What Commercials Have Done to the American Dream
What Commercials have done to the American Dream
In the article “Master of Desire” Jack Solomon claims the American dream has two faces that contradict the dream and lures us to achieve social distinction and bask alone in the glory. Although this article was written in the 80’s when it comes to advertisement nothing has changed in the aspect that advertisers can still persuade us into believing that their product will make our life better. The two faces that are mentioned are communally egalitarian and competively elitist which are the fundamental structures of American society. Egalitarian is the belief in equality of all people and to not rise above the crowd. On the other hand competitively elitist has the belief of belonging to the elite or select group. The American dream in those words may mean that to achieve it you have to be in line with everyone else but need to have a high ranking. Often looks and sounds can be markers of rank and prestige or more commonly known as status symbols that infuse us into our own category. Status symbols identify the possessor’s place or ranking in society like the type of car you own. If we were to compare a commercial for Lexis and Ford a huge difference could be spotted immediately. In the Lexis commercial you would see the car driving down a sleek country road or in an area of untaken land to signify the superiority of the car being the only one there. The Ford commercial would be the complete opposite with the car in a suburban neighborhood or someone on a daily task. These symbols determine how close we are to achieving the American dream. But the way we achieve these objects also can be a status symbol and Solomon’s claim that “when an object either costs a lot of money or requires influential connections to be a possessor” leaves me on the fence. On the one hand, I agree that in the end the only thing that matters is what value it signals and its sign of power. On the other hand,
In the article “Master of Desire” Jack Solomon claims the American dream has two faces that contradict the dream and lures us to achieve social distinction and bask alone in the glory. Although this article was written in the 80’s when it comes to advertisement nothing has changed in the aspect that advertisers can still persuade us into believing that their product will make our life better. The two faces that are mentioned are communally egalitarian and competively elitist which are the fundamental structures of American society. Egalitarian is the belief in equality of all people and to not rise above the crowd. On the other hand competitively elitist has the belief of belonging to the elite or select group. The American dream in those words may mean that to achieve it you have to be in line with everyone else but need to have a high ranking. Often looks and sounds can be markers of rank and prestige or more commonly known as status symbols that infuse us into our own category. Status symbols identify the possessor’s place or ranking in society like the type of car you own. If we were to compare a commercial for Lexis and Ford a huge difference could be spotted immediately. In the Lexis commercial you would see the car driving down a sleek country road or in an area of untaken land to signify the superiority of the car being the only one there. The Ford commercial would be the complete opposite with the car in a suburban neighborhood or someone on a daily task. These symbols determine how close we are to achieving the American dream. But the way we achieve these objects also can be a status symbol and Solomon’s claim that “when an object either costs a lot of money or requires influential connections to be a possessor” leaves me on the fence. On the one hand, I agree that in the end the only thing that matters is what value it signals and its sign of power. On the other hand,