Carrie Bratton
J201 Section 310
Research Report
23 October 2013
Advertising
Advertising
is an important media forum that affects each and every human’s daily life.
Understanding it and how it applies to us individually and as a culture is
important for being a well-informed opinion-maker. This is exactly what Douglas
Rushkoff attempts to explain in chapter five of his book Coercion: why believe what ‘they’ say about advertising. The
chapter disseminates the history of advertising, from the ploy of sensitizing
viewers, to the highly complicated techniques involving the audience’s sense of
self of today. Rushkoff says these advertising strategies, as well as the many
in-between, create a narrative of the history of advertising, and his
illustrative examples solidify his definition of these strategies. Considering
Rushkoff’s background, how his background affects the content he presents, and
why we can trust his evaluation of the evolution of advertising techniques
gives an insight to the minds of advertisers and how they control our thoughts.
Reading
Douglas Rushkoff’s biography makes the average academic, advocator, researcher,
commentator, writer, musician, award-winner, and superhero feel under
qualified. Rushkoff would call himself an author of influential books who lectures
about media, society, and economics around the world. He is recognized
internationally as a leader in the media communications field, an educator at
prestigious universities, such as NYU, a screenwriter for award-winning PBS
Frontline documentaries, a commentator for the most well recognized media
sources in the world, for example, The New York Times, CNN, and NPR, and as an
advisor for non-profit, for-profit, and other companies and organizations like
the UN and The National Association for Media Literacy (About). Rushkoff is obviously
knowledgeable in the history of advertising and its affects as well as many
other aspects of media and journalism.
The
claims that Rushkoff makes about the history of adversting must not only be
trusted because of his qualification, but also because of the validity of his
arguments. He maps the history of advertising using various types of examples.
Some of which are relatable to the un-educated media consumer, for example, the
image of a grandpa watching a TV movie who has been trained as a media viewer
to identify with a particular character’s dilemma and accept the underlying
agenda of the advertisement. Other examples Rushkoff uses are complicated, like
the story of the Amstel brand’s creation of a marketing story in the news to
spread its message (Coercion). These various examples show that Rushkoff has a
good grasp of the history of advertising and that he does not only see the
advertisers side, but also the consumers. His only critics argue that some of his
arguments are “wildly speculative and overly alarmist;” however, these critics
also recognize that his information is factual and convincing (Kirkus Reviews).
In
conclusion, the publication of this chapter of Coercion is one that can be
trusted. Digging deeper into the media and communications background of this
author shows that he wrote this chapter because he thinks educating people
about the history of advertisers techniques is important for helping them
understand how media and communication effects them.
Word
Count: 514
References
1.
(n.a.) May 20th 2010. Kirkus Reviews: Coercion why we listen to
what ‘they’ say. Retrieved Oct 19th 2013 from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/douglas-rushkoff/coercion/
2. Rushkoff,
Douglas. September 1st 1999. Riverhead. Coercion: why we listen to
what ‘they’ say. New York: Riverhead.
3. Rushkoff,
Douglas. (n.d.) About. Retrieved
October 19th 2013 from: http://www.rushkoff.com/about/
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