Advertising

With great power comes great irresponsibility. The advertising industry has been sabotaging American culture for decades on end. The sexism, racism and other power hierarchies employed by advertising has eroded and raped our subconscious minds in the interest of business and profit. Consumerism is an epidemic that has long swept across our society. What most think and what most desire is determined by what kind of advertising they take in. Bell hooks excellently illustrated the essential functions of this patriarchal ssytem when saying “Nothing discounts the old anti feminist projection of men as all-powerful more than their basic ignorance of a major facet of the political system that shapes and informs male identity and sense of self from birth until death, imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” From birth your subconscious mind takes in so much information that you don't even know you are taking in. This information shapes your thoughts and beliefs whether you want it to or not. 

This systematic brainwashing holds absolutely no regard for human welfare. “Advertisers need to sell products in a free-for-all of imagery bombardment intent on lowering women’s self-esteem.” Naomi Wolf says this in her piece "Culture". The constant battle against your own self esteem, the battle against your mind and your ability to critically think is so heinous a crime, yet the head of these advertising conglomerates go unpunished. 

You would almost think this Intel Core 2 Processor advertisement wasn't real. It baffles me to think that a group of important people in advertising sat down, reviewed this advertisement, and said "Yup. Looks good to me get that out into the public." The six African American runners are supposed to represent the improved, powerful core processor. They are in a starting stance for a race, while the satisfied white business man stands as usual in his place of central power. “Stereotypes, however inaccurate, are one form of representation. They are not there to tell it like it is but to invite and encourage pretense.” (bell hooks, Representations of Whiteness) The black men are carefully placed into their typical stereotype of simply being athletic, or of being only useful for physical work. The purpose of this, as we have discussed multiple times in class, is to perpetuate racial stereotypes which in turn perpetuates the system of advertising. The racism of this advertisement can be detected from miles away, but it is still exposed to us as if nothing is wrong.

A bit strange, yes. The objectification here is clear for all to see though. “The mass media often trivialize our lives and our achievements, narrowing the litmus test of female worth to physical features.” (Douglas, Introduction) The woman in the plate of spaghetti is obviously in great physical shape, has perfect skin and hair, long legs and huge breasts. Images like these trivialize women and what they think of as what they should be. “And so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman.” (John Berger, ways of seeing) This is a textbook example of why over 50% of high school girls are on diets compared to %16 of boys. This assault on the female psyche  is spearheaded by these posters of sexism. This doesn't directly tie into pop culture, but this certainly intends to represent a guide of where you as a woman should be. An object to be consumed (eaten).

The idea of advertisement in of itself is not so terrible. In our free market system, indeed advertising is the only plausible way to get your business off the ground. There is certainly no need to maximize profits and business by sacrificing the welfare of your "customers". There should certainly be measures put in place to castrate these power hungry advertisers messages. A board of censure, who's intentions are truly to rid advertising of these horrible messages, could monitor how the products are being sold and what adverts go out into the public. As we both well know though, this is far fetched at best due to the power of money and profit. What we truly need is a change in ideology. Essentially, we need to get our shit together. We need to stop victimizing groups of people. We need to stop promoting racism, sexism, class ism and all the other forms of control on we the citizens. We need, no, we have the right to a system that perpetuates ideas that are truly in the best interests of the people.