quoted 5 lines It's easy to think of commercials and "mainstream" culture as simple and st> It's easy to think of commercials and "mainstream" culture as simple and stupid,
> but how true can this possibly be? Sure, it's true that some jobs are more
> difficult than others or that some media might be more flooded with crap (or
> waste or bile or whatever word you prefer) than another; but does this mean that
> all commercials are crap? Is ALL television crap?
without getting into a debate which is already off-topic, commercials &
television aren't crap per se, but that isn't the point. one single
commercial may be interesting or good by some standard, true: it's the
concept of advertising & marketing itself that lends itself too easily
to half-truths (the study of what must be said & what must not), thus
promoting a highly subjective view on a given product. but then again
this isn't properly evil if it stays within certain set limits. the
danger being that nowadays advertising is behind everything, & that it's
hard to know if one person's opinion is really theirs or if they bent it
after a certain corporation's.
the obvious example: as cute & cool as the g*p commercials may be, i
cannot get myself to like them, knowing what sort of crap their
underpaid employees must go through (worker treatment dating from before
1850... a huge leap backwards in history if there's one.) then again,
many (especially residents of the u.s.a.) admire this sort of brutal,
inhumane management: they love hearing about a 200% stock rise, what can
you do? must be the worker's faults they live in indonesia or siberia,
idiots who couldn't be white americans to start with. get us a cup of
starbucks coffee, mr. exploited farmer with no name, & here's a quarter
for your family.
is all television crap? knowing how closely intermingled it is to the
most regrettable traits of unrestrained advertising, it's hard not to
see it as a pile of corporately-funded decorative, addictive half-truths
bruteforcely aiming to make you purchase something which is overpriced &
not necessarily useful to you: this is exactly where advertising &
marketing is a destructive factor in society.
thus all who participate in this game of advertising are evil? depends
on your ethics: i certainly think that all this talent is wasted, doing
nothing but contribute to a highly destructive statu quo, so it's hard
for me to fawn over a drum n bass track used to sell a computer or a
car, no matter how catchy it is. in fact, i tend to get more suspicious
as the track sounds catchier: if the car's so good, why do they need to
deploy these bells & whistles to sell it?
are we really all so naive?
oh, is this some more leftist rant against the corporations which are
currently running (ruining, too) your western society? yes, & i bet you
need to hear more of those.
have a pleasant evening
~ david
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