I am the new president of the International Advocates for Health Freedom group, and I am writing you in response to the advertisement for Nitro-Tech bars that appears on page 173 of your November 2003 issue. This advertisement is highly unethical, and, as Jean Kilbourne, an expert on the advertisement subject, states, "we are powerfully influenced, mostly on an unconscious level, by the experience of being immersed in an advertising culture, a market-driven culture advertising is an effective and pervasive medium of influence and persuasion, and its influence is cumulative, often subtle, and primarily unconscious." (Kilbourne 59, 67) The advertisement depicts a man and a woman standing next to each other near a pool, with their bodies facing the camera. The location is suggested by the water pattern in the background and by two metallic bars, which look like the bars from the entrance of the pool. Both models are wearing very little clothing, an appearance that emphasizes their bodies, making them the main focus of the advertisement. The man is embracing the woman with his left hand, enclosing her between his arm, his hips and one of the bars. The female is responding with a smile on her face, her body language, however, expresses a feeling of rejection, as she would be trying to escape from his embrace. This advertisement is sending an unethical message because it encourages relationships based on physical appearance in which the man is the dominating figure. It is sending the unethical message that women should engage in such a relationship and that they should use their bodies to draw the attention of good-looking, strong men, whose dominance they should then accept, by playing a passive and cooperative role.
At first glance, the advertisement seems to be fine. Looking at it more closely, however, makes one realize that an unethical message is being sent. The man, as he is embracing the woman, is slightly bent over her and is looking into her eyes.
At the heart of all these problems is mass consumerism. ... A man by the name Edward Bernays was employed to promote America's war aims in the press. ... " Since the end of the 19th century, America had been a mass industrial society. ... We must shape a new mentality in America. ... The social construct of reality for the average American began to make a major shift. ...
The rise of the consumer culture is a phenomenon characterizing the 20th and 21st centuries, where the economy depends on the population's spending on goods and services. Before the Industrial Revolution – that is, before the 18th century in England, or the 19th century in Western Europe and North America – the majority of population lived in rural areas and worked in agriculture, where the resources for production were limited. ... There is a psychological impact of consumerism that promotes destructive values. ... Increased consumerism evidently comes at a steep price: i...
In the late 1940s, Americans" spirits were high. ... Consumerism survived this movement. ... By the 1990s, shopping had become second nature for middle-class America. ... Americans produce about 16 million tons of solid waste annually. ... A rapid growing trend in America is that of voluntary simplicity. ...
Consumerism, therefore, is perceived as the definition of progress. ... Past consumers, and consumers today, are purchasing subjective effects rather than a mere product. Consumption has become the American way of life as brands and products not only shape the social environment in which we live, but also the very goals and desires that control the trajectory of our lives and everyday behavior. Mass production of advertisements and commercial imagery represent the ideology American material culture, tapping into the depths of desire for the typical American, like Bernays' women and their ...
Consumer Rights Businesses have never denied the fact that consumers have rights. ... After all, people do have the right to consumer education (Antony 115). ... However, there are also laws protecting consumers, "[w] hen [consumers] borrow money from a bank or deposit [their] money in a bank account, federal laws say [consumers] have a right to clear information on all terms and conditions. ... Without this right consumers, whether minority or not, would not be guaranteed the same rights throughout America. ... Thus, businesses realize the fact that being an American consumer coincides ...
Stewart Ewen, in his essay "Chosen People" addresses the topic of consumerism in the middle class of America and suggests different negative effects. ... Ewen's purpose is to inform the reader of the materialistic rise in the American modern middle class. ... This new sense of achievement created by the industrial revolution allowed them to believe that they had made it, they achieve the American dream. ... Ewen states, "American society-gave rise to a notion of class defined, almost exclusively by patterns of consumption" (187). ... He quotes, "to be a good cit...
CONSUMERISM Consumerism is the desire to acquire objects and possessions often beyond our essential needs, just for the sake of acquiring them. ... The two reconcile their love again through a consumer product. ... The title and word Americanized, shows the influence of America on everything including the author. ... The boy only wants to please his mother, this also symbolises Australians urge to please America. ... The consumer belongings "crammed" into a carton symbolises the consumer products being forced onto the public. ...
The Myth of Consumerism Every society has mythology. ... Our religion is consumerism. ... Now consumerism fulfills this role. ... This is the consumer ideology and, just like every religion has some "golden rule" that pervades all of its lessons, consumerism too has its own golden rule, the consumer ideology. ... People seek happiness, acceptance, nobility, and love, and since these attributes seem so hard to come by in America, they instead substitute for them the products that represent them, which seem much easier to come by. ...
Gizmo's and Gadgets With America at war, the country has fallen into a great depression. ... Gadgets were first introduced in America, right after the Industrial Revolution. ... This is an ever going cycle, and without it, America wouldn't be what it is today. ... Advantages for the consumer has plenty of advantages are simple. ... The Consumer Electronics Industry is rapidly increasing as one of the highest rated industries in America. ...
This is where consumerism comes into effect. ... For most Americans now a day it is all about being accepted, some prefer to be envied. It is this competition amongst ourselves that drives the consumerism spectrum. ... This drives competitiveness and helps the economy; so can consumerism really be that bad? ... I guess it can be said that Americans can sometimes be pretty lazy, so it would make sense that we would buy a food product that is easier than 1+1. ...
