Is Advertising Consuming Culture?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/

Let's discuss the topic of advertising and its impact on culture. The documentary The Persuaders puts this topic into an interesting perspective by exploring the statement: once a culture becomes advertising friendly, it ceases to be a culture at all. I would have to say that I completely agree with this statement and hopefully by the time you are done reading this post you will too.

How I think about this topic relates to the ways in which social trends begin as just that, a trend, whether it be a new style, movement or even the newest slang words. As soon as the given social trend starts to become more known, the individuals that have succumbed to it then further develop that trend into a culture. Then the culture enters the realm of mainstream media, where it slowly falls into the oblivion of all things that are "basic."

The example that I want to use to demonstrate the validity of my claim, pertaining to advertising and culture, is how the consumers of technology as well as those who create it have morphed from "nerds" into the mainstream leaders of the 21st century. Now this may sound a little far fetched, but just stay with me. 

http://www.bizmandan.com/movie-reviews/tag/fantasy

The term "nerd" originated in the 1950's by Doctor Seuss in the book, If I Ran the Zoo (Hiskey, 2010). It then quickly became the go to slang description for computer engineers involved in the first technological advances. Collectively these "nerds" were their own culture based on a love of coding and java scripts. These individuals created ingenious devices, but often times the finished products didn't appeal to the vast majority of society. 

It wasn't until individuals, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, broke through with devices that were aimed to be appealing to consumers. Once they found a way to construct products that could be easily advertised to all consumers, not just the "tech nerds," the technology industry started its metamorphosis from being a trend to becoming a culture. 

The tech culture has now basically expanded to the majority of our population. This expansion is related to the creative advertising ploys that express how each new technology product can make everyday life easier for consumers. These ploys have ultimately moved the culture, that was once based on coding and java script, to anyone that buys the newest Windows, Samsung, or Apple product. Overall, the impact that advertising has had on the tech culture reveals that once a culture becomes advertising friendly, it ceases to be a culture at all.

Reference:
Hiskey, Daven. "WHERE THE WORDS “GEEK” AND “NERD” CAME FROM." Today I Found Out. N.p., 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2016.