The Ubiquitous Box of Flickering Light or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Television
Other Peoples Lives
When last we spoke, I was beginning to realize that what I assumed to be true perhaps wasn’t truth at all. My disdain for television was rooted in a deeply held belief that programs for the masses, such as American Idol, were somehow, in some way, shape, or form, contributing to the downfall of America, as unspecific as those belief were. But now, here I sit wondering is it something bigger, something broader? Is television, on the whole, what gives me this sinking feeling?
How could this be? I am a television viewer. I don’t watch many shows but the ones I do watch I am as emotionally attached to as the next person. I can’t wait to see how they get off the Lost island. I have a crush on Pam Beasley. And the thought of living without some of my favorite Showtime and HBO dramas is certainly unsettling. So simply watching the television certainly doesn’t cause me concern; otherwise this whole feeling would be hypocritical.
Blame it on the Tetons
What I’ve come to realize though is that advertisements have a lot to do with my concerns about television. Not so much the programming, but the constant plea for you to spend your hard earned dollars on bullshit. Watching television is like reading an article in a magazine, only you can’t simply skip over the ads (though with TiVo and other DVRs even this ability is becoming more prevalent).
Even more so than the incessant nagging is the fact that there is a science behind those 20 to 30 second spots. Successful professionals are successful for a reason, because they know exactly what they are doing and they are exceptionally good at telling you where to spend your money. We are psychological beings and they have the key to the lock on our subconscious. We are General Jack D. Ripper scribbling "Peace On Earth" and "Purity of Essence" on our desk only to become Major 'King' Kong whooping and hollering as we fall to our financial deaths on the back of wasteful spending.
Some people will tell you that they don’t pay attention to commercials on television and while that may be true, most likely those ads and ideas are still seeping in regardless of what one wants to believe. And television is simply the beginning. Magazines, the internet, and your local highways are littered with brightly-colored overtures into your wallet.
Interstate 8
I challenge you to drive down I-95 for 15 miles without once reading a single billboard. Even if you consciously try, I can almost guarantee that more then one commercial sales monstrosity will pass perfectly into view and your brain will process what it is selling you before you are even aware enough to ignore it. We fail to see advertisements right in front of our eyes for the oxymoron they really are: overt subliminal messages. We shouldn’t be scared about the supposed backmasking in Judas Priest records or about wives tales of flickering messages in an otherwise ‘innocent’ commercial. Advertising agencies overtly persuade us every single day. They have their cake and eat it too.
Every time you are bombarded with ads, either on the TV or in a magazine or on the highway, you are falling victim to Corporate America’s bait and switch. They present to you an ad (there is nothing covert about it) with the caveat that you can ignore it if you want to, all the while knowing that, try as you might, you most certainly can not ignore it. It seeps in. It affects your judgment, your attitude, your behavior maybe even your beliefs. You can deny it all you want, but I think that that attitude simply exacerbates the problem. You are falling right into the trap simply because most consumers are unwilling to admit their own frailty when it comes to advertising. An odd Catch-22, if you will, since most ads are actually catered to, and dependent upon, your acknowledgment of fear and frailty. And the ad-men will tell you exactly how to overcome it.
Parting of the Sensory
Not surprisingly I guess my issues all come back to capitalism and not television as I originally (and for a long period of time) assumed. But discussing the merits, or lack thereof, of capitalism is not the point of all this. What I learned is that, in the end, one's own relationship with TV is a personal one. Not unlike one’s relationships with books or movies or music. It is at once a very private experience and a communal unifier. And most of us are fortunate enough to have hundreds of channels to choose from. To each his own. If you are looking for some casual laughs, some spine-knotting drama, a touch of existentialism or anything in between, TV can provide you with whatever emotion you are hoping to enjoy. Much the same as choosing between Tenacious D, Radiohead and Modest Mouse.
Just sit back, get TiVo or DVR (if you can afford it) and enjoy whatever it is that makes you laugh, gasp or ponder. And try not to worry too much about it because in the end we’re all going to ride our very own bomb into the sunset.
Glad I came back to read part II. Ads rule our society of consumerism and not just on TV. Even as I type, this very page is tempting me with cheap Springsteen tickets and low Lexus payments.
In a magazine writing class, the prof taught us to determine the intended audience of our target markets by analyzing ads. Healthy consumer magazines (in 2002, anyway) had a 50/50 ad to editorial ratio, and the majority of editorial content was framed around the ads.
Even journalistic integrity can be compromised by all the capitalistic conglomerates these days...editors who want to keep their jobs aren't likely to run a story that bashes a subsidiary sister of its parent company.
The ad problem extends beyond typical media and billboards. Some stores and restaurants sell the "ad space" found on the inside of toilet stall doors to make an extra buck. Is there no escape?
Sorry to ramble. I did a lot of research on the evils of advertising in college, so the topic tends to rile me. Good write though...I really dig what you guys are doing here.