After spending the first couple weeks of my summer with my technology, I finally decided to start reading Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman makes some interesting points which I completely agree with about how media now is completely about the image it portrays rather than the content of the message using examples such as President Taft. For those of you who don't agree, I'd like to give some modern examples. I'd like to run you through a quick exercise. Imagine you are sitting on your couch watching your favorite TV show or movie and it cuts to advertisements. A beautiful woman in a bikini pops up on your screen, and at the top it says Carl's Jr. This company uses women to sell their product even though women have nothing to do with burgers. This portrays Postman's idea of image over content.
In regards to the images of advertisement Postman brings up that "Advertising was, as Stephen Douglas said in another context, intended to appeal to understanding, not to passions" (60). Companies such as Carl's Jr. use images which draw people's eyes to the advertisement even if it has nothing to do with the product. Modern advertisement lures people according to their passions. This can be seen across a variety of brands: Budweiser, Pepsi, and Mac. They want attention for their products, but they do not show what their product is about. They try to give you an idea of who you would be if you used their product. For example, imagine a Pepsi commercial comes on showing a man with two beautiful women by his side while he drinks a nice, cold Pepsi. Basically, Pepsi is saying "If you use our product, you will be popular and get tons of girls." This has nothing to do with their product! However, go back in time about one hundred years, and you will find things to appear much different. Companies advertised their products for their actual qualities rather than an selling an image of their product.
Postman argues that media infringes upon our social institutions. He states that "It sometimes has the power to become implicated in our concepts of piety, or goodness, or beauty" (18). Media, especially advertisement, can affect how people see themselves and the world. It places an impossible standard on how people should live their lives through how they look, what they should eat, and what they should believe.
- Naomi Hindman
When Postman speaks about image before content, we as readers can tell that in that time period products would be coated with a favorable image, but not as strange as advertisements are today. After so many years of displaying and selling products, most of the practical ideas of advertisements are taken. Companies nowadays are willing to go the extra mile to not only grab the attention of the audience, but entertain them into thinking that the product is just as compelling as how it is displayed on television. Another reason why commercials can be so bizarre is the idea of competition and maybe wanting to sell the same product as another company, (such as the hundreds of fast food commercials) but making it seem superior. Your reference to the Carl's Jr. commercial is well known to so many people, which completely supports your argument on image before content.
ReplyDeleteI think your argument is very valid. In fact, there's very few times I have watched television and one of those advertisements didn't show. It surprises me that in order for them to sell a product, they feel the need to use provocative commercials. For example, you mentioned Carls Jr. I think when they use alluring commercials just to sell a burger, it is a bit much. Companies nowadays create an image for their sale rather than showing what the actual product is. In my opinion, I think it's sad because some of these commercials actually do work, especially in todays society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that companies rely on promoting images of what using their product is like rather than focusing on its function or why it's useful. Many companies even distort how they display the pricing to make it sound more appealing. For example, companies with display at the end of the commercial that the product costs four easy payments of 19.99 rather than saying it costs 80.00. Also, companies try to entertain and impress the viewer into buying the product. A big culprit of this are car companies who begin their commercials like movie trailers and get dramatic shots of the car driving through impressive scenery most Americans will never encounter.
ReplyDeleteI entirely agree with your argument, I see ads today thinking it's false advertisement. Especially the ads on apps saying its for those four and up. My younger brothers get tons of free apps on their I Pads and lately these ads haven't been appropriate. The ads stop their game and make them watch a thirty second video either about car insurance or food. Of course them being young they click on the "Click Here" button which led them to some bad website that obviously does not relate to the ad. It also breaks the parental lock on the I Pad which blocks them from surfing the web. It being an Apple product should've been well enough to block it out. I think these ads have gone way too far.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement. Similarly to you, I chose to read Amusing Ourselves to Death first. Although I greatly enjoy catching up with my favorite TV shows and Youtube videos, many of Postman’s proposals and points regarding the “Age of Technology” caught my attention within the first few pages of the book. It was really important that Postman chose to include very lucid examples to support his claims. I genuinely thought it was an effective way to present an argument that many people might contradict or deny. When the author used our twenty-seventh president Mr. Howard Taft as an example, I really took a step back and analyzed his thoughts. It is very unlikely that current American voters would reflect more greatly on his ideas and his platform and less on Taft’s appearance. Somehow, American culture has been manipulated in which appearance or presentation is now more meaningful than content or character. This specific part of the book reminded me of a social experiment I watched online. In the experiment, a woman asked nearby pedestrians if they could spare any change in order for her to use the nearby payphone. This experiment was performed twice, each with their own conditions. During the first trial, the woman was dressed in sweatpants, a baggy sweater, glasses, and she wore no makeup. As she begged the numerous passing people for money, only one person spared their change for her. However, during the second trial, the woman was dressed in professional clothing, high heels, jewelry, and makeup. With these circumstances, almost every person she approached gave her money to use the payphone. Reading Postman’s argument regarding content and personal appearance was one of the points I held to a high regard as I continued through the book.
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