“Advertising” by Douglas Rushkoff
is an eye opening chapter from his very popular book Coercion: Why We Listen
to What “They” Say. The chapter touched on a number of ways of how
advertising is constantly changing to keep up and almost manipulate the consumers.
Rushkoff stated “Advertisers are learning to stay one step ahead in the chaotic
mediaplace (2000).” After reading this chapter, that sentence seems to be a
good summary of the chapter. Even if consumers think they’re in control of the
media and going against some of what they see as pressure from the media,
advertisings are ahead of them and finding new ways to manipulate. Many real
life examples were used to give depth to this theory, such as sharing stories
of brewies releasing fake beers and Calvin Klein tactics behind their fragrance
commercials (Rushkoff, 2000). The chapter was very interesting, but after
researching more on Rushkoff and Coercion, it is important to read the
book aware of a strong opinion behind the writing.
The
Riverhead Trade first published Rushkoff’s book Coercion, in 1999. To summarize
the book, it goes into depth about how there are different techniques used to
control consumer in our consumer-based society. The ability we have to make our
own decisions on what we want, and don’t, is not in our control. As consumers,
we are being controlled and we don’t even know it. As one can see from this
summary, the book is clearly written from the journalistic characteristic of
Journalism of Affirmation; creating loyalty with the reader with the same
opinion and writing from a certain point of view. Doug Rushkoff has a side of
this issue and it is written from a bias point of view. And it’s most likely a
consumer who is wary about the influence that media has on their life’s will be
a reader, so the loyalty and bias used is increasing these feelings. Though the
book won the 2002 Marshal McLuhan Award, there were interesting reviews found
on it that did point out flaws. On the site www.goodreads.com, a
constant review that was found in the comments, was that his writing was often
persuasive (GoodReads Inc, 2013.).
As learned in J201 Lectures, the five grade rules of Journalism are all
to create a complete, non-bias report on stories. Coercion seemed to
lack objectivity and balance within this issue. It’s important to know about
the book when reading the “Advertising” portion.
Even though a bias
was found in Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff is a very credible author and
source of knowledge. Rushkoff is not only an author, he has his PhD in Media
Literacy, is a teacher, and is a documentarian. He has published numerous best
sellers, including Coercion itself. He’s won awards from his writings
and has had many of his pieces featured in very popular and credible magazines;
from Time Magazine to The New York
Times. Rushkoff is a regular lecturer at NYU and serves on the board of the
National Association for Media Literacy Education. This isn’t even all Douglas
Rushkoff does, he’s also written and hosted three PBS Frontline documentaries.
He’s had his commentaries aired on NPR and CBS (Rushkoff.com, 2013). It’s clear Rushkoff has a lot of
credible background knowledge.
In conclusion, Douglas
Rushkoff is a credible wealth of information on media literacy. The knowledge
he has helps give depth to the issue’s that face consumers. However because of
all his knowledge, a bias needs to be carefully watched for. “Advertising” is
an interesting article that will make one think and beware of things to look
for in the advertisements seen everyday. Readers just need to be aware of the
topic the book, Coercion; “Advertising”
is taken out of.
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