Consumer Culture - Book Report/Review Example

Lecturer: Topic: Consumer Culture Introduction Feed by M T Anderson makes a of a future whereby all the people who constitute the society live with a chip that has been embedded in their heads that enables them to have reception of a feed which resembles the internet that links them to social and material things (Hayn and Kaplan 99). The book gives its readers a perception of the possible future of the consumer community of America in a shocking and intriguing manner. The depiction of the teenage lifestyle as being materialistic and shallow is a perception that has always existed, but the Author develops it to an illogical conclusion. Although the future is different, the teenage feelings that existed concerning relationships are maintained together with the same apathy that is shown towards the world. Anderson does exemplary work in relation to mocking this predisposition while still being able to show an understanding of the main character who is referred to as Titus. The manner in which the future world is described, its juxtaposition with the teenagers who are oblivious, as well as the small snippets of the world concerning the manner in which the planet is degraded gives the reader a lot to ponder about while remaining entertaining. The final judgment on Violet by the corporation was the climax that clearly demonstrated the theme of the book and the notion that she should have been left to die since she could not be counted on to be a loyal consumer is true the same as the feelings Titus has concerning the chasing cool and never being able to find it. Nature of the consumer in the book The book depicts a world that is set in the future and the people who inhabit this world resemble the people who in the current times who are entangled in the webs of commercialization as well as peer pressure. Nonetheless, one difference exists, while the current population of consumers have the ability to shut themselves from corporate leeching, the characters in the book do not have this luxury. All the characters have implants in their brains that deliver feeds from companies that fill their heads with the news of everything in the market. These implants are fitted in to their brains the moment they are born and they do not have the ability to control what the feeds contain. The corporate interests carefully monitors what the consumers think about as well as their desires through the implants and the adverts that are fed to the consumers are founded on this feedback to completely fill their thinking and force them into buying. In the world depicted in the book, the teenagers develop an obsession to the point that everything they desire and want is moulded by the continuous advertisements. The peer pressure to accept the lesions as being the trending fashion statement highlights the powerlessness of the consumers in the book. There is a scary resemblance between the fictional and the present world since presently; consumers are being filled with advertisements from companies through various forms of media making the consumers become subconsciously unwilling consumers. The sense of fashion as well as the culture shocks of the consumers is strongly dependent on what is fed to the minds of the consumers by the television sets, the World Wide Web as well as the radio (Lantos 80). Each and every radio and television station is filled with repetitive monotonous advertisements that the consumers find themselves memorizing. Even the section of consumers who have technological know-how find themselves being overcome by the amount of feeds they find themselves subscribing to. Although this is the case, the media is still an important tool since it is a vital source of entertainment. The present media is better than the one that is depicted in the book since it can be turned off when the consumer feels that he has had enough information. The consumers in the book depend on the advantages that are associated with the feed to the point that they have no other choice but to endure the advertisements which eventually influence their likes as well as dislikes. This can be said to be a state of consumerism that is at its extreme and the self-worth and reason of the consumer are perceived to be unessential as far as commercial success is concerned. The message in the novel is divided between Titus and Violet who are the main characters in the novel where Titus is portrayed as a self-conscious teenager who is stunned by the futuristic world and is not bothered by the feed while Violet is the protagonist who symbolizes those who are underprivileged and victimized in the society. Even rebellion does not work for her since the world she lives in has already lost its moral consideration for this kind of actions thus representing this rebellion as a mere technical malfunction. Ultimately, the reader is left with the costs of this technology as affects both characters in different ways. Feed and advertisements in today’s society M T Anderson uses what he calls “Feed” to symbolize advertisements that are implanted in the heads of his characters by the government. It is surprising that this type of advertising resembles what is being experienced in the present day on a daily basis. Research has shown that the average consumers see approximately three thousand advertisements is a single day (Jackson 81). Advertisements are all over, from fuelling stations and supermarkets to bathrooms and telephone booths thus making the feeds that are experienced by the characters in the book seem realistic. Ambient advertising are the advertisements that are in public places and considering the competition for customers today, advertisers are looking for new ways that will enable them to get the attention of the consumers. These include public places like benches in parks and in elevators so that the marketers can pass their message effectively and with ease as symbolized in the book. The feed is implanted into everyone’s brain and it continually reminds them of the products they could purchase and they do so over and over again that eventually they become memorized and serve their purpose. The feeds that are meant for Titus work correctly but the ones meant for Violet do not seem to be what they are supposed to be and no one can point out the reason why her feed does not work the same way the others are working. The feed functions by cataloguing and relaying items and service a consumer prefers but as far as Violet is concerned, it fails to function correctly. Similarly today, some of the adverts get to a particular audience while others do not since it depends on the population that is targeted by the advertiser (Schudson 58). Digital advertising is the advertising that involves the use of computer technology and it is becoming common particularly with the technological advances that are being experienced in the current time (Sobh 67). Even though the feeds seem to be farfetched and extraordinary, there are many similarities that can be identified in the present world of advertising. In the novel, Calista gets a laceration which resembles a stripe and a male character develops a liking for it that makes Quendy become jealous. She consequently returns to the party with many lacerations like the one Calista had demonstrating that women can take part in foolish actions especially on their bodies if they get the implication that men perceive it to be attractive for example getting plastic surgery. Depending on the feed to do all things is the same as today’s world where the young people utilize the internet for everything. The book appears to be a peek into the future in terms of the manner in which technology will evolve the world surrounding the consumer. How corporations control the consumers In the book, Anderson makes a description of a future that is characterized by a culture that is totally narrow-minded, ignorant and influenced by consumerism. In the entire novel, there is a clear portrayal of how in the future, most of the teenagers will not be worried about their own degree of intellect and the manner in which the feed has made them become totally ignorant to themselves. They do not consider education to be vital anymore since through the feed, students are able to access the information they need at any time. As with the assistance of the feed the teenagers get everything in an easier way, majority of them are only worried about having fun and taking up anything that interests them that appears in the feed. In numerous chapters of the book, there are many instances that demonstrate how shallow people are in this future and one of the main examples is when Titus starts being intimidated by his girlfriend Violet’s intelligence. He worries and starts wondering whether he is seen as smart or foolish and as a result, he asks his parents about it. His parents try to discuss with him and assure him that he is smart but he does not take their word for it. The only solution they could come up with is buying him something that will take his mind of the subject and therefore decided to buy him a car. This made him stop feeling stupid and his worry ended. An attribute that contributes strongly to the ignorance exhibited by these teenagers is the education system and the key purpose of the school in the book is to encourage consumerism which tries to overcome the society. Students develop the notion that education is not essential since from the feeds, they have access whatever kind of information they want and this makes everyone smart without having to work (Anderson 425). This situation of not working makes them become foolish. Violet, who is schooled at home and had her implant when she was seven exhibits intellect and is more insightful than Titus and his family. The reality behind these facts is that the more consumers depend on technology and external devices to think and arrive at decisions, the more stupid they become and the lives they live continually become shallow. The main attribute that is responsible for the future society developing its shallow nature and its complacency is the consumption of products which are regularly advertised through the feed. In relation to advertising, the feed resembles the websites where many advertisement windows pop-up. In the future consumer, this happens in their brains continuously and this influences Titus and his friends when they are in the moon and make the decision to go to shop since they are bored. When they get to the mall, the reader is made to understand that he wanted to purchase some items but he did not know exactly what they were (Anderson 270). Violet has experienced living without the feed and this allows her to think outside the box making her able to overcome the feed. Corporations more or less control consumers through the various advertisements they run and through the demographic studies that group people into sets of personalities after which they target advertisements based on preferences (Fligstein 118). After the corporations complete their demographic studies, they seek to understand the consumers and make them adapt to one of their marketing types while maintaining the details at a fundamental level to make sure they appeal to everyone. This makes the consumers develop a notion that everything is basic and when they become comfortable with this, their personalities and preferences become less varied. Conclusion The futuristic society that is depicted in this novel is corrupted as a result of the manner in which the consumers over time are controlled by the consumerism instigated by the corporations. The feed necessitates this manipulation and makes it easier for the corporations to achieve their goals. The people have no ability to think on their own as well as to appreciate and comprehend the dangers that are associated with this manipulation. The book assists the present day consumers develop an awareness of the ways in which technology enslaves them to consumerism. The endeavour by Anderson to expose the truth behind this book is exemplary and hopefully people will understand the implications of allowing the feed to take over in the days to come. Work cited Anderson, M. T. “Feed”. 1st ed. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2010. Print. Fligstein, Neil. “The Transformation Of Corporate Control”. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990. Print. Hayn, Judith A, and Jeffrey S Kaplan. “Teaching Young Adult Literature Today”. 1st ed. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012. Print. Jackson, John Bradley. “First, Best, Or Different”. 1st ed. Indianapolis, IN: Dog Ear Pub., 2007. Print. Lantos, Geoffrey Paul. “Consumer Behavior In Action”. 1st ed. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2011. Print. Schudson, Michael. “Advertising, The Uneasy Persuasion (RLE Advertising)”. 1st ed. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013. Print. Sobh, Tarek M. “Innovations And Advanced Techniques In Computer And Information Sciences And Engineering”. 1st ed. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007. Print. Read More