Consumerism and the Television - Essay Example

Consumerism and the television The rise in technological innovation has helped humanity in innumerable ways. This occurs as technology continually opens up the world to new realities. Technology affects various facets of contemporary life such as information, communication, production, and businesses. Technology has become an indispensable part of human lives since it grants considerable convenience. For instance, information that would take ages to reach particular parts of the world reach people through the television. The television, in itself, has provided numerous benefits in terms of entertainment, information, and education. The television, however, in itself has brought great detriment to the human society. In the twenty-first century, the television is a major contributor to consumerism. A hypothesis on the beginning of American consumerism builds from the context of the mid 1940’s to the 1950’s. The Keynesian reconstruction principles and the spurred economic growth delivered new products delivered increased per capita income to families. Jobs were abundant, wages surged, and the Americans saw a promising country that would deliver previously suffocated promises. People married and bore children at unimagined rates. In addition, people bought homes as suburbs rapidly expanded. From the mid 1940’s to the 1950’s, consumption was a form of patriotism. In this sense, individuals did not lonely indulge in irrational material desire but viewed such a behavior as delivering the goals of the American nation. It is speculated that this view is attributable to the Keynesian economics which proposed consumption as the only way of raising the American economy out of the depression. Family life and the home was the epicenter of consumerism. This explains the high level purchases of items such as washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars, and the television. The American psyche believed that such machines would inject modernity in their homes. For instance, between 1945 and 1959, Americans bought 21.4 million cars and 20 million refrigerators (The Tupperware 1). The television, especially, became a key symbol of modernity and lives of people began depending on the then marvelous gadget (Gray 23). Such hedonism would not have been possible without an overwhelming influence, the television. Television has the emotions that spur a hedonistic culture whereby individuals highly respond to visual impulses. In such a setting, individuals constantly daydream about products that can fill their lives. The American business landscape was continually changing as firms started relying on marketing rather than huge capital towards starting up investments. The industries were diverging from the John D Rockefeller model that emphasized on colossal capital (Roman 129). The new model of marketing, therefore, would emphasize on customers as a means of attracting revenues. The free market economy enabled many players to enter industries thereby challenging large monopolies. This also initiated a ravenously competitive business environment. In turn, businesses realized that the customers were the greatest asset in realizing expected revenues. Businesses had to aggressively scramble for the squeezed market base in order to attract and retain customers. Businesses realized a great potential in the television as a means of reaching consumers. This was coincidental with an urge for modernization from the American populace. The firms, during this period, realized that targeting families was more beneficial than attracting individuals. In spite of the rebellion against conservative American values from groups such as the Beat Generation, the family became a huge fetish in the 1950’s (Sprengler 84). Individuals looked down upon communism and embraced a capitalistic system that entailed mass consumption of comfort and luxury goods. The population, however, did not realize that television channels exists mainly to make money. They, therefore, find a way of engaging audiences towards their profit making. This is possible in many ways. To begin with, television may appeal to the current psyche of the population by presenting products that directly appeal to the mass audience’s instincts. In turn, individuals encode the visual objects displayed in the advertisement and decode the same through actual purchases. Alternatively, it can create a virtual sense of adventure that the audience may yearn for the same. While in the former method, the audience sets the precedence that the television houses follow, the latter method lets the television sets the trends that the population follows. The television spurred consumerism in the family in innumerable ways. In the 1950’s, television focused on reproducing the population’s yearn for a prosperous and blissful family. This was an inherent theme in both TV shows and advertisements. The picture of the perfect family was built on new consumption mode that no longer associated excessive purchases with debauchery. The picture would usually consist of a working father, two children, and a demure wife. The demure wife, for instance, would be cooking in an exquisitely furnished kitchen. Extensively furnished houses inspired families to buy the house products they saw in the television ads. TV shows such as The Honeymooners mainly catered for corporate employed and middle class tastes. For instance, the TV shows would show healthy looking and spending children. Advertised products seemed to promise American homes that upward mobility was a real thing. Such consumerism created a notable detriment in the population. To begin with, consumerism was associated with beauty. The TV shows showcased pictures of handsome men, beautiful wives, and pretty children. Unreachable notions of beauty to average families spurred families to continue spending in order to reach this ideal. In addition, it ignored a major part of the population that faced difficulty in meeting day-to-day needs. This is because it focused on a middle class that was living beyond sufficiency. In essence, American was still tackling class inequalities and poverty that was constraining other families and individuals from accessing opportunities that the middle class were enjoying. It is not doubtable that many families would have easily lived beyond their means thereby jeopardizing their limited finances. Feminist theories emphasize the distasteful place of women in the 1950’s consumerism culture. Unlike contemporary marketing that target different segments of the market, the earlier television ads seemed to have capitalized on the psyche of women. It is arguable that women have always been the most concerned about the idea of glued families. Although the picture of the perfect family was a subtly sexist connotation, it easily impressed the subconscious of the less empowered female. Traditional ideals were marketing ideas to businessmen. This saw the promotion of virtuous households, with morally upright and submissive mothers, in nuclear families. Besides, it involved a culture of sentimentalism that was directed at the women. For instance, in the advertisement of yeast, there was a notion that the use of yeast would promise a blissful household. Home economy had the notion of a working husband and a subterranean wife who dictated the use of finances within the family. Advertisements positioned the women as having the prime influence in the purchasing decisions of the family (Stearns 98). In this sense, the housewife would have an easier life out of the products that made the idea of staying within the family home a comfortable one. Such television ads that praised cookery and housekeeping made women susceptible to the alluring consumer world. Although there are many other television aspects that influence consumerism, commercial advertisements were the prime influence. Besides, the notions that television commercial ads created in the 1950’s have infiltrated the contemporary society. Marxian economics prophesied that capitalism would create unwanted needs. In this new consumption environment, individuals would purchase products that they would have, otherwise, not purchased if there were no marketing. Marketing, therefore, influence consumers to buy products that may not in essence add value to their lives. The television would become an important asset to businesses because it would pull the audiences to witness the products of various businesses. In addition, the businesses would dictate what they sell to customers rather than rely on clues from the consumer base. Television advertisements would grant businesses a higher bargaining power in the market because marketing manipulates the psychology of the population to sell given products. Televisions, just as any other business, exists to make profits. Commercial advertisements are the chief source of revenues for television channels. This explains why the length of advertisements amidst shows have been expanding. The Nielsen ratings system indicates audience viewership of given television shows. This helps television channel directors to determine the popularity of their television shows. In turn, they can gauge the particular charges for advertising on given programs as regards the respective popularity of such shows. The more popular shows attract higher charges since they entail larger audiences. In the current world, advisements take up a huge proportion of each hour in a day. For instance, while in the 1960’s, showcasing of a program for one hour would only attain 9 minutes of advertisement, a similar length of program toady entails 18 minutes of advertising (Miller 108). In this sense, 30 minutes of a program would now entail 8 minutes of ads whereby a greater percentage is consumed in national advertising. This means that 10 hours of programming, today, dedicates 3 hours to advertisements. Most shows that were programmed in the 1960’s would be edited to create an extra capacity for advertisement in the today’s environment. Such a phenomenon suggests that television houses have uncovered a considerable venture in commercial advertisements. This happens as the television remains the most effective mode of mass marketing. In spite of the rise of social media, the television still hosts major commercial advertisements since it allows for intricate articulation of commercials. This explains why the popular Super Bowl football game entails many advertisements. Such a show, today, entail charges of up to $ 4 million for a 30 seconds advertisement. Due to intensive marketing, an average consumer faces numerous commercial advisements urging one to buy various goods. An innocent time in front of the TV exposes a person to a glitzy world whereby happiness is showcased as pegged on the acquisition of material things. In the American population, an average child watches 25, 000 TV ads while the adult counterpart watches 52, 500 TV ads in a year (Dwyer 27). This suggests that children in the USA spend more than one week watching TV ads. An adult, on the other hand, spend more than two weeks watching TV ads in a year. It is crucial to note that such advertisements have a huge effect since they are manifested in repeated modes. An advertisement of 30 seconds, therefore, would have a profound effect on a person as it is repeated in a given TV program every day of the week. Such advertisements not only promote products, but also shapes the notion of begin happy. In turn, shopping is encountered by people as a recreational and exciting activity. In a society founded on liberal democracy, it is wrong to castigate someone for choosing what to do with one’s rightly earned income. However, the same society has a duty to remind individuals that happiness could still be attained on the acquisition of less amounts of material things as long as people buy only what they need. Certain social theories explain consumerism as a natural process. This is not an attempt at justifying endless and irrational consumption of products, but it explains that human beings have innate desires and constructs that make them vulnerable to the consumer culture (Geraghty 150). In addition, the society has systems that predispose people to such consumption. In a typical bored life, the television becomes a way of escaping the social realities. This is only possible if the television provides a virtual reality that prods the fantasy of the watcher. The television producers have been adept at this concept since they uncover a system of products language that lifts the audience from their social reality to a glitzy world. This problem arises out of the fact that a major part of the American population does not experience effective leisure time. Certain studies cite an imperfect market for leisure that constrains individuals from making balanced choices about leisure and work. Labor markets make it difficult for workers to adopt a less consumerist lifestyle for a better free time. It is notable that Americans work longer hours than counterparts in other developed countries. Besides, there are common cases of mandatory overtime working hours that further squeezes on the leisure time of employees. Finding a sufficiently paid part time work with full benefits is not easy endeavor in the US. A free and competitive economy makes it difficult to find a job that balances ones’ recreational and income needs. Most individuals are forced to work extra hours in order to provide for their families. This lives families with the option of the TV sessions as the only bonding and recreational time. Children who do not spend adequate time with their parents easily turn to the television as a means of relieving boredom. In turn, most families are exposed to destructive television time that entails countless ads. Television advertising is detrimental to the growth and beliefs that the children harness through watching. When the television emerged in the world, the children were most fascinated because the virtual world satisfy their curious minds. A growing person would be most affected by the television because one learns the environment firsthand and by observing the immediate happenings in the same. At a young age, a person is susceptible to overwhelming influences such as commercial ads. This is worse since such ads fits into the fantasy-oriented mind of a child. In addition, a child has limited capacity to question the concepts that one suggests from the environment. Psychologists warn that advertising creates desires rather satisfy the already present desires. This creates a big ethical problem in the case of children because advertising makes them constantly insecure people who believe that they need to have certain things to be happy. Once the youngest members of the society absorbs this notion, an attitude of constant need and unhappiness affects them. Children who have known nothing else immediately believe that their satisfaction will depend on escaping into the consumerist world. In addition, the commercial world, on uncovering the children audience, craft products that appeal to the young ones. These products may include items such as candies, toys, and clothes that children come to trust as the ultimate way to the satisfaction. In the current structure of competitive industries, commercial advertisements continue to be more delusional and aggressive as the firms compete for a limited market. This creates a disastrous environment whereby individuals ignore social realities to search for an unreachable world of the advertisement. Stuart hall highlights the detriment of popular culture that pushes people into consumerism. The TV, in this context, is a tool for transmitting the notions of popular culture. Consumerism is a culture whereby individuals attain satisfaction through endless pursuit and purchase of material things. The crisis in the contemporary society lies in the fact that TV advertisement has inspired this culture. Television exists in the market for profits and commercial advertisements are the principal ways in which television houses attain revenues. A historical look at the development of the television in the American culture highlights that they thrived on commercial marketing that replayed the psyche of the population through commercial advertisements. By tapping the psyche of the population, businesses were able to sell comfort and luxury products to the television audiences. Television continues to be the most effective means of advertising because it draws the largest audience. In addition, unlike social media, it allows for the use of meticulous ads that easily strike the fancy of audiences. It is crucial to highlight that television requires questioning since it creates a society whose individuals rely on external things such as business goods to satisfy themselves. 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