This paper analyzes two radio commercials for prescription medications for their adherence to FDA guidelines, marketing techniques, failings and overall message of the advertisement.
Abstract This paper explains that direct-to-consumer advertising is considered to be a powerful marketing tool and to be a helpful service for patients who wish to be informed about their options and be active in their own treatment; however, direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription medications may hinder effective health care in several ways including reducing doctor-patient communication. The author concludes that the analyzed commercials for Allegra D to treat allergy symptoms and an unnamed cholesterol-fighting drug did adhere to the FDA guidelines. The paper states that these gimmicky commercials are not actually informative to the general public; they are simply a tool used by the medication companies to benefit from the consumerist impulses of the population.
From the Paper "Direct-to-consumer advertising is a phenomenon of the past couple of decades. The FDA has set guidelines for drug companies to follow that are intended to prevent consumers from being taken advantage of by misleading advertisements. All commercials must use words that common people can understand, without using advanced or complicated vocabulary that would require higher education or specialized training to decipher. Most of these commercials have to state a great deal of information about the product, including intended uses and common side-effects, as well as providing means for consumers to get more information about the product that would include all of the labelling that the FDA requires for the drug. However, the commercials that were observed were exempt from these guidelines because they were brief "reminder" or "help-seeking" ads."
Abstract The paper discusses how modern technology has brought the states and peoples of the world closer together than at any other time in human history. Globalization is creating conditions of unparalleled prosperity, but it is also setting in motion the destruction of the planet. The paper contends that human beings must begin to consider their effects on the natural world. The paper identifies consumerism - the desire for more goods - as the driving force that lies behind much of the threat to the Earth's natural environment. The paper maintains that if the multinational corporations - the economic movers and shakers of the consumerist world - can learn the lessons of the more traditionalist peoples of the developing world, the Earth's natural environment might yet be preserved.
From the Paper "The physical bounty that humanity once thought inexhaustible is rapidly being cut up, drunk up, ate up, and dug up. Ancient forests are disappearing. Once-clear lakes and rivers are being contaminated. The soil and the air are being polluted with the waste products of a modern industrial society. Globalization is creating conditions of unparalleled prosperity, but it is also setting in motion the destruction of the Planet. Human beings must begin to consider their effects on the natural world. Humankind must begin to consider the ethical implications of consumer society. Men, women, and children everywhere must begin to think of the environment as a Global Public Good. A Global Public Good belongs to everyone. Together, we must begin to recognize the problem, and work to solve it."
Examines how, when interpreted through the lens of Tantric Buddhism, the movie, "Fight Club," can be seen as the depiction of the path to enlightenment sought by Buddhists.
Abstract By applying a framework of Tantric Buddhism, the film, "Fight Club," can be interpreted as a modern-day story of the path to spiritual enlightenment. This interpretation gives the film a deeper underlying meaning that builds on and complements the surface interpretation of social commentary on Western consumerist culture. This paper shows that, with a Tantric Buddhist interpretation, "Fight Club" can be understood as a somewhat realistic portrayal of how a person caught up in samsara via Western consumerist culture can have a spiritual awakening leading to enlightenment, instead of simply being seen as an outlandish piece of fiction.
From the Paper "Tantric Buddhism differs from orthodox or Mahayana Buddhism by its assertion that "enlightenment could be attained by means of the things of this world itself [...] involvement in some of the most impure forms of samsara - meat eating, wine drinking, sex." 2 This is the key to an interpretation of the film within a religious framework, because the two protagonists - Tyler Durden and the unnamed narrator - engage in many activities that would be seen as "impure" by traditional Buddhist standards, yet the narrator achieves a sort of enlightenment from his mindless corporate job and consumerist tendencies when led to these activities by Tyler."
Abstract This paper analyzes the conflicts between the new economic world and the traditional cultures. "Jihad" refers to the cultures that focus more on traditional values. It does not simply refer to the Islamic notion of the word, but includes anyone who is opposed to the new modern west. Jihad is slow, personal, and stagnant. "McWorld" is the over-all notion of the consumerist west. McWorld is fast-paced, information-based and ever changing. Members within McWorld are in favor of individual rights and personal advancement over the culture as a whole. The paper concludes that Jihad and McWorld must learn to work together all over the world.
From the Paper "In his book, 'Jihad vs. McWorld', Benjamin Barber takes a view of the new economic world as it relates to those cultures that are hanging on to traditional values. There is a basic conflict between these two ideologies: tribal control vs. technological and economic upward mobility. Barber describes each these two schools of thought, and how they work for and against each other."
The paper analyzes the role the reference guide, Playbill, has played in Broadway's history, focusing specifically on the musical "Showboat" and its accompanying Playbill.
Abstract The paper explains the nature of a Playbill, a kind of reference guide to the show of the evening, summing up the cast list, the cast biographies, and also giving theatergoers a bit of advice about places to go in New York before and after the show. The paper examines the role the playbill plays in encapsulating the consumerist, capitalist nature of Broadway theater. It also explores the influence wielded by Showboat's playbill.
From the Paper " ?Show Boat,? originally produced in 1926, and later revived at the Gershwin theater in 1994, has often been called the first modern Broadway musical. The image on the cover of the show's Playbill during its most recent incarnation on Broadway is a sentimental picture of a turn of the century family of three waving at a large, smoking Riverboat show boat ship. This Playbill artifact encapsulates, perhaps more than any other example of the modern, New York Broadway theatre, the nature of Broadway's form of theatrical, musical entertainment. The Playbill is a nostalgic commodity that reduces the show to a singular theme, and attempts to encapsulate within its covers, in as non-threatening a fashion as possible, the nature of a show that has proved disturbing to many viewers."
Abstract Summary: In this paper I will explore how human society has been transformed, by the media, as well as by government and corporations, into a consumerist collective whose only purpose is ever-increasing consumption at the expense of all other values.
Abstract The paper points out that Lewis holds that the Harlem Renaissance collapsed from internal 'decay. The author alleges that the digestion of the Harlem Renaissance as a trend in white society was the fault of proto-consumerist patterns that took hold in New York during the 1920s.
Abstract In "Work and Spend", Juliet Schor builds quite a persuasive case that consumerism breeds discontent as it constantly pushes the envelope in terms of the desirability of material possessions. According to Schor, this creates an endless cycle of 'work and spend' that necessitates longer working hours, the sacrifice of leisure, and a situation where happiness has failed to keep up with economic growth. The paper argues that, while the conclusions that Schor reaches on the pitfalls of a consumerist culture are evident, given empirical evidence, there is ground to believe that consumerism alone is not the sole cause of discontent or longer working hours. It shows that closer examination of some of the causal connections Schor makes in building her case reveal the decisive influence of several other factors.
From the Paper "Leading from the above, it is evident that for advertising to succeed in its task, it has to reflect or address already existing needs and desires. This is exactly the reason why Schudson claims that the only role played by consumerism and advertising is to offer an ideology of choice to a consumer already in pursuit of accomplishing some existing need or desire. In fact, Schudson argues that advertising can never really enforce the kind of social control exercised by institutions such as the Church or schools: ??can offer no social punishment, no social reward, no social reference group.? (Schudson, 1991) Judging from such counter arguments, there is, then, ground, to doubt the linear equation that Schor draws between business production of goods and services, advertising and consumer needs."
Abstract When discussing how American culture "corrupts" our children, the first words that come to mind are usually four-letter words or words pertaining to highly sexualized scenarios. This paper argues, however, that the culture of American capitalist cultural consumption is, if anything, more universal and equally damaging to American children. It has created a legacy of prominent consumption of unnecessary consumer products over the course of the past, present. and future of American television and culture. The paper argues further that American consumer culture is likely to continue to affect the minds of our children, creating a generation of people who believe they are what they buy, rather than who they really are as a person.
From the Paper "Furthermore, as the nation grows increasingly in debt from consuming a large array of cultural products deemed necessary by advertisers, and obese from the amount of food sold through supposedly entertaining venues, the problem of how to address this crisis remains. Artistic integrity of television, movies, and other venues must be maintained of course. But advertising and the first amendment are hardly synonymous with cultural quality. As early as the 1980?s, when ET consumed Reece's Pieces, as a result of a marketing deal, and causing the peanut butter flavored shells to skyrocket in popularity, movies as well as television have formed an alliance with advertisers."
Abstract This paper explains that Socrates would note that consumerist and materialist tendencies have extended beyond products and services to our interpersonal relationships as well. The author points out that, having said that the unexamined life is not worth living, Socrates would wonder if any of us living in the Age of Technology have really examined our lives. The paper relates that Socrates and others of his time wrestled with issues such as bounded rationality and the mind-body problem and whether such a thing as consciousness and memory exists beyond life's end: Would they conclude that all this information is really knowledge.
From the Paper "One feature of the so-called "modern" world is its dependence upon information. Information drives Western civilization. It is the lever which allows the modern Archimedes to move the world of finance and industry against the fulcrum of time. It is what keeps workers competitive in the job market, and what keeps businesses competitive in the market at large. One major factor in the success or failure of any firm today is the degree to which it acquires and implements the information that can distinguish it from its competitors."
Abstract This paper analyzes the concepts of Jean Baudrillard with respect to American society being a consumerist, materialistic, entertainment driven culture that prefers illusion to reality. These concepts are discussed to illustrate how Baudrillard's vision of the future is incorporated into the film The Matrix.
From the Paper "As noted in lecture, when we revisit the big question of "is truth, justice and progress possible in today's world?", the answer from poststructuralist philosopher Jean Baudrillard is a resounding no. In "Simulacra and Simulations", Baudrillard argues that a capitalist world and reality are a fake world and reality - one wherein human beings live in an illusionary world created by capitalism. People live in a fantasy world as opposed to the real world, as Edward Miller argues in his essay "The Matrix" and..."
Abstract This essay looks at advertising and the way race and gender are represented in today's ads. The essay argues that gender and racial inequality and stereotyping are very much present in advertising today and that this furthermore serves the advertising needs. The essay also looks at how advertising directly influences what we see in the media and how advertisers only goal is profit making which is best served by the consumerist culture we live in today.
From the Paper "Advertising is very important in today's society and have been for over 30 years, if only simply because it cannot be avoided. Ads are a major part of mass media and the mass media has a great advantage of being able to reach a large number of people in a very short time. In large industrial societies media takes on a mass scale so that television, radio, newspapers, magazines and now the Internet link tens of millions of people, and influence the way they think and spend their time and money."
Abstract This essay examines the importance of advertising in today's society and analyses the representation of gender, race and class in today's advertising. The essay argues that gender and racial inequality and stereotyping are very much present in today's advertising and furthermore that this serves advertising needs. It also argues that advertising, combined with technology is a powerful tool in maintaining consumerist culture and that many corporations depend heavily on advertising for profit. Advertising is sophisticated, very well thought through and everywhere. It directly impacts our choices and often mirrors society.
This paper reviews three articles discussing the issue of children being bombarded daily by advertising, and the effect that these advertisements have on our children, and society as a whole.
2,025 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 0 sources, 2006, $ 80.95
Abstract This paper discusses how advertising has become a ubiquitous part of our culture, such that it is close to impossible to get through a day without being targeted by advertising of one kind or another. Moreover, none of us finds this very surprising, given that we live in such a materialist, consumerist society - our economies are fuelled by conspicuous, largely inessential consumption. But what does this mean for the innocents in our society, the young children? This paper reviews the research that has been done on this matter.
