The Media in contemporary culture - Essay Example

Of course, different people have various opinions on why the advertising is effective. For example, Berger, who wrote Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture states advertising are a lottery, as it is still that nobody knows what advertisement will be effective and what will not. Berger adds that the advertisement executives believe that they waste half of money, spent on advertisements, but no one knows which half it is. (2000, p.2-3). Nowadays media is one of the most powerful instruments of forming the opinions of its consumers.

Most of the marketing strategies that exist nowadays are built on the influences of the media. It is the irreplaceable instrument for selling things. Decades ago people bough what they needed, and their needs were dictated by their life conditions and financial status. It is nowadays that at first media creates the need in the specific product or group of products in people, and than they purchase the advertised thing. Thanks to the media people no longer buy things they need; they rather buy the attributes of the desired social status.

Hirschman (2003) states that core societal values have an important role on advertising production and reception. Thus, to become fashionable, a product has to be promoted emphasizing its contribution to those societal values. Today media dictates people not only what they should buy, but also how they should behave, and what should they long for. Lindner, the author of the study, which analyzes the images of women in general interest and fashion magazine advertisements, states that: "advertisements often contain very subtle clues about gender roles and may operate as socializing agents on several levels.

Because advertisements are publicly broadcast, the men and women portrayed are often perceived to represent the whole population, and men and women in the advertisements seem to accept these portrayed behaviors,