The Media Feedback Loop
I recently watched a documentary (and by that I mean I was forced to watch a documentary by my critical thinking teacher) entitled Merchants of Cool. This documentary centered around how marketers tried to open the untapped teenage market of consumers. It discussed how media was used to condition us to like certain things to make us better consumers how the media learns to understand what the teenage audience wants to see. The question posed was as follows: Is media just a mirror, or is it a feedback loop?
The media is constantly analyzing people in order to create content the appeals to the programmed consumers in us. I have come to the conclusion that the media doesn't analyze who we want to be. It analyzes who we already are so that it can tell us who we want to be and in response, we imitate who the media has dictated is desirable to imitate. This creates a feed back loop with both parties, Marketers and consumers, mimicking each other in an endless cycle.
Life Insurance ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9vFWA1rnWc
This ad a stating that with this life insurance company, you can not only do good in the world and make a difference, but you can also be loved and appreciated. This ad is implicitly stating that without this life insurance you won't be a good person, you wont make a difference, and you wont be a appreciated. Especially today, this is how many people feel, unloved and insignificant. Although the plot of the ad itself has nothing to do with the company it is promoting, the company is creating a good image of themselves by associating themselves with this story and the message it communicates to viewers. All the company is doing here is playing off of how people feel about themselves and then proceed to tell them who they want to be and that this company can make them that.
The most interesting thing about this commercial is that it actually states the man in the story isn't rich and he isn't famous, which are two things that usually would be good to associate with an insurance company. This shows even more clearly how the brand was able to effectively shift our desires as consumers to make us want the product, whatever it may be. The consumer tries to imitate the lifestyle the character in the commercial has and they think that they can achieve this if they purchase the life insurance. This falls into alignment with the idea of the media feedback loop. They copy us, we copy them.
The media is constantly analyzing people in order to create content the appeals to the programmed consumers in us. I have come to the conclusion that the media doesn't analyze who we want to be. It analyzes who we already are so that it can tell us who we want to be and in response, we imitate who the media has dictated is desirable to imitate. This creates a feed back loop with both parties, Marketers and consumers, mimicking each other in an endless cycle.
Life Insurance ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9vFWA1rnWc
This ad a stating that with this life insurance company, you can not only do good in the world and make a difference, but you can also be loved and appreciated. This ad is implicitly stating that without this life insurance you won't be a good person, you wont make a difference, and you wont be a appreciated. Especially today, this is how many people feel, unloved and insignificant. Although the plot of the ad itself has nothing to do with the company it is promoting, the company is creating a good image of themselves by associating themselves with this story and the message it communicates to viewers. All the company is doing here is playing off of how people feel about themselves and then proceed to tell them who they want to be and that this company can make them that.
The most interesting thing about this commercial is that it actually states the man in the story isn't rich and he isn't famous, which are two things that usually would be good to associate with an insurance company. This shows even more clearly how the brand was able to effectively shift our desires as consumers to make us want the product, whatever it may be. The consumer tries to imitate the lifestyle the character in the commercial has and they think that they can achieve this if they purchase the life insurance. This falls into alignment with the idea of the media feedback loop. They copy us, we copy them.
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