LightningBolt, Herman and Chomsky

Being a CMC major, we continuously learn about the negative effects of advertising on our culture; we are subconsciously being persuaded and influenced. After constantly talking about advertising in a negative light I began to think poorly of companies who’s ad’s I saw. Reading Herman and Chomsky I realized that there really no other option for companies besides advertising, and no other option for newspapers and television channels but to pay to present advertisements.

“an advertising based system will tend to drive out existence or into marginality the media companies that depend on revenue from sales alone” (267).

The second filter explains that companies that attempt to hold their ground and not give into the advertising phenomenon will eventually be driven out of business by the companies who are taking economic advantage of advertising, and not questioning the effects it has on our culture. The book discusses the fact that when newspapers first started developing they had to charge the price it cost to manufacture the paper and then plus enough to make a prophet from it. When papers started putting advertisements in their papers and gaining money this way, they were able to lower the price of papers. The papers that did not put ad’s in their papers still needed to charge the full production price. People obviously chose the lower priced paper and the non advertisement papers were forced pick up advertisers. This relates directly to today. If a TV network decided they did not want to have commercials on their station because they brain wash their viewers, they would be unable to pay shows as much as other stations and would no longer get the best TV shows. The only way that I could see the elimination of advertisements ever happening would be if every company banned together and agreed they would all stop. This way everyone would be on the same level and no one will have additional revenue. I realize that this is very unlikely and that advertising appears it will continue to be a large part of our culture.