Abstract
The paper discusses how children's viewing habits can lead to aggressive and violent behavior, as well as increased sexual activity. The paper describes how television viewing can lead to consumerism and overspending in children and also promotes inactivity and insufficient exercise. The paper notes, however, that not all television programming is harmful to children; shows such as Sesame Street are extremely valuable for children's learning and development. The paper does emphasize that parents need to monitor other programs that are not especially geared to children.

From the Paper
"Studies indicate that children who view violent television programs behave more aggressively after viewing such programming. Two researchers state, "Studies have frequently concluded that a correlation exists between one's exposure to mediated violence and his or her endorsement of aggressive behavior in peers" (Shimanovsky, and Lewis). Simply put, the effect of viewing violence on television can tend to make children more aggressive and violent in society, and that has been proven in studies and in classrooms around America. Young people are more aggressive and violent than they were even a decade ago, and many experts believe that lies in part with the availability of increased aggression and violence in television shows (and other media, too, such as video games and films). There are other effects of television viewing, as well."

Tags:violence, aggression, consumerism, inactivity, sexual, activity

Abstract
This paper examines several opinions on the influence of television on American society. The paper first cites the work of Canadian columnist Robert Fulford that sees television as having dissolved the structure of American society, leaving its citizens in a limbo of frustrated emotions and fragmented information. The paper contends that this is not a complete perspective. The paper then argues that the main influence of television on society has, in fact, been the support and maintenance of existing corporate power structures and the hegemonic ideology of capitalist consumerism.

From the Paper
"Today it is a popularly accepted view that the main influence of television on modern society has been to "dumb down" audiences and damage social relations. Canadian columnist Robert Fulford, in the Globe and Mail, quoted the work of American media critic George Trow who argued that "television had dissolved the structure of American society, leaving the citizens in a limbo of frustrated emotions and fragmented information" (Fulford, D16). While this view of the influence on television on society may be accurate, it may be argued that it is not a complete perspective. This paper will argue that the main influence of television on society..."

Tags:media, education, television

Abstract
The paper argues that television has changed a great deal from its original intention of providing information and entertainment to people far and wide. The paper discusses how today it has become a powerful propaganda medium wielded by rich and powerful corporations that try to promote the consumerism necessary to support themselves. The paper looks at how television is capable of shaping our culture and our identities and succeeding in turning society into obedient consumers. The paper concludes that our culture has become increasingly secular with a new religion of consumerism.

From the Paper
"On a technical level, television is the "electrical transmission and reception of transient visual images" (Smith 13). It has been referred to as the first invention created by a committee (Smith 13), in that it was developed by "the effort of hundreds of individuals widely separated in time and space, all prompted by the urge to produce a system of 'seeing over the horizon'" (Smith 13). Smith argues that people have always wanted to communicate beyond the horizon, and that television seemed at first to enable this dream to come true. Smith also argues that television's original inventors saw television as a way to communicate beyond the horizon, to inform, and to entertain."

Tags:marketing, corporations, identities, advertising, propaganda

Abstract
This paper notes that the U.S. is becoming a nation of robots, programmed nearly every waking moment by television, radio, billboard , newspaper, magazine and Internet ads. The author points out that these advertisements manipulate emotions, insult intelligence and promise unending bliss if the consumer buys whatever they are selling. The paper relates that these advertisements wear down the potential consumer by relentlessly repeating their message.

From the Paper
"Having subjected myself over a twenty-four period to television ads, radio ads, billboard ads, newspaper ads, magazine ads, and Internet ads, I rewarded myself by seeking refuge in a bar, only to find myself surrounded by four walls filled with Budweiser beer ads, Canadian Club whiskey ads, Bacardi rum ads, and bar ads promoting two-for-one drinks until Happy Hour ended. Not feeling all that happy, I left the bar and was almost run over by a city bus adorned with ads promoting the comfort, efficiency and safety of city buses."

Tags:consumer, ads, experiment

Abstract
This paper looks at the way advertisers take advantage of consumers by creating false needs in their market and feeding on those needs. The paper includes an analysis of television and magazine ads, subliminal advertising and advertising ethics.

From the Paper
"Advertising is defined as the action of attracting the public's attention to a product or business. The methods that have developed over the years to attract consumers' attention have been very sophisticated and, in some cases, unethical. As potential buyers of goods and services, we Americans are constantly bombarded with advertising gimmicks in all print and broadcast mediums to the point where we have become jaded to the sales pitches that surround us. It can be argued that the attempts of retailers and businesses to get our attention and convince us to buy their goods and services are not, in themselves, unethical or dangerous; the unfavorable aspects of advertising result when the advertisers use questionable techniques to influence consumers. "

Tags:ethics, subliminal, magazines, products, capitalism

Abstract
The paper argues that North American culture today can easily be defined as the culture of consumerism. The paper discusses how advertising which can be found on our television screens and in newspapers, out on the billboards on the streets and even on our own bodies, on T-shirts, snickers and sunglasses, is constantly urging us to acquire more and more with a faint promise that owning a particular product will not only make us happier, but it will provide us with a certain kind of life style. The paper notes that for individuals, it is very difficult to resist and reject the consumerist culture, however, the paper contends that it is necessary to do so not only on the individual level, but as a society too.

From the Paper
"The North American culture today can easily be defined as the culture of consumerism. Advertising which can be found on our television screens and in the newspapers, out on the billboards on the streets and even on our own bodies, on T-shirts, snickers and sunglasses is constantly urging us to acquire more and more with a faint promise that owning a particular product will not only make us happier, but it will provide us with a certain kind of life style. For individuals, it is very difficult to resist and reject the consumerist culture. However, it is necessary to reject it not only as individual, but as a whole society too."

Tags:consumerism, consumption, environment

Abstract
The paper discusses the television show "Absolutely Fabulous" which presents us a world in which misrule is allowed to continue and in which the inverted order of power (i.e. one in which women are allowed to have a significant degree of power) is allowed to continue, to be normalized. The paper examines episodes of the show which set the entire issue of the inversion of power in terms of gender within the context of comedy. It also explores the two main female characters, Edina and Patsy, whose roles disrupt traditional engendered rules of power.

From the Paper
"What makes the female characters in "Absolutely Fabulous" especially compelling is that they are not simple representations of the "unruly" in the way that a character like "Roseanne" was: These are not characters created simply to violate our ideas about the norms for gendered behaviour. Roseanne, an entirely grotesque character, exists as a anti-woman, an exemplar of all of those things that we consider to be the anti-thesis of femininity. Edina and Patsy, on the other hand, violate some traditional expectations that we have of the feminine, but play in more sophisticated and ambiguous ways with other ones, as Waddell (1999) suggests."

Tags:fairytales, consumerism, Lucy, Ethel, Paolo, Oliver, Marshall, feminine

From the Paper
"In The Age of Missing Information, Bill McKibben writes that "As much as [TV] loves choice, . . . it doesn't actually believe in choosing. It urges us to choose everything--this and this and this as well" (185). The question is, how can "TV"--an inanimate object or process--"believe" in anything? Does a river "believe" in the choice people have to look at it, or swim in it, or drown in it? The fact is that TV has a life of its own, just as the river does, and just as capitalistic society does in the theory of Karl Marx. TV, in that sense, does not "believe" in human beings' free choice any more than history believes in human beings' free choice. In both cases, human beings are dealing with forces beyond their control. And just as capitalism ultimately steals the soul of the worker (and the soul of the capitalist, too, of course), so does TV steal the soul of the.."

Tags:BOOK, REVIEWS, NON-FICTION

Abstract
The writer contends that as a result of advertising, the American nation as a whole is slowly losing all individuality, to transfigure as a consumption driven entity that is essentially just a product itself. The writer then shows how marketing has used psychological tools that provide individuals with desires that slowly seep into one's self and drive one into submission. The writer looks at the television as one of the mediums for advertising towards children and teenagers. The writer also discusses the implications of commercials, such as those for toys that romanticize the idea of war to children, and of advertisements geared towards teenagers that show them what they need in order to be "cool" like everyone else. The writer calls upon society to resist the pull of consumerism and of copying what others are doing and buying.

From the Paper
"As the United States has evolved into a multi-market-driven-economy, the advances of advertisement have had a great influence over its identity. Marketing and advertisement are synonymous. Advertising has affected the individual by bombarding one with images that stimulate not only the conscious mind but the unconscious, the uncontrollable, as well. Marketing has used psychological tools which provide individuals with desires, desires which slowly seep into one and drive one into submission. Advertising has delivered objects with abstract values, which are then taken by one and used as "substitutes" for one's existence. Although marketing has been accused for making society a numb and cultureless entity, it is society who is taking advantage of the opportunities provided by it."

Tags:consumption, consumerism, desires, products, commercials, individuality, values, images

Abstract
The paper relays the detrimental role of the press in creating impossible images of thinness. It examines why and how celebrity culture controls the aspirations for slim body types and delves into the consumerism of America and its persuasive and pervasive role in controlling "perfection."

From the Paper
"Fat is feared. As if contagious plague within society, the disgust of fat makes many people opposed to mates, friends or family members that are overweight. Having more than a necessary amount of girth carries enormous burdens, both physical and psychological. And the media serves as the main messenger to young females; braving a world that tells them they are never good enough. "Television programs present slender women as the dominant image of popularity, success, and happiness...This skew towards slenderness distorts the actual diversity of female shapes and erases overweight women from our vision" (Nichter, 5)."

Tags:anorexia, bulimia, consumerism, diet, magazines, television