The Impact of Advertising

Killing Us Softly described a real problem, that of advertising and the unhealthy and unrealistic messages it sends. People tend to view themselves in a social context, that is, they compare themselves to others, and compare themselves to society's standards. Advertising is often the vehicle for transmitting such standards, especially standards of beauty. The average person often fills inadequate, especially for women, when they compare themselves to the models shown in ads. This leads to a great amount of insecurity, which is exactly what the advertisers want, as that insecurity drives viewers to buy the advertised products, as a way to feel better about themselves.


One ad that relates to this discussion, and one that I find amusing are the L'Oreal 'age perfect' ads featuring 64 year old Diane Keaton. While the ads don't necessarily promote unrealistic images, it does feed into an obsession with avoiding age, and how to look younger. Diane Keaton being a senior is indicative of the target market for the product. What I find amusing is this, when is it time to give up? When can people admit ageing is natural and stop trying to fight it?

Just CAN'T wait...

Impatience is becoming a growing issue in American society. We can see why it's a problem in a number of areas. For one, relationships have become greatly strained. People often rush into marriage and then become surprised that it didn't work out. This is evidenced by the very high divorce rates that we experience. You can also witness the issue of impatience on the road, full of aggressive drivers in a hurry, leading them to drive like Jason Bourne, constantly swerving in and out of lanes, cutting you off, and honking. You see impatience at the store, with people becoming extremely agitated and bugging their eyes out, even yelling, if they suspect someone might be cutting in line. People can't wait for deals, leading to mad crowds on Black Friday, crowds that undoubtedly end up killing some poor person.

I'm not sure impatience is something we can fix, but it may fix itself. If the economy takes a turn for the worse again, and people are forced to have a better work ethic, impatience may go away. I say this, because I feel that impatience is directly related to laziness. The less lazy people are, the less sense of entitlement people have, the more hard working and courteous they become, at least in my opinion.

New trend in Reality TV

After our discussion of reality TV shows, it occurred to me that most of my favorite TV shows are reality shows. This may sound bad if one envisions I'm talking about Jersey Shore or The Real World, but my favorite reality shows are following a different trend, that of actually (to some extent) portraying reality, and being more educationally based than your typical reality show. This is evidenced by the popularity of American Pickers, Pawn Stars, and Hollywood Treasures. Such shows show genuine people, and genuine historical items, and explain the significance and importance of them. I feel this is a good trend, that of the 'smart' reality shows.