Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Allegory of the Advertised Person

Advertisement has been used in many forms of media dating back since ___  in [form of media]. Through advertisement, people, much like sheep, are exploited in order to achieve a capitalistic, monetary, and largely, selfish gain. Advertisers, more often than not, ultimately end up helping companies of different industries. This is what I like to call the 'Trickling Wonder of Capitalism'. Take a supplemental protein program. If the people who were advertised the program do in fact gain some extent of muscle, they are more than likely to have a larger food intake, spend more money on petroleum, as he or she frequents the grocery store more often, and have a greater need for water or other beverages as he or she spends more time working out.

But one must consider there is an extent to which one person is unknowingly willing to be exploited of his or her hard-earned wages. That is, if the given product can be sold effectively and convincingly. Billy Mays resembled a literally outstanding figure in the advertisement industry for his perceived enthusiasm and vigor. The average customer's perception rarely consists of a scope that analyzes the particular presentor's demeanor or ultimate goal other than to sell a supposedly quality product. From the standpoint of the average customer, it may indeed appear as if the presentor is trying to be friendly, but one must be constantly aware in cases when the product is outside one's essential needs in life.

Similarly, sheep are given food, albeit paid for by the owner of the sheep, but in return, the owner receives wool, and ultimately, a profit. Despite the sheep's unawareness of the exploiting, they instinctively eat what they are given, no matter how poor in quality. The same may in some cases apply to humans. Humans generally attend school for a relatively large portion of their lives, and while a given person's skill in math, science, or otherwise objective tasks are reliably positive, [as the schools of today seem to be betraying their older counterparts' emphasis on the humanities, such as reading, writing, and art], peoples' ability to discern and learn or to reflect from a past purchase that was unsatisfactory is commonly quite low. There certainly are industries in which are very much so intertwined with the Internet and many modern forms of media, where many of the participants, if you will, of that particular form of media are largely aware of other individuals' reactions and impressions of any given product, and will rarely, if ever, blindly purchase a $60 video game for example.

The video game industry, being one of the world's youngest and lucrative industries, has been commended for the responsive following it boasts. In many cases, this is a market that restricts its own growth, yet challenges game developers to satisfy gamers' expectations, while providing a conglomerance of ideas seen in either previous installations of a franchise or a recent competitor within a genre. While there are in fact gamers that will blindly purchase the same sports game franchise year after year, there are an innumerable amount of gamers that present a stunning amount of thought into each $60 purchase of a video game. This, among many other quirks of the video game industry are what render it a self-thriving, self-improving, global-effort of capturing the imaginations, hopes, and dreams of people ranging from all ages, and defying the barriers of last-year's already cutting-edge technology.

Written 9.15.09

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