, and friends will follow. What a scary message, and apparent promise, corporations are sending to the adolescence of today.

Jhally says "no wonder then that advertising is so attractive to us, so powerful, so seductive. What it offers us are images of the real sources of human happiness--family life, romance and love, sexuality and pleasure, friendship and sociability, leisure and relaxation, independence and control of life" (599). Take teenagers for instance. Young girls see images of tall, skinny, basically flawless women telling them to tan, or workout, or eat this diet food. In search of that "Perfect Beach Body," young girls go to all sorts of merchandise to help them. While doing this, they are only aiding the corporate agenda. We see people drinking a certain drink, and five minutes later they meet the person of their dreams. Realistic? No way. Does that mean that someone won't buy the promise though? There are always people out there willing to try, and it is our marketing that has set people up for that at the beginning. A constant search for happiness through purchasing.

I appreciated the mention of Margaret Thatcher and her belief that there are no "societies," but rather individuals and their families (600). America has never had a core culture, one in which everyone celebrates. Although that would be okay, it turns out that Americans can't embrace all the diversity that surrounds them either. So the country ends up being a group of separate people on missions of separate goals. This only aids the marketplace. It allows them to single people out who do not look the way they should if they hope to be happy. The sad part is it works.