coolbeans, 2/15

The cult of the new is both manipulative and integral to our society. Advertisements are always telling us that we need the “new and improved” product in order to keep up with the times. This seems negative because it seems as if advertising is trying to manipulate us into buying the newer products. At the same time, our society needs advertisements such as these in order to survive. The American economy revolves around people being consumers. It can be easy to view advertising as negative because they try to get us to buy things, spend our money in order to improve our selves or our lives. However, the job of an advertisement is to do precisely that; to get people to buy things. If we did not have advertisements to tell us what to buy then how would we even know about what products were out there? In my English Gender Adaptations class we read a short story called “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” which describes a society in which advertisements were illegal. The people in that society had to resort to an underground method of advertising through “celebrities” using certain products and spreading its name. Also, if we look back in history before advertising and media were created people were living in a completely different manner than we do now. People were creating their own tools, and necessities. If we really think about advertising, we start to see that we are sort of being manipulated. Yes, ultimately we do have the choice of succumbing to the advertisements or not, but without advertisements we would not know about the products that are trying to be sold to us. In order for us to keep functioning in the same manner, to keep the world running as it still does, and keep our economy from sinking we need these advertisements.