Preview

What Are The Reasons Why Macy's Sells Popular Culture

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
182 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are The Reasons Why Macy's Sells Popular Culture
Macy’s undoubtedly sells popular culture to its consumers on a daily basis. By providing an array of available products, customers are lead to believe that they are the ones who ultimately have the choice when it comes to what they want to buy. However, simply by having such a large range of merchandise thereby appealing and catering to a large audience Macy’s is a clear example of the part of popular culture that Adorno and Horkheimer detest: it manipulates people into purchasing material items that they think they need but actually do not simply to make a profit off of them. Adorno and Horkheimer also believe that people are “captivated by the myth of success” (Adorno 6). Likewise, Sut Jhally explains that people like ideals instead of actualities
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Damien Cave Summary
    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Damien Cave Summary

    The article “On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies!” written by Damien Cave explains how as a society we are swayed by the flash of big corporations and in turn are loosing what real culture we have left. Damien Cave starts the article off with a scenario showing a man named “Thomas Frank”. As Frank walks by a heavily decorated Old Navy he shows his disgust saying ”Oh God, this is disgusting”. Thomas Frank is a pioneering social critic, writing articles on how businesses adopted “cool anti-corporate culture”. As the article progresses we find that these businesses offer nothing more than poor quality merchandise at a low price, and the consumer is lured in by the promise of quality for less. Stores such as Old Navy and Ikea use marketing tricks to keep it's customer coming back for more. Ikea sets it's store up like a maze where the exit is placed only at the registers, the room models persuade the consumer they need everything they see. Old Navy hands out extra large shopping bags as a gesture of good customer service but can influence over spending. Damien Cave brings these issues up so that we the reader are aware of such trickery used by certain chain businesses. Society is so accustomed to these marketing schemes we don't realize we are replicating each others homes but in different variations; we can all buy the same sofa and not notice. We are lead to believe that we can find happiness in our belongings but that is far from the truth. This merchandise is poor in quality and can cause us to spend more in the end on replacements and repairs. These companies are scamming the general public into believing they are getting a deal and in return we are getting cookie cutter home…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Juhuu
    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Juhuu

    The author, Neil Boorman, describes how he is obsessed with brands. He speculates that from birth we are being bombarded with advertising messages, which make us identify ourselves with particular brands. This can have negative consequences because we may believe that wearing the right brands will make us happy or accepted within a group. In an attempt to liberate him‐self from the brands, Boorman is going to burn every branded thing in his possession. This, he believes, will enable him to find real happiness, to find his authentic – unbranded ‐ self .…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis Of Benoit Denizet-Lewis Connection To Consumer Culture
    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Benoit Denizet-Lewis Connection To Consumer Culture

    In Lasn’s essay, he explains that people have lost their identity due to consumer culture and he urges readers to resist the influence before they lose themselves. Benoit Denizet-Lewis is a writer that studies suicide in teen life and he thinks that teen suicide has some connection to consumer culture. In the article from an online magazine called Salon.com, “The Man behind Abercrombie…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Branded by Alissa Quart
    • 3162 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Branded by Alissa Quart

    Alissa Quart’s novel should have had a warning label on the front stating, “Would you like to know what’s really going on around you or just keep living your life.” While reading this novel I felt like I was being led by Morpheus, showing me the world after ingesting the red pill. Quart explaining the different pressures that society forces on young teens was very eye opening. Quart sparked a lot of childhood memories when explaining brand identification and the pressures peers put on each other. One memory that really sticks out is walking through the mall with my mom and buying clothes for the start of seventh grade. I insisted on only going to Abercrombie and telling her that I wasn’t shopping at Old Navy or Gap any more. Looking back made me realize how silly I was, but I understand why I felt this way. Quart explains how marketers bombarde magazines, commercials, billboards, etc with their advertisements. Back in seventh grade, Abercrombie was cool. Everyone wanted to be one of those sexy models in their ads. Quart did make me feel a little brainwashed; I didn’t choose the clothes because I liked them but only because advertisements told me too. So much of our daily lives has media exposure that its hard not to look, especially at young ages when your open to almost anything.…

    • 3162 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Steve Mckevitt's Everything Now Essay
    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Steve Mckevitt's Everything Now Essay

    The psychology of buying anything resolute from their egos. Is it status, buyers are seeking for or is it the value and self-gain? The illusion that people with more assets have it all figured out and are content has encouraged people to seek the same prospects. The author explains, “Everything Now is an extreme example of an individualistic society, hence our tendency is to egocentric, focusing on the improvement of one’s self and circumstances, with the self- actualization at the zenith” (McKevitt 146). To check off an item on the fulfillment list only evokes the next item down; seemingly an endless cycle of temporary satisfaction. Personal fulfillment remains an important factor. Advertisers manipulated the consumers into believing the wants in life are needs. It has become a necessity to people to keep buying a product even though the product has less advanced. This ideology lies from people’s self-actualization and esteem: fulfillment, achievement, status, and reputation, in between: “[I]ndividual is paramount” (Mckevitt 146). In developed nations, there is an emphasis on individualism and advertisers use this strategy to evoke a willingness to buy in favor improving self-esteem. Consumers make purchase decisions based off their emotions and are easily persuaded when advertisers engage with consumer on a personal…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    “The Science of Shopping” versus "The Signs of Shopping"- Two Sides of an Issue
    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages

    “The Science of Shopping” versus "The Signs of Shopping"- Two Sides of an Issue

    Shopping has become a daily activity which happens a billion times in America and around the world. We cannot imagine how our lives would be affected if shopping was suddenly stopped. Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Norton both write articles about two sides of modern day shopping: how consumers have impacted the retail industry and how the industry influences consumers. In the article " The Science of Shopping," Malcolm Gladwell, a well-known writer and journalist, analyzes the shopping behaviors of customers and how retailers can lure customers; while Anne Norton, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, in “The Signs of Shopping" focuses more on different types of shopping and the construction of identity which customers gain through purchasing. Although two articles argue about different aspects within the same topic, the article by Gladwell seems to be stronger than Anne Norton 's argument. Gladwell gives solid scientific evidence, which are based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology, so his argument is convincing, while Norton 's article has a lack of proof and is flawed when she stereotypes women as "recognition dependence" (106).…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Onion Argumentative Essay
    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Onion Argumentative Essay

    With numerous products being advertised daily, it is qutie easy to get caught up in being interested in them. While some products seem reliable, others seem “too good to be true,” or in other words, a complete lie. In this case “The Onion publishes a mock article that is satirizing how products are marketed to consumers. As ridiculous, and absurd, as this process maybe, it doesn't stray far from typical marketing rituals. This article discusses the magnasoles company/products using the advantages and “powers” of the insoles, the price, and consumer quotes to advertize and sell their product. Each strategy is humorous and pathetic, and that is what The Onion is expressing.…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    No Logo
    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages

    No Logo

    People once bought products based on interest and the quality of the product. Now, choices are based on the top brands or what the celebrities are using or wearing. In the documentary ,“No Logo” by Naomi Klein, the author uses rhetorical persuasion to explain the corporate takeover of the world, and also the globalization of these corporations. There are both gains and losses our society faces as corporations continue to consolidate within the commercial marketplace.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Jack Solomon
    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jack Solomon

    Now in the twenty first century, there are many advertisers trying to get you to buy their product. They use a variety of ways to show us how good the product is. Some of those ways are marketing through different social media websites, billboards, television, and magazines. There are some people who may not care as much about all of the benefits of the products offered but only care about the current fashion trend or the latest technology devise. The advertisers try to capture our attention on the product that we want to buy and some of them try to get different classes of people to buy their product. Therefore, the contradiction between populism and elitism is still apparent in American advertising and media because many consumers still depend on the image not the significance of the product. Many people fear not fitting in if they don’t follow the current fashion trend. Most Americans have the desire to have the best of the best of things such as social success, materialistic possessions, and wealth.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Air Rescue
    • 7498 Words
    • 30 Pages

    Air Rescue

    In the following essay, Jib Fowles looks at how advertisements work by examining the emotional, subrational appeals that they employ. We are confronted daily by hundreds of fads, only a few of which actually attract our attention. These few do so, according to Fowles, through "something primary and prim itive, an emotional appeal, that in effect is the thin edge of the wedge, trying to find its way into a mind." Drawing on research done by the psychologist Henry A. Murray, Fowles describes fifteen emotional appeals or wedges that advertisements exploit.…

    • 7498 Words
    • 30 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Marxism And Consumerism
    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Marxism And Consumerism

    After the examination of the many facets of capitalism and consumerism, it became apparent that the modernistic capitalistic system is just another form of social control. Consumers, unintentionally are conditioned to reproduce their social standings. By purchasing a product's symbolic value, they signal their wealth and class. Advertisers and marketeers combine the subconscious meaning behind products with tactics to trap consumers into the buy, use, discard cycle of planned obsolescence. These tactics distract the public with constantly changing styles and models that break down, or they tire of, just in time for the next fleeting trend. Consequently, this system creates a wasteful, disposable culture. Since products are only designed…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    15 Basic Appeals
    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    15 Basic Appeals

    According to Fowles, humans have a number of needs that appeal to their psyche. For example, the need for sex, affiliation, nurture, guidance, and physiological needs. He states that these basic needs, along with many others, are what influences society’s decision making. Fowles states, “ by giving form to people’s deep-lying desires and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for, advertisers have the best chance of arresting attention and affecting communication” (Fowles, 1998, p.1). Advertisers try implementing messages, both hidden and apparent, in these needs in hopes of trying to manipulate our decisions. For example, when Calvin Klein used Brooke Shields to model their clothing line, they were trying to target a young female audience. The advertisers were promoting the need for attention by using a sexual figure as a tool to target this particular audience.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Eater Reader
    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Eater Reader

    In today’s society companies and marketers main focus is persuading their customers into living a specific lifestyle. People are being manipulated into buying and feeding into the illusion companies are trying to sale. In the articles “Do You Want Lies with That?” in Don’t Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock and “Escalating Dining: Is Mall Food Becoming Class?” Slate by Sara Dickerman both authors discuss the high effort from marketers to get people to live a certain way. The sellers of these products spend millions of dollars in the hopes of attracting consumers. Whether it is marketing a product or reconstructing a restaurant, marketers are always doing something to make their investment more attractive to consumers.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Do Objects Make Us
    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Do Objects Make Us

    In “On sale at Old Navy: Cool clothes for identical zombies!”, Damien Cave uncovers the fact that retailers all over the world, especially in such establishments as Old Navy and Ikea, have began to take up the lives of consumers in today's society and have created a great deal of trickery for making consumers believe they need more than they actually do. Naomi Klein states that consumers are being scammed. Many consumers are being judged by what they buy and where they buy it. Many people, such as Thomas Frank feel that stores such as Old Navy create almost a “mass cloning masked in a carnival of diversity” (Cave). That analysis may seem true but consumers should take into account that they are letting objects define who they are leading to a materialistic lifestyle. Nowadays, people, especially teens, are very concerned with appearance, prestige, and social position. Malls all over the world are jam packed with a great quantity of stores with the same goal as stores like Old Navy and Ikea.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Effective Virus
    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An Effective Virus

    The author 's main goal in this article is to explain how and why Americans are addicted to shopping, why it can be damaging, what causes it, and to show examples. The three authors attempt to "diagnose" what they call a severe case of the "affluenza" virus --the shopping-addiction sickness-- in contemporary America. They are both interesting and convincing in their diagnosis of the "symptoms" of the virus: people 's desire for more coupled with a shrinking satisfaction for what they already own. They are convincing in their discussion because they are relying on what the average consumer already observes (for example, the fact that when something new comes out, suddenly the stuff is just not up to par). They use this strategy to make the reader feel like they can agree with the rest of what is being said, since they have already seen the evidence in their own experience.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics