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.
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