The Influence of Mass Media on Culture - Essay Example

THE MEDIA CATERING TO SPECIFIC CULTURAL AND AGE GROUPS As I gracefully age, I’ve been blessed to have lived in five totally differently decades; from the sixties to the present. Everything within those decades was totally different, from the music, to the clothing, the food, the lifestyles, the political views, and family upbringing. But one of the most significant changes that I have seen while growing up has been the Media Catering to specific cultural and age groups. At times when I watch TV, listen to the radio, or drive by a billboard add, I start thinking about what the advertisement presented in different media ( TV program, radio, billboard) is trying to get across. When driving down the Little Saigon, I see advertisements about the dangers of smoking. When in downtown Santa Ana, I see a lot of Beer billboards that are catered to the large Hispanic population. I specifically mentioned these two cultures because as a child growing up, I did not see any advertisement in whatever form that catered or represented the Asian and/or Latino community. Recalling all the TV commercials in my era, none of those were actually intended for the minority groups of that time : African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, or Latinos. All media was directed to the Anglo population which was obviously the pervading majority at that period . There were very few advertisements that were actually meant for us, and even then, they were at time sexist, bias, and most often prejudiced. Let us look at some of those commercials that I can remember through the decades. All toy commercials from the sixties and seventies catered the Anglo kids. Now why was that? First of all, the buying power that Toy Companies were looking for rested within the majority of the Anglo population. This was the primary reason for their commercial targeting that cultural group. The department stores at that time, such as Gemco, K-Mart, Zody’s, and Macy’s focused their attention to specific cultural and age groups. K-Mart and Zody’s targeted the minorities like Latinos, seniors, African Americans, as reflected by their “Low prices.” The Blue Light special. Going back to TV programs, the few shows that were meant for us to relate to were: Chico and the Man, Sanford and Son’s, Good Times, and The Jefferson’s. Naturally, they were not in prime time and the sponsors were not the Major sponsors you would find in other shows. These big sponsors then were: Mc Donald’s, Coca Cola, Bobs Big Boy, Loves, Pepsi, Marlboro. Even on those shows, there was always and Anglo within; this was the media’s way of keeping the majority “involved” in some form, since they were the ones with the buying power. The one sponsor that I do remember was Time Life trying to sell a record or an 8Track collection of soul music which included the Chi-Lites “Hey there lonely girl.” As a Latino watching both the main stream channels plus the one Spanish Channel (Canal 34) that we had, I observed the disparity in commercials between both worlds (cultures). The only commercials that I remember on Canal 34 was Victor Clothing’s, Felix Chevrolet, Coverly Ford, and all major movie theaters in downtown Los Angeles. The major sponsors that we had was basically clothing, cars and movies. There were no supermarkets, restaurants, or other major name brands trying to get us to buy into their product lines. Even though name brands were part of our daily life, it was not catered to the Latinos or the Asians. It wasn’t until the early to mid eighties that I started to see the first major big sponsor on Spanish TV McDonalds which other sponsors followed later on. When it came to the advertising we were pretty much outcasts. We had no magazines, billboards, infomercials, etc. Our potential buying power was not taken advantage of until the late 80’s. This is when we started getting bombarded by adverts. Food, clothing, places, brand name products eventually started catering to us. If we take a look at the new McDonalds McCoffee TV ad, we see that the lady in the ad could pass off as an Anglo, Latino, or Asian. This same TV ad is used for both English and Spanish TV. Companies like Verizon, Target and Macy’s are all using the same ads to cater to other cultural communities. But again, as I watch difft. TV channels, (, Korean, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Indian, Filipino, Chinese ) I don’t see any of them catering to that specific culture. It was only Toyota that had Korean TV ads. All others are in the same scenario that the Latinos were back in the 60’s and 70’s. These others cultures are catered by their own local businesses, just as we were back then. Even within the mainstream culture some of the other subcultures were not taken into account. Let us look at the vegetarians and it people with healthy habits. The only Diet commercial around was the Tab Cola commercial. There were no mass media for these group of people. No Whole Foods, Mothers Markets or Organic foods. Now, we see it around in most supermarkets. There was not much interest in keeping people interested in healthy lifestyles. No health clubs advertising, except for Jack La lanes. No low-carb, low-calorie foods, no lite menus, and very few healthy drinks were available to the public then. Within mainstream we see the media catering to the minority. As it was the case with MTV catering to the youth during the 80’s. Their mass bombardment of Music Videos revolutionized the teens of the era. The clothing styles were eventually carried by Old Navy, The Gap, Charlotte Rousse, Wet seal, Miller’s Outpouts, these were specifically targeted for the younger MTV generation. Their buying power was soon realized and that eventually lead to the mass media catering to this new cultural group. The beautiful thing about this new sub-cultural group that is was created by the combination of other sub-groups. There was no racial, cultural, or status within them since it was all in one. The MTV generation was composed of a minority of different sub-cultural groups. One it comes to media catering ,there are a lot of factors that determine what a company’s marketing team will throw out there. Usually, they ask questions such as :What are they trying to sell? Who is their main target group? What are we going to market ?What is the point that we are trying to get across? What is the doubt that they will leave in the consumers mind? Let’s take a look at Verizon and AT&T wireless commercials. Both of them provide wireless service and claim to have a faster wireless network resulting to better service. But what about the consumer? Both commercials target the mass population, with no restrictions when it comes to cultural, or age groups. It comes straight across to all consumers regardless of age or cultural backgrounds. The mass media has a profound effect on our society: collectively or individually as it caters to different groups. Regardless of who the audience is, it can have a positive or negative result depending on how it is presented and how it comes across to the individual who is the end user. It can create a new sub culture as we have seen it with the Yuppies, Hippies, Rockers, Greasers, Outlaws, Hip Hoppers, and Rappers. The mass media is a very powerful tool that when wisely harnessed, it can build a company’s products overnight. Read More