One commercial I have seen aired a lot recently is a cover girl commercial with Drew Barrymore. The commercial is flashy and glamorous and Drew Barrymore is a familiar face with a household name. In the commercial Drew Barrymore says, "When it comes to lashes, I say the bigger the better." So, not only is the commercial suggesting in order to look pretty you need our mascara to make your lashes longer, but also Drew Barrymore is personally suggesting it. In our society girls are encouraged to wear make up in order to look like better versions of themselves and in order to cover up any possible flaws. The advertisers want girls to think, "if I want to look like Drew Barrymore and lead the kind of life she does then I should buy this mascara".
In Gitlin's Prime Time Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television Entertainment, he does make the important distinction that this commercial culture does not create ideologies, but instead it reproduces and concentrates on certain ideologies that have come from popular social movements. In this sense though, advertisers view the masses as consumers that are trying to achieve an ideal life and be an ideal person. Gtilin also points out that, "Time and attention are not one's own." When we are sitting back and watching our favorite TV show it inevitable that it will be interrupted by commercials trying to sell us another product we probably don't really need, but we sit there and watch it anyways. And weather we listen to it on a conscious or subconscious level some part of it is bound to stick with us.
I definately have to agree. You mainly discuss magazines and television, but this idea of conforming to an ideal or desiring to buy the latest thing like the Snuggie is apparent in all aspects of the media. I find it very depressing that our society has sunk to such a level where the advertisers themselves don't care what they're selling as long as they are targeting consumers, as Gitlin remarks. Even the news is dominated by this desire to attract consumers and as Dan Rather points out the news is increasingly putting more air time on fickle celebrity stories. The media is undoubtedly a profit driven business who is starting to be dominated by the advertising industry, whom is their primary source of revenue. Therefore, to attract advertisers and in turn consumers, all mediums are figuring out how to attract the greatest amount of people. Whether this is putting more emphasis on celebrities in the news, homogenizing and simplifying television show plots, or selling products to craft someone into the ideal, are all plots by the media to lure in American society. And we are being lured in all right as these ideals of conformity, idealism, and celebrity obessesion are beginning to become a part of everyday life in the United States.
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