CRITICAL POSITIONS ON ADVERTISING SEMINAR

Today, we had a seminar on advertising that focused on exposing the corrupt capitalist culture that is created by our society. I found the seminar thoroughly enjoyable, as this is a subject of personal interest. We discussed things such as the consumer culture in which we construct our identities from.  And the advertising techniques used to entice us into the commodity trap.

I personally believe that the consumer culture within which we live is wrong, despite being a participant myself.  This got me thinking about connections between advertising, culture and discrimination. It is not advertising that is responsible for the consumer culture in which we live, but modern society itself. Through the accumulation of products that citizens define their lives by, people create an elitist image of themselves, defined by what they own. Which in turn creates indifference and discrimination of people who either can’t afford to partake in commodity culture, or people who refuse to. It’s absurd to think that possessions and money define our position in society rather than our contribution to the community. This idea is created by big corporations and banks to alienate the poor, or individuals who refuse to partake in this consumer society, as they are of no financial benefit to them. As individuals we are trapped, prisoners to the culture in which we live. The prison guards who keep us trapped are not the big corporations and banks, but the majority of people who unknowingly partake in consumer culture.