Consolidation Blog

With the rise of consumerism as part of a shared global culture, mass media is one of the responsible figures for impacting pop culture and ensuring that there always is an audience to consume it on today’s social platforms. With such power in hand, advertisers therefore are cautious with how their advertisements and media overall is marketed. Although with some critical analysis the façade that envelops mass media can be brought down, companies ensure that we can easily identify with the values presented in the media. Furthermore, they also ensure that that message is communicated under the right context so that along with content and timing, the message is as powerful as can be. The effect that this creates on the audience is that because initially, they identify with the values shown, they don’t care much to question it. By finding the media relatable, they are more prone to liking and sharing– almost as though they were showcasing and broadcasting a part of their identity to the cyber world. This careful crafting also relies on the need for inclusivity because by ensuring that today’s values and ideologies are shown on the advertisement, the consumer creates a sense of association with the brand and the values, and how the larger world already is engaging with those values. In wanting to feel included, informed and have a sense of belonging, consumers are then caught in the cycle of mass media. 

In a world that has been enveloped under the mantle of consumerism for decades, media has gained such power that it can now dictate our understanding of the world and its different cultures. In a way, companies themselves create audiences, audiences that are demanding a product that had neither been demanded or needed before. In creating the aforementioned, consumers once again in not wanting to feel ostracized, engage in the consumerist cycle and thus, are exposed to new values and understandings. When these propagate in the market and society as a whole, our understanding of the world and cultures begins to shift. As for the fact that we depend on media to understand the world, yes– it has come to the point where we need it to create connections with the unknown, and to reinforce those with the familiar. In a fast-paced society that is constantly undergoing change, mass media is the most immediate way to be updated and not be marginalized. A similar logic follows for culture. Because everyone from different cultures is so individual, and because it is likely personal contact with that culture may not occur consistently, media feeds us generalizations or at least a more clear understanding of the values that shape other societies. Once again, mass media is an instantaneous way of doing this and hence, becomes dependable. 

Politics and economic statuses are both intrinsic aspects of our identities and hence, advertisers exploit this to get their message across effectively to audiences. If audience relate to the messages portrayed in the media in terms of politics and economics, they feel as though their views and beliefs are represented in the ad. This association with their identity and the media makes it familiar, and natural thus, for the audience to like, share and consume. On the other side of the mass media process, there seems to consistently be an economic and political purpose. Mass media companies realistically are only set out to make profit. Politically speaking, mass media has grown to such power that they have the ability to stir public opinion towards a more liberal or conservative perspective. This ability in terms of politics can essentially aid them in gaining more consumers or pushing for societal change that will ensure consumerism perdures. 

Every individual is different in terms of their cultural, societal, economic, gender and political identities and all of these factors create a wide array of interpretations in mass media. However, although every person will associate mass media with different aspects of their own identity, the meticulous planning behind mass media ensures that interpretations have enough in common that all of those different people consume the product nevertheless. Seeing that mass media informs our understanding of the world, a vicious cycle is created in which we may have the freedom to create our own interpretations based on our own understandings, however, simultaneously, those understandings and consequent interpretations have been previously dictated by mass media.