7 thoughts on “Week 5 – Manipulative Effects of Media (T4)”
Dionne Cheah
In Chapter 2 of Ewen’s article, he discusses how advertising acted as model for mass distribution as well as social production (of consumers), in order to fulfill the demands of mass production. Learning about how the earlier advertising industry relied on social psychology to create a consumer market was rather interesting. Based on Allport’s conception of the “self”, the advertising model was specifically developed to tap into the insecurities of individuals. Rather than promote the practical value of a product, advertisements relied on the social anxieties to create desire for consumption. By selling the idea to individuals that buying a product possibly meant that they could elevate their social status and stand out from others, people started to place intrinsic value in the material objects. Advertisers were thus able to push forward the idea that their products could dispel their consumers’ fears and bring them ‘happiness’.
Tay Ying Ying
From Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture by Stuart Ewen, he mentioned that advertising is a form of social production. Indeed, today’s society places much emphasis on the material, with many competing to gain wealth and resources. Businesses are fast enough to tap on media to influence consumers’ choice with the constant bombardment of goods and services, transforming wants into needs. Psychologists have also determined that man is desirous in natural he yearns for the material and accords more importance to it than his spiritual or social needs. In reality, fewer needs are featured as contrasted with wants.
The creation of desires: turning luxuries into necessities, and by promoting feelings of inadequacy in consumers. Advertisers attempt to make consumers feel that if they do not own a certain kind of product, they will be inferior or that we have a problem and the product is able to solve these problems.
In addition, most products and services are tied to status, wealth, looks and other aspects. For example, perfume advertisements are often tied together with people with good looks or figures. It mislead consumers into thinking that if they purchase the item that was being advertised, they will be able to possess the qualities of the models that were being shown on screen.
In a nutshell, advertisements often associate happiness with purchasing power and possession of material goods. Advertising efforts have thus, seen an increase in consumption and increasingly, the consumers are accepting consumption as a way to differentiate themselves from others, a way to elevate one’s social standing. As a result of accelerating our rate of consumption, we have also increased the global rate in which we extract resources, produce pollution and create waste.
Gareth Nah
Kracauer frames the Berlin picture palaces as distractions in the lives of individuals, using such imagery to illustrate and explain the increasing homogeneity observed in the responses of the cosmopolitan audience. Uniformity becomes the new normal, with the blurring of lines between the previously distinct middle class and the working masses. This comes about with the workers’ demands for cultural nourishment, which was not sufficiently met with the high culture associated with the bourgeoisie. This is because the workers felt alienated by such notions of culture which they were unable to relate to. They craved enjoyment and entertainment to stimulate their senses, and Kracauer speaks of this desire as the addiction to distraction.
This addiction is fulfilled by the picture palaces which occupy and stimulate the audience’s attention, allowing them no room for contemplation and reflection. The audience is unable to pause to make sense of their perceptions and experiences. This is indeed relatable to the mediated and fast-paced world we live in today, where much “entertainment” is superficial and lacks any intrinsic value. Despite being aware of this, I indeed find myself being caught up in the web of addictive but meaningless entertainment forms cunningly and seductively spun by the media industry. I find myself overwhelmed by the numerous distracting forms of entertainment, such as movies and magazines. I often engage in many of them, not engaging in deep and edifying contemplation of any sort. This buzz of the entertainment industry indeed reflects Kracauer’s criticisms.
Ewen writes about the rise of advertising, and the accompanying change in working conditions, which allowed workers to consume the very products they had produced. Advertising plays a significant role in the consumption of such products, as it insidiously shapes our perceptions of what we need. Indeed, it shapes our very needs themselves, often prescribing to us what we should have, in order for us to improve our lives. This is indeed visible in the numerous instances of impressionable girls striving to achieve the figures portrayed on advertising billboards, only to slide into depression upon failing. We hear of countless anecdotes of young children pestering their parents to provide them with food or products, upon seeing them emblazoned invitingly on advertising boards. Indeed, the spectre of advertising is very real in today’s capitalist societies.
James Ang
The Propaganda Model, derived by Chomsky and Herman, takes a critical look at the dissemination of information by mass media. They see mass media as profit seeking businesses owned by powerful businesses and government. Such entities then manipulate the information by mass media to mobilize the public’s perception and align them according to the elite’s interest. The model states that there are five filters that determine how news is presented to the public. The five filters are Ownership, Advertising, Source, Flak and Anticommunism.
Using the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I attempt to present how the Propaganda Model is relevant in contemporary terms. The fifth filter, Anticommunism, is described as a filter that attempts to demonise the enemy. This filter is particularly relevant to the way the news media portray a negative image of Saddam Hussien. In the news, he was seen as an advocator of terrorism and linked to the 9/11 incident. It is worth noting that a poll by USA Today, revealed that 80% of Fox News viewer believed that Saddam Hussien is partly responsible for the 9/11 incident.
The media also reported that Saddam Hussein had possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (which Bush admitted to fabricating) in Iraq, even when there is no empirical evidence of such possessions.
The news above aims to convey the message that Saddam Hussein is “evil”. Such news also aim to show that Iraq will become an evil empire under Saddam’s regime. The ultimate aim for this portrayal is to gain America (and maybe the world) support for the invasion of Iraq. As noted by conspiracy theorists, the US objectives to justify the invasion is only to increase the US political dominance over the world.
While the example above does not provide a full insight into the events that led to the Invasion of Iraq, my focus is to illustrate the ability of mass media. My focus is to show how the mass media can mobilize, influence and mislead the public’s perception.
References: Why We Fight (2005)
Tan Wei Kiat Jonathan
In the technologized era of today we live in, the internet as an effective manipulative tool for companies to exploit the masses far supersedes the more “traditional” or mainstream forms such as flyers, television or radio. Within this context I would like to draw attention to the world of competitive gaming which is an immense industry which still experiences rapid growth in all aspects. Valve Corporation, a video games company based in Washington, developed and launch Defense Of the Ancients 2 (Dota2) – currently one of the most played and highest paying electronic game in the world. Through live streams of tournament games via internet, advertisements and other media tools, Dota2 has been much publicized throughout the gaming industry as well as the mainstream world. Just last year, the 3rd International tournament for Dota2 featured more than US$2.8million dollars for the prize pool with US$1.4million awarded to the champion team. It is remarkable to note that such monetary rewards for professional teams on top of what they get paid by their sponsors would have be blasphemous 5 to 10 years ago. The gaming industry, boosted by hype placed on the games by consumers as a result of effective media manipulation has spun a lucrative industry whereby professional Dota2 players in the gaming industry are likened to the “superstars” of the European soccer clubs with elevated status and income.
Russell Lim Fang Yu
This week’s readings on the Manipulative effects of Media had me drawing parallels with the recent unveiling of the Xbox One (a video game console) at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013. While I have talked about video games in my previous post, the Xbox One (to my dismay :P) seems to be anything, but a video game console. The entire presentation was essentially about the system being an all-in-one source for television, movie, sports, internet, skype, facebook, etc. While this sounds pretty convenient, the implications are quite clear. They would want us to be entirely reliant on this device for communications, entertainment and information, and our consumption choices can be compromised as a result. It is telling when the presentation of a video gaming console would feature a segment on Steven Spielberg talking about his upcoming ‘Halo’ TV series, which would be exclusive for the console. For gamers, there is no reason why we should be concerned about television when all we want are video games. As devices become more capable, I worry that content will be banded together with a particular device, giving us less choices and less say (less say, because even our communications can be limited by said devices).
The bright spark to this incident, was that social media had allowed for the protest against Xbox One’s anti-consumerists policies. Most notable being the ‘Angry Joe’ rant – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ekOtn7L1N0 , which captured over a million views over a night. Coupled with calls for gamers to shift over to Microsoft’s rival platform, the Playstation 4, Microsoft eventually had to reverse many of its policies, including having a need for the Xbox One to connect to the internet daily, which meant that people were essentially ‘renting’ software and content, not buying them.
It is thus very intriguing to see this conflict going on between the content provider and the consumers. On the surface, it seems that the consumers have won from the empowerment enabled by new media. However, we will be making a big mistake to assume that the Xbox One would fail from here on. Additionally, I have also seen cases where ‘rants’ against companies, such as Angry Joe’s, being taken down by Youtube for supposed copyright infringements.
Lee Wei Jie
I find Stuart Ewen’s article on “Advertising as Social Production” most intriguing and identifiable.
In this article, Ewen showcases the rise of advertising, which emerged out of capitalists’ need to sell off their excess goods of which the bourgeois workers have over-produced. The need to sell and make profits structured a change in how they treated workers; instead of long hours and lower pay, workers now entitled to work shorter hours with higher pay, just so that they could feed on their excess pay by purchasing the very products that they have created under the exploitative relationship with the Capitalists. Advertising thus serves as a means to conjure and stir up needs within society, to spark a craving within their cognitions of a need to purchase the advertised product, and thus to generate more profit from the goods or service produced.
One thing worth mentioning is the negative social conditioning that slides along with the emergence of advertising. The effect of advertising linked with the ideology that people were imperfect without the product, and thus a critical self-consciousness was endowed. This was exemplified through a film titled ‘Killing Us Softly”, which was a look into advertising’s image of women.
Killing Us Softly
In this film, Jean Kilbourne shows how society’s (both guys and girls) view of women changed through the influx of advertising and the use (and sexualisation) of girls. The ‘truth’ that society saw was that girls needed to look a certain way in order to fit the idea of beauty. Yet, the film suggests how all of the supposed ‘beautiful’ girls that are seen on covers of magazine, billboards, brand items and products and what not were all edited. In fact, if such was the standard of beauty as portrayed through advertising, no girl could ever attain it, as it does not exist. Yet, advertising conjures this need for society to take on such views, especially when the audience are mystified by the reality that they see through these media sources. In advertisements, women are often portrayed in subjugated portrayals, or are modelled in weird contortions, whilst men are often portrayed standing tall and upright, or in noble, dominant positions.
Concluding this, I guess the greatest spark from the article was the element of what society defined as ‘real’? Media definitely thus deceives the unknowing mind the illusion of what reality is, and what norms ideas that one should have.
In Chapter 2 of Ewen’s article, he discusses how advertising acted as model for mass distribution as well as social production (of consumers), in order to fulfill the demands of mass production. Learning about how the earlier advertising industry relied on social psychology to create a consumer market was rather interesting. Based on Allport’s conception of the “self”, the advertising model was specifically developed to tap into the insecurities of individuals. Rather than promote the practical value of a product, advertisements relied on the social anxieties to create desire for consumption. By selling the idea to individuals that buying a product possibly meant that they could elevate their social status and stand out from others, people started to place intrinsic value in the material objects. Advertisers were thus able to push forward the idea that their products could dispel their consumers’ fears and bring them ‘happiness’.
From Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture by Stuart Ewen, he mentioned that advertising is a form of social production. Indeed, today’s society places much emphasis on the material, with many competing to gain wealth and resources. Businesses are fast enough to tap on media to influence consumers’ choice with the constant bombardment of goods and services, transforming wants into needs. Psychologists have also determined that man is desirous in natural he yearns for the material and accords more importance to it than his spiritual or social needs. In reality, fewer needs are featured as contrasted with wants.
The creation of desires: turning luxuries into necessities, and by promoting feelings of inadequacy in consumers. Advertisers attempt to make consumers feel that if they do not own a certain kind of product, they will be inferior or that we have a problem and the product is able to solve these problems.
In addition, most products and services are tied to status, wealth, looks and other aspects. For example, perfume advertisements are often tied together with people with good looks or figures. It mislead consumers into thinking that if they purchase the item that was being advertised, they will be able to possess the qualities of the models that were being shown on screen.
In a nutshell, advertisements often associate happiness with purchasing power and possession of material goods. Advertising efforts have thus, seen an increase in consumption and increasingly, the consumers are accepting consumption as a way to differentiate themselves from others, a way to elevate one’s social standing. As a result of accelerating our rate of consumption, we have also increased the global rate in which we extract resources, produce pollution and create waste.
Kracauer frames the Berlin picture palaces as distractions in the lives of individuals, using such imagery to illustrate and explain the increasing homogeneity observed in the responses of the cosmopolitan audience. Uniformity becomes the new normal, with the blurring of lines between the previously distinct middle class and the working masses. This comes about with the workers’ demands for cultural nourishment, which was not sufficiently met with the high culture associated with the bourgeoisie. This is because the workers felt alienated by such notions of culture which they were unable to relate to. They craved enjoyment and entertainment to stimulate their senses, and Kracauer speaks of this desire as the addiction to distraction.
This addiction is fulfilled by the picture palaces which occupy and stimulate the audience’s attention, allowing them no room for contemplation and reflection. The audience is unable to pause to make sense of their perceptions and experiences. This is indeed relatable to the mediated and fast-paced world we live in today, where much “entertainment” is superficial and lacks any intrinsic value. Despite being aware of this, I indeed find myself being caught up in the web of addictive but meaningless entertainment forms cunningly and seductively spun by the media industry. I find myself overwhelmed by the numerous distracting forms of entertainment, such as movies and magazines. I often engage in many of them, not engaging in deep and edifying contemplation of any sort. This buzz of the entertainment industry indeed reflects Kracauer’s criticisms.
Ewen writes about the rise of advertising, and the accompanying change in working conditions, which allowed workers to consume the very products they had produced. Advertising plays a significant role in the consumption of such products, as it insidiously shapes our perceptions of what we need. Indeed, it shapes our very needs themselves, often prescribing to us what we should have, in order for us to improve our lives. This is indeed visible in the numerous instances of impressionable girls striving to achieve the figures portrayed on advertising billboards, only to slide into depression upon failing. We hear of countless anecdotes of young children pestering their parents to provide them with food or products, upon seeing them emblazoned invitingly on advertising boards. Indeed, the spectre of advertising is very real in today’s capitalist societies.
The Propaganda Model, derived by Chomsky and Herman, takes a critical look at the dissemination of information by mass media. They see mass media as profit seeking businesses owned by powerful businesses and government. Such entities then manipulate the information by mass media to mobilize the public’s perception and align them according to the elite’s interest. The model states that there are five filters that determine how news is presented to the public. The five filters are Ownership, Advertising, Source, Flak and Anticommunism.
Using the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I attempt to present how the Propaganda Model is relevant in contemporary terms. The fifth filter, Anticommunism, is described as a filter that attempts to demonise the enemy. This filter is particularly relevant to the way the news media portray a negative image of Saddam Hussien. In the news, he was seen as an advocator of terrorism and linked to the 9/11 incident. It is worth noting that a poll by USA Today, revealed that 80% of Fox News viewer believed that Saddam Hussien is partly responsible for the 9/11 incident.
The media also reported that Saddam Hussein had possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (which Bush admitted to fabricating) in Iraq, even when there is no empirical evidence of such possessions.
The news above aims to convey the message that Saddam Hussein is “evil”. Such news also aim to show that Iraq will become an evil empire under Saddam’s regime. The ultimate aim for this portrayal is to gain America (and maybe the world) support for the invasion of Iraq. As noted by conspiracy theorists, the US objectives to justify the invasion is only to increase the US political dominance over the world.
While the example above does not provide a full insight into the events that led to the Invasion of Iraq, my focus is to illustrate the ability of mass media. My focus is to show how the mass media can mobilize, influence and mislead the public’s perception.
References: Why We Fight (2005)
In the technologized era of today we live in, the internet as an effective manipulative tool for companies to exploit the masses far supersedes the more “traditional” or mainstream forms such as flyers, television or radio. Within this context I would like to draw attention to the world of competitive gaming which is an immense industry which still experiences rapid growth in all aspects. Valve Corporation, a video games company based in Washington, developed and launch Defense Of the Ancients 2 (Dota2) – currently one of the most played and highest paying electronic game in the world. Through live streams of tournament games via internet, advertisements and other media tools, Dota2 has been much publicized throughout the gaming industry as well as the mainstream world. Just last year, the 3rd International tournament for Dota2 featured more than US$2.8million dollars for the prize pool with US$1.4million awarded to the champion team. It is remarkable to note that such monetary rewards for professional teams on top of what they get paid by their sponsors would have be blasphemous 5 to 10 years ago. The gaming industry, boosted by hype placed on the games by consumers as a result of effective media manipulation has spun a lucrative industry whereby professional Dota2 players in the gaming industry are likened to the “superstars” of the European soccer clubs with elevated status and income.
This week’s readings on the Manipulative effects of Media had me drawing parallels with the recent unveiling of the Xbox One (a video game console) at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013. While I have talked about video games in my previous post, the Xbox One (to my dismay :P) seems to be anything, but a video game console. The entire presentation was essentially about the system being an all-in-one source for television, movie, sports, internet, skype, facebook, etc. While this sounds pretty convenient, the implications are quite clear. They would want us to be entirely reliant on this device for communications, entertainment and information, and our consumption choices can be compromised as a result. It is telling when the presentation of a video gaming console would feature a segment on Steven Spielberg talking about his upcoming ‘Halo’ TV series, which would be exclusive for the console. For gamers, there is no reason why we should be concerned about television when all we want are video games. As devices become more capable, I worry that content will be banded together with a particular device, giving us less choices and less say (less say, because even our communications can be limited by said devices).
The bright spark to this incident, was that social media had allowed for the protest against Xbox One’s anti-consumerists policies. Most notable being the ‘Angry Joe’ rant – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ekOtn7L1N0 , which captured over a million views over a night. Coupled with calls for gamers to shift over to Microsoft’s rival platform, the Playstation 4, Microsoft eventually had to reverse many of its policies, including having a need for the Xbox One to connect to the internet daily, which meant that people were essentially ‘renting’ software and content, not buying them.
It is thus very intriguing to see this conflict going on between the content provider and the consumers. On the surface, it seems that the consumers have won from the empowerment enabled by new media. However, we will be making a big mistake to assume that the Xbox One would fail from here on. Additionally, I have also seen cases where ‘rants’ against companies, such as Angry Joe’s, being taken down by Youtube for supposed copyright infringements.
I find Stuart Ewen’s article on “Advertising as Social Production” most intriguing and identifiable.
In this article, Ewen showcases the rise of advertising, which emerged out of capitalists’ need to sell off their excess goods of which the bourgeois workers have over-produced. The need to sell and make profits structured a change in how they treated workers; instead of long hours and lower pay, workers now entitled to work shorter hours with higher pay, just so that they could feed on their excess pay by purchasing the very products that they have created under the exploitative relationship with the Capitalists. Advertising thus serves as a means to conjure and stir up needs within society, to spark a craving within their cognitions of a need to purchase the advertised product, and thus to generate more profit from the goods or service produced.
One thing worth mentioning is the negative social conditioning that slides along with the emergence of advertising. The effect of advertising linked with the ideology that people were imperfect without the product, and thus a critical self-consciousness was endowed. This was exemplified through a film titled ‘Killing Us Softly”, which was a look into advertising’s image of women.
Killing Us Softly
In this film, Jean Kilbourne shows how society’s (both guys and girls) view of women changed through the influx of advertising and the use (and sexualisation) of girls. The ‘truth’ that society saw was that girls needed to look a certain way in order to fit the idea of beauty. Yet, the film suggests how all of the supposed ‘beautiful’ girls that are seen on covers of magazine, billboards, brand items and products and what not were all edited. In fact, if such was the standard of beauty as portrayed through advertising, no girl could ever attain it, as it does not exist. Yet, advertising conjures this need for society to take on such views, especially when the audience are mystified by the reality that they see through these media sources. In advertisements, women are often portrayed in subjugated portrayals, or are modelled in weird contortions, whilst men are often portrayed standing tall and upright, or in noble, dominant positions.
Concluding this, I guess the greatest spark from the article was the element of what society defined as ‘real’? Media definitely thus deceives the unknowing mind the illusion of what reality is, and what norms ideas that one should have.
Reference:
http://www.jeankilbourne.com/videos/