The Illusion of Choice in Media

While I have been able to cut back on my media consumption drastically, I’m still exposed to advertisements. When I reflect on all the different advertisements I see from the moment I wake up until the end of my day it is a shockingly large amount. There are advertisements that are in my email, and Gmail has even gone as far to create a new folder for promotional emails. It is incredibly easy to find yourself looking for that one promotion for an item that you need and end up looking at several promotions for things you want. There are advertisements you will find on social media platforms. For example, I was on the phone with a friend talking about options for my boyfriend’s birthday gift, and later on that day there were advertisements that specifically stated his name on my Facebook newsfeed. The custom advertisement was helpful but was more alarming than anything else. Even if you choose not to use the internet, which is nearly impossible in today’s society but if you some how mange to get by without it, there are still advertisements everywhere such as the advertisements on the subway cars and in the station, the billboards when drive your car. You can not escape advertisements! The advertisers know we will try and they have invested serious cash to make it nearly impossible. I included two articles below that continue this discussion. You can check out the article from Alternet here and the article from the Huffington post here.

I did not find it surprising that I was only able to find two articles of substance on this topic, and there are still advertisements everywhere on these webpages. Mainstream media would never open this topic for discussion because advertisement is the real money maker. 

Source:https://www.buzzfeed.com/

robynwilder/ridiculously-sexist-and-racist

-adverts-from-the-present-d?utm_term=.

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So if there is no way to escape this advertisement, we are being forced to ingest someone else’s narrative on a daily basis. We are forced to see images that are not representative of most, and that  push a singular agenda.  For example, an advertisement for Carefree, pictured on the side. The advertisement suggests if women do not have to focus on their menstrual cycle it will free up their time to focus on other things such as traveling to Paris, France, yoga, and of course their male significant other. This advertisement perpetuates the most common assumptions made about women. It would be nice to be “carefree” so I can focus on the courses I’m taking this semester, my full time job, and my law school applications. I happen to enjoy each of the items listed on this advertisement; however, none of them are my priorities. Advertisements such as the one pictured above work on female’s subconscious to re-position what women should prioritize.  Carefree is owned by the larger conglomerate Johnson & Johnson. We think we have hundreds of options but in reality we have 10. Ten conglomerates  own the companies that produce  the vast majority of the items we need. For the mass media 90% of mass media is owned by 6 companies.

Source:http://harmoniouskangenwater.com/wp-content/

uploads/2014/03/10-Companies-own-The-World.jpg

Source:http://www.valuewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Ten-Companies-That-Control-Almost-Everything-tv-channels.jpg

For years Oprah Winfrey, has worked in the media industry for decades and is not going anywhere. She was incredibly successful with her show, The Oprah Winfery Show which aired for 25 years. Oprah knows that the real power does not come from speaking in front of audiences, it comes from those you do not see on camera. Her first move after she ended her show was starting her own network, OWN. Ownership is everything, and there is one type that owns the mass media. Hence, the ever presence of the male gaze continues.  Oprah is now able to put out content that is more representative of who she is, and without someone else's approval. Even with Oprah’s high status in the media industry, her network still struggled initially.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/

oprah-winfreys-own-making-progress-

after-rough-start-59346/

Her notoriety, over 25 years in the industry, her 3-billion-dollar net worth was not enough to guarantee success for her. I cannot help but wonder if this would be true for her white male counterparts. I know in class we discussed perhaps Oprah can be seen as just a successful person because of her current status but this article suggests regardless of economic status there is always some form of sexism and racism. 

It  is great to have shows like Insecure, Blackish, Fresh off the Boat but it is important to note who has the final say. The person with the final say is always white, heterosexual, male that is benefiting from generational wealth. Even with solid content expressing a counter narrative if the advertisements are still the same companies that advertise on all the other programming the same stereotypes and norms or being suggested and ingrained in our minds. Gloria Steinem expresses her frustration with how females are portrayed in advertisements in her essay “Sex, Lies, and Advertising.”  Steinem did not want the same ole stereotypes of women as inferior to be perpetrated in her magazine. The little media I do consume such as CNN news, HBO,Marvel Movies , Essence Magazine and the Weather Channel are all owned by companies pictured above. Ownership is crucial to change the narrative. We need more networks like  OWN so that having a choice in the matter is no longer just a mere illusion.

Work Cited

Steinem, Gloria. Sex, Lies, and Advertising. 1990.

Berger, John. “3.” Ways of Seeing, British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 2008, pp. 36–64.