This blog is mostly about recognizing that corporations and the media have a vested interest in making me want things I don't need so that they can keep generating profits.
This involves them convincing me that I need to buy, wear, own and show off certain things and look a certain way in order to be happy, accepted, sexy, desirable, popular, etc.
On a slightly related note, this interesting video looks at how media and advertising don't really stop there -- they skew our perceptions of reality so that we change our behavior to fit the mold they've created. In this case, the video examines gender roles in advertising and how they manipulate our ideas of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. Enjoy!
This involves them convincing me that I need to buy, wear, own and show off certain things and look a certain way in order to be happy, accepted, sexy, desirable, popular, etc.
On a slightly related note, this interesting video looks at how media and advertising don't really stop there -- they skew our perceptions of reality so that we change our behavior to fit the mold they've created. In this case, the video examines gender roles in advertising and how they manipulate our ideas of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. Enjoy!
This reminds me of the "event" that took place mostly in the young adult literature online world recently, about "coverflipping" gendered book covers. It was incredible to me how easily identifiable covers were as "male" or "female"; society really has conditioned us so that everything consumer-driven is assigned a gender for better marketability.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/coverflip-maureen-johnson_n_3231935.html
Thanks so much for sharing this link, Steph! It's really crazy how the subtle reinforcement of these gender stereotypes happens all around us, all the time. It starts at a pretty young age too -- it's so easy to tell toys made for boys from those made for girls, etc. I really enjoyed those flipped covers!!
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