Advertisement is the main tool to sell the product. In North America television commercials play a great role in the purchasing decisions consumers make. Advertisement encourages consumerism and materialism. It is used to distract consumers from rational thinking and to make choices that would comfort their physical selves. One of the most influential aspects of business is marketing.
North American television commercials are very influential in North
American society. It is obvious that the main purpose of these
commercials is to sell products. Integrated into the commercials is
the idea of consumerism. Consumerism can be related to mass
production and mass consumption. In order to make large amounts of
profit, North American companies would have to mass produce and in
result, encourage the audience to mass consume. In order to accomplish
that goal, consumerism is inscribed into their television commercials.
Furthermore, the idea of consumerism eliminates any sort of
individuality. Mass consumption, which is encouraged through
consumerism, of a product means that the majority of the population
would own that exact product. Therefore, directly or indirectly, the
television commercials eliminate individuality. Materialism is another
element found in commercials once they have been dissected. This
element is a method of selling products, as it promotes the highest
value only in a person’s possessions. The idea that a product of a
certain company has the highest value in life develops a desire in a
person to obtain this product and suggests that this value cannot be
achieved otherwise. Similar to television commercials, hypnopaedia
serves a similar purpose in Huxley’s Brave New World. In the Brave
New World, the purpose of hypnopaedia is to obtain social control,
which is achieved by encouraging materialism and consumerism to its
audience. Near the end, the world controller, Mustapha Mond, explains
that the people need to experience new things; rather than stick to
one, such as Shakespeare, as it is an attractive art that stays within
people. This is based on the idea of consumerism Materialism
and consumerism need to be present in Huxley’s society in order to
maintain social control. Social control is essential for the
well being of society. Social control ensures that there are no
problems arising, which could threaten the stability that society has
achieved. Therefore, materialism and consumerism are both promoted by
hypnopaedia. They ensure the stability and social control the world
state desires by distracting them from things such as close
relationships, which are eliminated as they are a great source of
stress. Furthermore, the idea of hypnopaedia on a large scale
eliminates any sense of individuality, since everyone would behave and
think in a similar manner. This can be related to North American
television commercials, as they also eliminate individuality. North
American television commercials and hypnopaedia use the concepts of
materialism and consumerism to achieve their respective goals, as they
serve a similar purpose. The purpose for an idea is useless if it does
not have a working mechanism. Therefore an effective mechanism must be
associated with the purpose.
To be successful in selling the products, the television commercials
need to have an effective mechanism. The primary purpose of
commercials is to sell as much as possible. A very effective mechanism
to achieve this goal is by aiming the commercials towards young
children. This is effective because, as the children grow older, the
effect of the commercials stays with them and the children stay loyal
to the respective company. Companies often use elements which are
attractive to young children to market their product as well. These
elements include hairy and fuzzy animals. The marketing of
merchandise based on the popular pre-school TV programs Barney and
Teletubbies marked the beginning of identifying toddlers as a consumer
market. Also, a commercial is often seen to be repeated within a
matter of hours or even minutes. A study from urban dreams, states
that an average 20-year old American would have watched over one
million commercials over his/her life. Sometimes, a commercial is
played simultaneously, in order to portray the message in the
commercial. This is another mechanism used, as it repeatedly targets
potential buyers. A person is more likely to buy a product if it is
presented multiple times, which is the effect of the repetition of
commercials. Similarly, in the Brave New World, hypnopaedia starts
at embryotic stage, where a human is in its early developing stage and
it continues to early childhood. This mechanism is used for the same reason
as television commercials, to ensure the loyalty to the world state by
doing what they have been taught by hypnopaedia.
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