Junior Theme: Body Paragraphs

I have a section of my paper done, it is the middle part of my paper. I thought that it would be the easiest section to write, so I started there. I am going to share it with all of you. I hope you like, and remember it is just a rough draft. Please comment on what you think I could do better. 

The media manipulates Americans subliminally. Advertising agencies use subliminal means—means that we are not conscious of—to persuade us to buy the products and services (Berger 63). Americans are being manipulated by the media with out even knowing. When people walk into a store and are deciding what to buy they will buy the product that they were unconsciously thinking about from an advertisement.  Most people don’t know when they are being influenced by an advertisement. 8.8 hours per day is spent with the media (55). That is ridiculous; most of the time that a person is awake during the day is spent with the media. On the way to work there are billboards, radio commercials, newspaper ads, and so on. Most of an average person’s day is spent being manipulated by the media with out being aware of it. The way that the media is so successful and gets Americans to consume is by subliminal advertisements. There are secret messages with in an ad. There are ways that they make their service or product successful and people don’t even know why they are buying the product. Wilson Bryan Key in Subliminal Seduction explains that the basis of modern media effectiveness is a language within a language—one that communicates to each of us at a level beneath our conscious awareness (62). Each ad has a deeper meaning that is beneath the surface, and we do not see that meaning, but our mind does, unconsciously see the deeper meaning.

            Advertisement affects the mind; there is a deep, hidden unconscious force that manipulates the mind with out being aware of it. Berger explains that many people overestimate the role of willpower and think that nothing can happen to their minds that they do not decide or intend. He says that we must discriminate between intentional and unintentional contents of the mind (61). When watching a commercial on television most people think that they can with stand the manipulation to buy what is being advertised, but what most people don’t realize is that even if you are not consciously being manipulated by an ad, there is a deeper level that manipulates Americans without knowledge of it.  Some people think that consumers are always aware of what is going on and that the media can not manipulate them unconsciously.

            Not only does the media manipulate Americans subliminally to over consume, Americans are also influenced by what others do too. When one person is subliminally manipulated by the media, then others are subliminally manipulated by that person. It is a chain reaction that the media manipulates, leading Americans into over consuming. Humans are inherently social animals, and individuals greatly influence each other (Perner). When one person wears a designers’ clothes, then all their friends want those designers’ clothes also, when one buys many follow, which leads to over consuming. Without even realizing it everyone is influencing someone else and someone is influencing that person, so it is a cycle of wanting and over consuming. Berger states that we are always marketing ourselves to others and they are always marketing themselves to us, this is the manipulation which leads to over consumption (66). People are unaware that they are being influenced by other people. They see a skinny pretty lady or a strong man wearing something and they think that they unconsciously think that if they buy that product that they will look like that too. Thus when that person walks into the store they will see the outfit and without thinking they will buy because they unconsciously know about the other person wearing the outfit, even if the person is unaware of it. 

Junior Theme Intro

This is my rough draft of my Intro, please comment with suggestions of what you think I need to fix or what you think I did really well.

Americans on average spend one entire year of their life watching television commercials (Berger 57). That’s not including all the other forms of advertising like print ads in magazines, or newspapers, or radio ads. Throughout history Americans have become more and more materialistic and have become over consumers; the media does not help. From the Industrial Revolution and through World War II Americans have always been consumers and now with this bad economy you would think that it would change, but once a consumer always a consumer. There is a basic level of consumption out there that is not going to change (Underhill). We continue to consume at a greater rate each day (Potter). One purpose of the media is to manipulate the behavior of Americans and get them to use or buy the product being advertised. This is why the media is very influential in the way that Americans consume. The media manipulates Americans subliminally and blatantly which leads Americans into over consuming. Advertising tells Americans what they should want to have, and with almost no self control they consume. Americans are unable to escape the constant presence of the media.

Junior Theme

I am on the right track. I have my introduction and my thesis, and I am interviewing my person tonight. I am almost done with my book. I feel good. I feel like I am on pace. We have the ACT and the PSAE tomorrow and Thurday, and we get out of school at like 1:00pm so I am going to go home and write my body paragraphs. I am feeling good about my junior theme.

Junior Theme

I have my question which is Why does the media manipulate Americans into over consuming? I think that this is pretty much my final question. I have the person that I am interviewing, which is Dr. Brian Winsink. He is a professor at Cornell and is the author of Mindless Eating and he also teaches courses on Consumer behavior and has lots of other great achievements in his lifetime. I am excited to interview him. I am still working on my thesis and Intro paragraph. I am not quite sure what my answer to my question is, and I think that it is throwing me off that I know that it might change while writing this paper. If anyone has any ideas for how to go about writing my thesis please help.

Junior Theme

I am having some trouble coming up with a thesis to my junior theme questions which is why are Americans consumers? I changed it from why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it makes more sense to talk about why Americans are consumers than why they are consumer focused. So far I have information about history and consumerism and I also have the idea that a big part of consumerism in advertisement. I can not think of an idea to put it into a thesis or have an introduction. I think that I want to state my question into the introduction as a rhetorical question. Any Ideas please feel free to comment.

Also I was wondering if anyone had an idea of a person that I could interview. I already emailed Paco Underhill who wrote the book Why We Buy. If anyone has any ideas of a person of type of person that I can interview. Please comment.

Junior Theme

I think that I pretty much have the question for my junior theme. It is Why are Americans consumer focused? I think that it is a good question. I am going to look at the pre-1920s when Americans were not consumer focused and at the Industrial Revolution, and now with the economic crisis the rates of savings and consumer debt and how they have changed over time. I think that it is going to be an interesting topic. I think that learning about this topic might actually help me for the future to not be so consumer focused because I will learn about the debt that Americans get in and it will teach me the bad about consumerism. If anyone has any ideas of what else I should look into or anything that will help me on my junior theme, feel free to comment.

Psychology of Advertising

This week in my American Studies class we got our prompt for what we have to do for our junior themes. I was thinking that I wanted to do something with America and how Americans are so materialistic. Then I thought that with in that topic I could look at consumerism in America, and the psychology of advertising. I began to think about the psychology of advertising and how when I watch TV and I see all these infomercials, I always wonder if anyone actually buys the product that is being sold on the TV. I never have even considered calling in to the people on TV to ask for the product, because I feel like they are going to scam you. People must call in other wise it would be a waste of time and money to be having these infomercials. I think that it is amazing that when an American sees an ad they feel as if they need that product, but if they had not seen the ad they would have never thought about buying the product before. Advertising is basically a scam to try and make people buy a product that most people do not actually need in life. Advertising is an interest of mine because it shows how that mind works, if a famous person has a product, then you need the product too, if the product has a catchy song to it then everyone knows the product. Like McDonald's, everyone knows that their slogan is "I'm Lovin' it" and most people know the phone number to Empire or Luna the carpet places. This is all because of their advertising and how they market their product. I am excited to start my junior theme on this topic so that I can have further discoveries about the psychology of advertising.