Happy Birthday, Herman and Chomsky

Throughout my CMC major experience I have personally written, read, created, memorized, studied, and looked at more advertisements than the average human being. Advertisements, media’s manipulation, deceit, and media conglomerates, IS my major. I was really relieved when reading this article because I felt like I had a direct connection with it, and I could relate parts of my life to what Herman and Chomsky were talking about. One quote that really stuck with me throughout the reading was the following:

“It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society”.(257)

This quote stuck out the most to me. This quote is one of the most accurate definitions of advertising I have ever come across. Our generation especially has never known life without thousands of advertisements thrown in their face every day. The government has no control over advertising and what companies want to put out there, which can sometimes lead problems. These ideas Chomsky and Herman put out there can be related back to Jameson’s notion of how we are “no longer scandalized”, and how nothing surprises us anymore because were so used to seeing advertisements that are controversial.

Both theorists are very insightful and make really good arguments. It was nice to be able to read an article that I could personally relate too, and understand. :)