i think that we tend to get a little out of hand here blaming corporations
for society's lack of depth. the flashiest, most grandiose ad campaign will
never convince a true individual, a thinker, that she absolutely needs
something that she knows she doesnt. unfortunately, there aren't many of
those around, at least compared to the number of drones running around.
corporations just found a way to cash in on that fact. so, when you see gap
ads on tv and in magazines, they reflect who we are as a society and what we
hold in esteem. when the artist andy warhol displayed the image of a giant
campbell's soup can, people were puzzled as to what he meant by that. well,
think about leonardo and michaelangelo and what they painted- pictures of
gods, prophets, saints, images of the loved and respected. now who is it we
love, who are our gods? ads, like campbells, and for even more contemporary
purposes- gap, abercrombie and fitch, nike. it's up to the individual to go
against this whole pop culture.
one case where id have to make an exception about people being the cause of
the problem is in the tobacco industry. tobacco, whether or not the
companies will admit it, is marketed to children. tobacco doesnt give any
kind of pleasure (maybe a little, but nothing worth the money), people smoke
it because of habit and addiction. over 90% of people start smoking in their
teens. why's that? because they want to be cool when they're teenagers in
high school... no one starts smoking in their 20s because they dont feel that
much pressure to be cool. but, once you start, especially at such an early
age, it becomes nearly impossible to quit. tobacco companies know that all
too well. and those philip morris youth prevention smoking ads? give me a
much needed break. when i see those sappy, bad actors and their shit-eating
smiles and saccharine, hackneyed messages, it makes me want to start smoking
just to not be like them. and i think philip morris made them like that on
purpose. that's just my own esoteric little theory that ive shared with only
a few friends, it might not make sense to any of you. but even when we are
dealing with tobacco, i think the individual still does have the freedom to
reject all the social pressures involved with it, it's just a little more
difficult because of the fact that an adult's product is marketed to children
and the stakes are also higher, since once they get a youth hooked on
cigarettes, they essentially have a customer for life.
rasheed
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
