Advertising and Consumerism: The Face of the 21st Century

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Advertising and Consumerism: The Face of the 21st Century

“Introducing the lasted, newly improved widget… anyone whose anyone has one… it is a must have!” These words sound familiar? This is due in part, because advertising today has taken such extreme measures to persuade the American public; materialism has become the most prominent and universal mentality. The need to have the newest and best has become an instilled characteristic of the average citizen. How, you may wonder, has the advertising industry become such a powerful entity? The answer is that propaganda has always played a vital role in society; this is not a new concept. Throughout history propaganda/advertising has been to entice, elude, and manipulate people. Presently, however, because of the vast amounts of available technology advertising has become easier than ever. Mass media such as Television, radio, the internet, and cell phones allows advertising to dominate the public. The advertising industry has mastered the concept of perceptivity; they know how to make anything and everything fascinate the public because of the variety of tactics they use. Sex appeal, greed, and pleasure are key elements that can be found in one form or another in every ad. Colors, shapes, words, and presentation also play a large role in the presentation of an ad, because according to how ‘catchy’ an ad is will relate to how successful it will be. Take cosmetics for example, they tend to use extremely beautiful people having a great time to entice their consumers. Clinique®, however takes a different approach, this particular ad doesn’t revolve around beautiful women or love affairs, it is ingeniously unique because it uses a sharp image of sophistication and a subliminal analo...

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...d captivate the public. This is why the power of advertising is so forceful; ads have the ability to relate to people on an individual basis which gives them the notion of necessity for material belongings. After this Clinique® ad captivates the eye, people realize they can relate to and personify the ad with their personal desires. Advertising has caused the public to associate being a successful person with the acquirement of superficial materials. The more things you have, the better you are is unfortunately the general consensus. Until this perception can some how be altered, advertisements will continue to flourish throughout every type of media relevant to today’s society.

Works Cited

1. Callaghan, Patsy. Dobyns, Ann. A Meeting of Minds. Pearson Education Inc. New

York. 2004.

2. Cosmopolitan. Hearst Magazines. Vol. 237, No. 4. October 2004.

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