Ads R Us- How the Theme Is Conveyed

Ads R Us is a novel by Claire Carmichael, targeted at a young adolescent audience. It is a dystopian fiction and gives the reader an insight into a world of advertising and how the protagonist of Barrett is affected by it. Obliged to leaving an eco-cult civilisation called Simplicity once his uncle had perished, Barrett finds himself with his rich Aunt Kara and Uncle Adrian and spoiled cousin, Taylor, in The Chattering World; to which he is entirely unfamiliar. In the duration of time that he resides there, he discovers that deceitfulness is being employed for the monetary benefit of individuals who possess power and authority. The theme of if the responsibility of power and authority is granted to the wrong people, it can be taken advantage of for an extensive manipulation, depriving others of the right to personal freedom is conveyed to the reader through the characters of Senator Maynard Rox, Aunt Kara, Uncle Adrian, Barrett and Taylor. The purpose for Barrett’s guardianship, the diverging views of ADA and the Ads-4-Life Council and Barrett and Taylor’s imprisonment are all conflicts that additionally succour to express this theme to the reader.

Barrett and Taylor’s imprisonment in the infirmary was a significant event in the novel that abets in conveying to the reader the theme of if the responsibility of power and authority is granted to the wrong people, it can be taken advantage of for an extensive manipulation, depriving others of the right to personal freedom. Against their will, Barrett and Taylor are compelled to be shown a series of various advertisements with the intention that their diverging responses and reactions can be compared and evaluated. This depicts an act of power and authority being employed irresponsibly and consequently acquiring a result of deprivation of personal freedom. The extract, “‘Money and power,’ said Barrett. ‘It seems that some people will do anything to gain them.’” (Page 205), portrays the theme of power, authority and