Readings/Viewings:
- “Consuming Passions: The Culture of American Consumption,” p. 65-75, SOL
- Shames, Laurence. “The More Factor,” p. 76-82, SOL
- Davis, Fred. “Blue Jeans,” p. 101-108, SOL
- View: Consumerism and You: A Modern Guide to Self-Destruction and George Carlin on Materialism and Consumerism
Questions:
- Considering your readings and our class discussions up to this point, in what ways do you think the media and advertising play a role in
perpetuating and justifying current power relationships through the selling of material goods? In what ways does the media perpetuate hegemony? Give at least one solid example and discuss it in these terms. - Consider the saying ‘You are what you consume.’ What examples from your own life can you identify that help to further explain this concept? Think about the products, clothes, food, and services you buy; in what ways do these lend to your sense of identity? How does what you consume fall into a hegemonic ideology?
- Describe, explain, and give your own example that illuminates your understanding of the “More Factor.” Be sure to tie your example in
with the readings (provide textual examples that help further explain or highlight your own cultural example). - Consider Shames’ argument about America’s “frontier history” and its effects on consumer behavior. In what ways is this idea or concept about “frontier history” still influencing contemporary culture and our current levels of consumerism? Give an example and discuss.
- What contemporary example can you provide that is equivalent (or nearly equivalent) to the ideas and concepts Fred Davis discusses in regards to jeans? In other words, what is a current parallel material product that is as seemingly ubiquitous and pervasive as jeans? How does your example reflect the concepts we’ve read about and discussed: consumerism? ideology? hegemony?
October 17, 2007 at 11:02 pm
victoria’s secret i love that store if anyone has a craze lingerie it’s me. victoria’s secret very expensive, made with good material and comfortable. but why do we as consumer’s tend to be pulled in by her. walmart,target, k-mart and other stores that don’t have this high profile have just as nice lingerie but less expensive. this would go into fashion i admit i have been caught up in the latest fashions of what the celebrities are wearing
but i don’t go out and buy it. i think of myself as a sensible shopper. in the reading i really enjoyed reading about the jeans,ipod and the cell phone because cell phones are good in a sense and have the negative values once known as car phone the cell phone has made a big transition from the car to almost everyone in the rold having one fror business purposes or chat with friends. when i was reading about jeans i did notive that most if not all the people are wearing jeans for whatever occasion and now they seem so expensive from back inthe 60’s when they were just staring to come out. the one thing that is as persuasive as jeans are shoes know onw can have enough shoes just like jeans we want them all different types of color and brands the ideology here is fashion everyone has their own style and like to experiment with different things. when it comes to fashion the clothes from the 70’s and 80’s are making a come back, tyhe big ear rings, long neckalaces and brighter colors some would call it retro.
October 17, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I personally found this weeks questions a little difficult to answer… I don’t know if anyone felt the same way but I’ll still give it a shot. I don’t even know where to begin for the first question, so I will just begin with #2. When looking at the quote “you are what you consume” I find this to be absolutely true. It seems like anything I buy has to do with either a trend I am in, or a product that revolves around what I enjoy, and engage in daily. For example, I am really into the underground hip hop culture… so I buy music/merchandise, basically anything that fits into this genre quite often. In my collection I have close to over 100 cds/vinyl… as well as t-shirts etc etc.. I find this to be somewhat different and original and it describes me. If you know the culture at all, and see the clothes I wear or music I listen to regularly you will easily be able to identify what kind of person I am. So in that way, I am what I consume… As far as what I consume falling into a hegemonic ideology, I’m not to sure. As far as what I buy falling into my understanding of the “more factor” I have this happen to me often. I will go to a record store and buy a cd or 2 and once I get home I either want to immediately go back and by more because once I finish listening to the ones I bought I need more. Its like when you give a little kid a small piece of chocolate that doesn’t satisfy them… of course what do they want.. MORE! I feel this relates to the reading of American culture always wanting more because we have the means of getting more. (If that makes sense) Like they say in the reading people buying massive tracks of land they don’t necessarily need… it’s because its available. Having all this accessibility to more gives people ambitions and a drive for more. At least this is how I interpreted the readings. Frontier History is still influencing our culture and current consumerism because like it states in the reading “The frontier as a symbol is what shaped the American way of doing things, and the American sense of whats worth doing..” This means that as Americans we are bold and optimistic in our thinking, even when dealing with uncharted “frontier.” I hope this all made sense to you, once again its just my interpretations… thanks for reading.
October 18, 2007 at 10:58 am
I have to say that since moving to the city I have become compeltly numb to the cost of living here. I have a problem with impulse shopping I do it all of the time. When i shop i go to the stores that i really can’t afford but buy there stuff anyway. So the phrase “you are what you consume” is really hard for me to think about because i consume so much. I’m usually to lazy to make my own food therefore i go out to eat almost everyday. I go shopping whenever I have free time and buy expensive designer clothes, I’ve been having some of my clothes dry cleaned and I could go on for hours. Really the point I am trying to make is that the phase I stated earlier is so true. The lifestyle I have is almost a false sense of reality. I know that i can’t keep living everyday like this because its not within my means. We are living in such a materialstic society that drives people to just keep buying.
October 18, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I think the phrase “You are what you consume” is very important in the search for our idenity. Lots of people mindlessly buy into a certain trend or the like. For example, in order to escape the stereotype of their parent’s generation, younger kids and students thought they were being nonconformist by getting their clothes from thrift shops instead of mega-stores like K Mart. They were searching for their own sense of idenity, and soon enough that became a trend. I don’t have a problem with thrift stores, I’m just saying that what was once unique and individual almost always gets picked up as a trend and makes everyone look like copycats.
With the “more factor”, I’m am guilty of this. I am also obsessed with music and thats where it gets me the most. I recently “bought” the new Radiohead album off the internet. Immediately after listening to it, I ordered the box set of the same album. Did I really need it ? Probably not, but I did want it. People always want things, but not the things they most likely need. And that is the whole scheme of consumerism.
I think that the whole “frontier” is still going strong. We are always looking at ways to innovate and experiment with new things. For example, America was desperately wanting to win the whole Space Race. We wanted to be the first in exploring the “new frontier” I think that the “Jeans” article was interesting. I think it’s interesting that people will buy expensive clothes just to look like they’re from the streets. To look a certian way, people will pay what they want. Thats just how our materialistic society works.
October 18, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Hey guys I came across this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Jm3ob8rHE from the film “Before Sunset” it is a movie about an American man and a french woman talking about life and the friendship that develops between the 2 of them. The first 3 minutes they talk about something interesting, when the girl goes to Poland while still under communism she notices that the lack of advertisements and TV; she felt like she didn’t needed to(or couldn’t) buy anything. It seems that all over the world people seem to want things and they let that become a part of their identity. Does what you buy actually define you? And where does the line be drawn between want and need? I don’t know if I can define that myself, somewhere in my reading I saw that we are subjected to hundreds of advertisements an hour, I didn’t believe this myself until one day I subconsciencely did count them after going online with the tv on in the background and walking out of my house only to pass posters and signs on every bus stop and taxi let alone all the people handing out flyers. It is crazy how it seems we as people don’t want so much as we are told to want. For example to people actually like the designer clothing they wear or do they want the recognition for wearing it…are people appreciating the art of the fashion designer or are they recognizing a name? The fact that bigger seems to be synonymous with better and more seems to represent self worth it is hard to say that in western and even eastern culture that money has turned from something that gives you the freedom to support your everyday needs, to something that will buy you everything so you can show the rest of the world how great you are.
October 18, 2007 at 3:48 pm
“You are what you consume”
This phrase rings true in so many ways. In the SOL when they say to read the signs of consumption you have to start with yourself. It is so true. All though there are a lot of people who are try to act like they don’t consume as much as others, but on some level we all consume.
My own example would be the vegan culture. All though a lot of them are found working for non profit organizations or protesters they consume. But they consume based on what they eat, or don’t eat. A vegan all though a vegan is someone who doesn’t eat any animal products, they don’t eat or drink anything that has come from an animal, if you go to a vegans house you will probably see the things they consume correlate with what they eat. For instance, a vegan would never have a leather couch, a goose down feathered blanket, leather boots in their closet. A vegan would also have more organic food, maybe pills for protein, things that regular carnivores might not have in their kitchen. It’s interesting, by what they choose not to eat, they live and consume a different lifestyle then say someone who eats milk or drinks dairy products on a daily basis.
The vegan lifestyle I believe goes against Hegemony. The rich elitest society aren’t big fans of the vegans. I believe it’s because they aren’t the norm. they aren’t easily fooled by clever ads and usually go against them finding the ads perverse and sick. The vegan “movement” goes against the “American dream” because vegans don’t eat apple pie, they don’t buy big fancy polluting suv’s and they don’t believe killing animals to make fancy clothes for their “consumption” is right.
The more factors ideology is scary but it makes sense and is almost what I believe the 00’s will be known for. The selfish years. We will be known as the people that predicted what was going to happen in the future but decided not to help. We need air conditioners, fans aren’t good enough, soon either will air conditioners. Soon it will be only “central” air that will be used. After we are done with that phase we will need fancy personal air conditioners that will keep us cool wherever because we can’t handle that 30 seconds of heat when walking from our house to our car. The personal air conditioners will use so much freon that our ozone layers life expectancy will deplete. But since it won’t effect the 00’s lifetime we just keep consuming and consuming and consuming.
In closing…I loved the bumber sticker “Whoever dies with the most toys wins”
October 18, 2007 at 3:53 pm
On the video, what spoke to me was the correlation between education and consumption. But Carlin said that it will never get fixed, is that true? Are we doing anything to fix this? Can we do anything?
October 18, 2007 at 4:00 pm
2) I believe that people are what they consume. The reason being is becuase if people did not feel relevant to the item purchasing they would not be intrested at all. For example when i go out shopping i want to obtain something that satisfis my needs. I recently purchassed a digital camera. Since i also wanted a portable music device i found a camera with an mp3 player on it. I feel that having this item with me shows who i am since i’m a real simple person. I would not be happy with myself if i was carrying a digital camera and an ipod. It is just not me. I believe people buy what fits them the most. For example a techno dj is not going to have as much as hip hop vynls as a hip hop dj. See what i’m getting at.
October 18, 2007 at 4:23 pm
We are what we consume…I find it really amusing to just look at people sometimes, but when you do that now adays you always get the “stop stereotyping people” but really its just fun too look at people and what they are wearing or what they have and are even able to make that stereotype. If people werent so materialsitic these days in our country we would have less of it, the people that say stop stereotyping and just accept everyone are usually the ones that walk around wearing the disigner cloths trying to be someone by spending money rather than on their personality. its amazing that your even able to look at someone and guess what they are like, but by no means will you be right all the time or even most of the time but im guessing if you saw someone and you were like that persons like that because they are wearing this or consuming this i bet you anything you would be right some of the time. Our whole society is consumption and weve been feed, “the more you consume the better for our economy” but really as in the video of that comedian i forgot his name but he said, “we consume things we dont have the money for” Its amazing to look at statistics and see that over 50 percent of americans are in over 25000 in debt. It just makes you think how brain washed our society must be getting to feel like we need to consume more than we make just because we can thanks to credit cards. Our ideology is the newer and more expensive the cloths or accesories we have the more we will be looked up at or be better off. We need to get out of the consumer ideology that we have and learn that its not about what we have so much its about who we are and what were like. I see things on youtube and documentaries about how many ads we see in a lifetime and how they affect our judgement on things and im tired of feeling helpless. I for one will be glad to go to a thrift store and buy a shirt or pants for a dollar and flaunt it proudly
October 18, 2007 at 4:59 pm
i feel that the saying ‘you are what you comsume’ is true because, its sad to say but true, many people do judge people on what they look like, their physical appearance. futhermore what you eat and wear does show and it is easy to judge a person by their looks. the media has such a huge impact on people that they start believing their ideologies, whether is it how people should look, act and what we should be consumeing to better our lives. we see all the celebrities consumeing things that seem to be having a positive affect on their lives and so people begin trying to live the celebrity life as well, ‘its significance does not lie in its usefullness but rather in its symbolism, in the image it projects, and that image is socially constructed’. however this does not make sense because once someone buys something that is supposed to make them happier they find that there is something even better than that and now they want that newer product, fashion style. the media and and mass producers ‘have to convince them that the stuff they already have is passe’. for example, when the ipod first came out i went out to buy it. it not yet had the color screen or you couldnt put pictures or movies on it so when the newer version came out i was no longer satified with just haveing something that could hold 1500 songs. i wanted the ipod that could hold 5000 songs, upload pictures and movies. im sure once there is someting better i am going to want it but can afford it. its a visious cycle. back to how one looks and that being how people judge others. i grew up in a surrounding where many people could afford coach, prada and gucci so when i came to school wearing none brands people judged me for it. its a superfical world nowadays with all the technology that allows advertisment to brainwash us. however it is up to the individual to realize what is worth buying and that it may not be healthy to believe the saying ‘you are what you consume’.
October 18, 2007 at 5:04 pm
As a woman brought up as a feminist, the first example that pops into my head when I read question #1 is the perpetuation of female and feminine roles in advertising and media. Although here in 2007 we are eased into the belief that men and women are perceived as equal, advertising would lead a thinking person to believe otherwise. A recent advertising phenomenon is the presentation of gorgeous, supermodel-type women in super-sexy clothing in the same frame as Average Joe-type men who are usually wearing a white t-shirt and need a shave. The Axe commercials are even worse: scantily-clad models literally lift their noses to the wind (like animals) at the smell of the Axe-wearing Average Joe and literally attack him. Or the magazine ad where the page is divided into a before frame and an after frame; in the first there is a man and a woman standing next to one another in an elevator. He is staring casually ahead. She is giving him the eye. In the second frame his shirt is unbottoned and her hair is tousled, her skirt disturbed. They have obviously just had sex (after she made the first move.) While some would argue that this is a positive portrayal of women as aggressive sexual beings, I would argue that it is a portrayal of women as entirely sexual beings. Maybe this advertisement standing alone could mean women’s sexual freedom, but when it is one of thousands—a small sample of the type of garbage that dominates our magazines and airwaves—it becomes hegemony. And people wonder why girls as young as 10 are having sexual intercourse: it’s not always poor parenting or a lack of sexual education…the media is telling us everyday that we should fuck, fuck, fuck, and fuck some more. And the worst part is that those Axe commercials aren’t even selling their product to women! It’s FOR MEN: a tool to get us into bed because that’s all it takes these days, boys; smell good and we’ll go home with you, no matter how bad you need a razor or an attitude adjustment. Garbage.
October 18, 2007 at 5:22 pm
http://celebslam.buzznet.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/celebrity-gossip-paris-hilton-clown.jpg(lol dont know how to hyper link). This web site has a picture of Paris Hilton coming back from some store with two yellow bags, opening the trunk to her Bentley. This picture clearly shows that you are what you buy. As an American I can say that most Americans are what we buy, because all of us have this big dreams of material things. We spend all our time trying to get these things and once we get them we want more. We also let what we buy dictate our social status, if I have on scruffy clothes people dont want to associate with me but when I out on my Sundays best people feel treat me as their childhood friend. I can recall this one time, my jr. year in high school and we went on a field trip to a middle school to teach sex education. This day I wasn’t in the dress up mode so I just threw on anything that morning. When we got to the middle school the kids were talking about me calling me poor and all of the above, childish things. I’m not going to lie I felt bad, I’m not very emotional but I wanted to cry about the whole ordeal. Sortly after we had another field trip to do the same thing at another middel school, but this day I guess I was looking good because I was getting all types of compliments on what I had on. That confussed me for a second, but I realized that we set “you are what you buy” in America. What you have determines what kind of person you are to people, and I’m not gooing to lie I’ve been guilty of judge some one for what they had also, but I do realize the situation and is now currently trying to fix this problem.
October 18, 2007 at 5:40 pm
I love this topic. I wrote many a paper about consumerism my last year of high school. Consumerism has such broad effects that we are not even aware of when we continually buy. To take a look at my own consumerism, I have aimed at curbing it, but I still have urges to buy. Currently, I’m thinking about the mewithoutYou CD and the Brand New CD that I would love to purchase. Yet, I only have a few dollars left in my bank account because of my spending habits. Luckily, I haven’t yet bought into the idea of the credit card being the almighty money of today, so I’m not in credit card debt (though this school will be taking money from me for many years to come unless I find some scholarships). Anyway, other than CDs, I have food and clothes on my mind all the time. It’s pathetic. I try to conserve, never spending much over $20 at a time, but unfortunately I shop too frequently. I see sweets at the grocery store, and I think “I deserve that.” I have no pressing need for it though. I see shoes and think “I need new shoes for winter.” I do need new shoes, but the yellow flats I bought aren’t going to do much when there’s snow everywhere. They look nice, and they were only $15, and it’s hard to find shoes that fit me (even though my size 11 feet didn’t quite fit these 10s either). That’s how I justify my purchase. Every time I shop, I feel guilty if I can’t justify every purchase. So I think while I’m shopping, “Why am I buying this? Could I find something cheaper, with about as much quality? Do I NEED this?” Most of the time I will realize I don’t and put most of the items back on the shelf, probably annoying the sales clerk.
For most Americans, though, it is easier, more convenient, to just whip out the credit card every time something catches their eye. And media creates an idea of need for products we do not need. Do we really need antibacterial soap to wash our hands? I do use it, I can’t lie. But are germs really going to kill us if we don’t use antibacterial soap? No. Some soap has rendered beef fat in it (tallow). Think about that.
In my research that I have done in the past year on consumerism, I have found a few interesting people who stand up and fight it. http://www.littlebrowndress.com presents a project created by Alex Martin. She wore the same little brown dress for one year, stating “In this performance, I challenged myself to reject the economic system that pushes over-consumption, and the bill of goods that has been sold, especially to women, about what makes a person good, attractive and interesting.” I also found an entire group of people (I can’t find the link anymore)who stopped buying things for an entire year unless it was essential to their well-being (food, toilet paper, etc.). My favorite find was Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping (http://www.revbilly.com/) who are putting out a film What Would Jesus Buy. I was going to go to a screening for the film and I missed it, and I am very disappointed because the title alone is intriguing. This year I have done a lot of thinking about simple living. I have been a vegetarian for a couple of years now, and I have also researched the effects of consuming animal products. Consuming animal products contributes hugely to pollution. I am not trying to preach, it’s just a fact of life that where there is a factory farm, there is a whole lot of poop and waste that harms the environment. Thanks for reading, and make sure to check out Rev Billy, he’s pretty awesome. http://youtube.com/watch?v=4wxjl2ERhnI
October 18, 2007 at 6:03 pm
This weeks assignment has been my favorite so far, because the topic is something that drives me crazy. Seriousslly… I just don’t understand it. WHYWHYWHY does it matter if you have a pair of $300 Dolce & Gabana sunglasses???????? A $750 Louis Vuittan purse??? I could not think of a bigger waste of money. YES, they are all very nice to look at. But quite honestly, a $30 knock-off purse that I picked up on the corner of 5th and 73rd suits me just fine, and I get complements!!!
It’s so frusterating to me to see people consumed by their “image”- what clothes/shoes/brands/gadgets/etc. that they’re toting. My aunt is the WORST- don’t get me wrong, I love her very much, but when she is seriously trying to ask me if she should get the 2008 BMW or Lexus SUV… I want to tell her that she should probably just go to an auction and pick up something from 2004 or 2005- it looks just as nice, and is much cheaper.
I loved these chapters in the book- especially the “Culture of American Consumption,” because it just brought to a new light things that I already knew, but didn’t think hard enough about. It is true that our possessions are staples of our personalities. My cell phone, my winter boots, my laptop- these items all say something about me. Whether it’s that I’m an “indie” kid, or a business woman… I don’t know.
The thing about me is that, while I do feel like I am constantly making purchases, I’m not buying things that I don’t really need. I try to live simply- only purchasing things that help me live bit easier. I try to think about the way people live in Africa, or the way people lived here in America 200 years ago. They didn’t need all that I have now, and many of them turned out fine. So why should I wantwantwant more and more?
I LOVE GEORGE CARLIN. Everything he said in that video is true. I feel like no one thinks for themselves anymore, and that’s such a shame, because this country and the people in it are going to shit. I love this class because it forces people to think a little harder. GO AGAINST THE GRAIN, people.
October 18, 2007 at 6:11 pm
i agree with this theme all together this week. we are fed and led by consumption. i really dont know what our society would do without STUFF! Its so funny because i always think about the whole cell phone thing. how did people communicate without cell phones?!? Now, everyone has a cell phone… my grandmother has a cell phone… and its funny because she blames everything on her cell phone. I remember her car wouldnt start when she first got her phone and she thought it was the phone that was affecting the car. Then another time her hip hurt… well, it must have been because she had that gosh darn cell phone in her pocket. but if she doesnt have that cell phone, how are we going to communicate with her?! Home phone? who calls home phone numbers anymore? telemarketers. thats about it. The media shoves these things down our throats. The car thing is funny too… who can have the biggest best car?? do we want the car for the look or the function. whats the real reason? We always have advertisements in our faces. everywhere we go. it has gotten so bad that we dont even realize that the only reason we have a taste for that taco bell is because we were subconsciously looking at the sign for the new cheesy beefy melt on the bus. They are literally brain washing us and i admit… i can be one of those consumers. it’s really hard not to get cought up in the web of buying things especially when it’s such social symbol that its almost now considered standard.
October 18, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I disagree with something that was said in SOL Blue Jeans. “most people that were interviewed agreed…” that the quality of denim jeans does not differ much from designer to the lower end brands. This is a generalization that is not even almost true. I dont have the book with me right now so i cant directly quote or give the page number. Who did he interview anyway? There is a big difference in the construction and quality of designer and lower end jeans. The cheaper ones are not made with as sturdy material or stitching so that they will fade and wear down faster in certain areas like the inner thighs, back pockets, waist band etc. Polyester blend denim even smells and feels different than a higher quality jean. That being said, I wouldnt spend $300 on jeans either. I dont look at labels, but the saying usually holds true “you get what you pay for.”
October 20, 2007 at 5:41 pm
“You are what you consume.” Well I try to stay away from big expense name brands. I love vintage and thrift shopping. I love how I am able to piece so many things together to create an outfit. I of course do buy name brand clothing but the not super expensive brands. I’m not willing to pay $80 for a pair of jeans that I can get for 20 bucks. I consider myself simple. I don’t feel the need to impress anyone. Obviously what I buy reflects me. I love graphic t-shirts and big bold jewelry. Now that I think about it the jewelry is actually a symbol of my strong and bold personality.
America is a great example of hegemony. Sure we do over-power other countries but in the area of money. Many others countries are much smarter and a lot more creative than us. In high school I noticed that the foreign students did generally better in school than my classmates born in the US.
America is run by sales. Today on the way to my art class a guy from Greenpeace stopped me and I paused to talk to him. He told me if I wanted to become a member and that I had to make monthly donations. He says it didn’t even matter if I gave 50 cents. To me that was all “Sales blah, blah, blah.” He told me donating money to Greenpeace was a very effective way to stop global warming. Sheesh, last time I did my research the best ways was to recycle, plant trees, walk or take public transportation if possible and the list goes on. Greenpeace takes money from you so that they can make send more letters asking you for more money. This is just one example of course because there are many more.
Whenever new product come out I don’t quickly rush to buy it. I have seen a trend and I believe things are worth waiting for. Why should I pay $400 now when in about four months that price will be almost half? The media makes people think they NEED something. I enjoyed reading about how private things are being done outdoors now. Something I have always talked about is how Americans don’t want to talk to each other face to face anymore. We’d rather email, text message, or talk on the phone than see each other in person. I’m sure in the past we all memorized many more phone numbers than we do now. Why? Because we need the cell phone and the cell conveniently has a phonebook in it so we don’t have to memorize anything!
I had never realized that jeans are worn by all (well most) different types of people. I also enjoyed reading how it was associated with rebellious acts. Something I can think of that is similar to jeans is underwear, especially bras. I’d rather talk about the bra. I feel that the bra has feminine struggles. Until the creation of the bra, undergarments had consisted of heavily-boned, tight-laced corsets. To men was a very intimate thing but the women found them extremely uncomfortable. The bra brought with it a whole new attitude to women’s underwear. Now it’s an item of intimate apparel! All different kinds of women wear them no matter what social status, what race (well with the exception of some cultures) or what size.
October 24, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I definitely believe in the term, “you are what you consume”, but for me this term is loose or bends around me according to the situation. For example, I live on the run; from work, to the studio, to school etc. So with this in mind I eat out a lot. Given that I consume fast food, I’m not to be mistaken for a high cholestrol, red meat-eating slob, either. I eat a lot of subway, and even when I go to burger king or a mom and pop diner, I order chicken sandwitches and salads. So yes, I am a consumer of fast food resturants but I’m not your first idea, or stereotype of a fast food consumer.
October 29, 2007 at 12:28 pm
The question of exactly how corporations maintain “power” over the
consumer is rather self-explanatory. As long as people need things (or at
least think they need things), products sell themselves. Of course there’s
advertising but what really sells a product is word of mouth and the need
for personal identity.”‘A Catalogue for Cooks’. The catalogue speaks not to
need but to the construction of identity”(SOL, 67). It’s very much like most
of the students at Columbia, if some kid considers himself ‘indy’ then
chances are that he’ll put a lot of money into an Urban Outfitters wardrobe
because that’s *who* he is. This is where hegemony comes in; no one listens
to any advertisement more than themselves and if they’re telling themselves
they are the kind of person that wears tight pants and fake vintage t-shirts
that is probably what they’ll invest in. And, really, that’s all it takes.
Once people have an image of *who they are *created all thats left to do is
show them the accessories. And because it is human nature to wish to define
yourself from the crowd the need to identify oneself cna never truly be
satisfied. This is a disfunction in society the SOL describes where
“symptoms include an insatiable desire for more and more things coupled with
a diminishing sense of satisfaction with the things one already owns”(SOL,
71).
December 13, 2007 at 6:32 pm
we are the consumers who make our own destiny through how much a product is sold .our country is the prime example of how money rules hegemony.i think our fearless leaders and consumers are afraid to admiit ,it`s not democracy we bring to the table any table ,it`spower+ money=hegimony
December 13, 2007 at 6:39 pm
we are the consumers who make our own destiny through how much a product is sold .our country is the prime example of how money rules hegemony.i think our fearless leaders and consumers are afraid to admit that consumerism controls sports , musicand religion