Every waking moment of our lives are concentrated with consumerism. I wake in the morning and turn on the television to catch the news report before work. In between the reports are fascinating and stimulating commercials. Commercials that tell me what to drink, what to eat, and what to buy. Many of these commercials are specifically generated to catch the eye of me, the consumerist. Generation Y, adults in range of 18-34 years old, the offspring of the "baby boomers," is the primary audience of advertising agencies. To paraphrase
Gladen, " the legions of the so-called 'Age of Acquisition' who have few established brand loyalties and lots of pocket change." This audience is seen to be the major
threshold of consumerism. Generation Y is the part of society that splurges on Starbucks coffee, purchases the Nike product to stay healthy, and the Sean John and Baby Phat to keep us looking hip. We as Generation Y are knowing in the political fields of appropriation of our loyalty. Our generation is mostly disaffected with the political scene, we know that isolation from this begins with our
iPods, Avatars, and
PlayStations. Rather we haven't been taught that consumerism as something that extends beyond the own
enjoyable trip to the mall. (
Gladen p. 289) Many people are opposed to this active appeal of the
Generation Y, these media activists
have three strategies to bring down the house of consumerism. The first is to find a way to appeal to the young people on their level as an
individual. The second is to find the examples in popular culture, to show us that we are manipulated to believe we need these things. The third
strategy is simply to have the youngsters speak with their parents about their personal
experiences as they were growing up. As Johnson exemplifies, this consumerism is not about what we buy, but how we buy it. He believes that television is actually making us smarter. Television is making me smarter. So when I watch a episode of 24 on Fox, I am becoming smarter merely
because I can follow multiple story lines. So if this show is making me smarter; does that mean I will buy product more intelligently. I think not, the shows we watch many of us believe are for their entertainment value and nothing more. This entertainment value is what keeps us from watching the Home Shopping Network and being an avid consumer who must buy, buy, buy. On the other hand, Will states that, "Ours is a stage besotted with graphic entertainments." He is referring that our society cannot stand up to the intellectual crowd because of our inability to connect with books and academia. We can no longer keep up with the academic world
because we are constantly being bombarded with "graphic entertainment." This graphic entertainment is what supports the consumerism we are immersed in. Many of us Generation Y have grown up with many cartoons that told us what to buy merely because they re the newest hottest toy; such as My Little Pony and G.I. Joe. The television we watch everyday informs us of the material objects that can make us happy, if we only choose to accept the advertisements and buy. Just look the other way when Starbucks or Nike is advertising and remember that you are being manipulated to think these items are more special.
Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter" They Say I Say: With Readings. Comp. Gerald Graff, Cathy Berkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print.
Rockler-Gladen, Naomi. "Me Against the Media: From the Trenches of a Media Lit Class". They Say I Say: With Readings. Comp. Gerald Graff, Cathy Berkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print.
Will, George F. “Reality Television:Oxymoron” They Say I Say with Readings. Comp. Gerald Graff, Cathy Berkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print.
