This belief that our thoughts and consciousness may not be controlled by ourselves is a scary reality. Due to the type of society we live in today, it is hard for anyone to go a day without being brainwashed in some way or another. Media has played the primary role in distorting the ideas and views of a perfect something. Even scarier is the fact that these images we get from advertisements use stereotypes that mold our view.
Innocent consumers see advertisements without realizing that it changes the way they think. Though it may be certain norms from society that are represented, for our thoughts to be manipulated, it is not a good feeling. Especially when the ideals pushed upon us are labels on society's rights and wrongs. For instance, models are thought to be "pretty" if they are fair skinned with stick skinny bodies. As a result, both men and women desire these "modelesque" qualities in their mates and themselves. Sometimes which are unobtainable but repeatedly sought after. This may sound innocent at the least but causes not so pretty consequences. Women tend to cherish the idea of reaching such a goal of fitting into the social "norm" by over dieting and creating low self esteems. Media disturbs their sense of self. .
Even children are caught in the web. Advertisements purposefully target young impressionable minds in such a manner that they learn to desire specific things. From the beginning, girls are taught to play with pink dolls and boys are playing with cars or guns. The separation of sexes by media raises such an interesting issue of nature or nurture. Media tends to heavily focus on the nurture aspect. Molding the sexes into consumers who later as an adult will be easily shaped to buy specific things. This training by media is harmful as women have a subordinate view and men tend to seek a dominating role. .
Another way we are influenced in our thoughts is through language. Never conceivable that our innate language structure causes us to have unconscious stereotypes.