At first glance, this commercial seems like an innocent, high-energy advertisement designed to attract children, but on closer analysis, one discovers that it is a tool that companies use to manipulate America’s youth. According to Robert Scholes in his essay “On Reading a Video Text,” one way in which commercials produce such influence is through a technique he calls “cultural reinforcement.”(464). Scholes explains that, “By cultural reinforcement, I mean the process through which video texts confirm viewers in their ideological positions and reassure them as to their membership in a collective cultural body.” (464). Through cultural reinforcement, commercials are able to use culturally significant images to trick people into believing that they should behave a certain way because they are part of that society. For instance, in the 1970s Colgate Pump commercial, a young boy is dressed like America’s Uncle Sam icon and points to his television viewers, mimicking the famous 1916 WWI poster. This patriotic image is associated with the famous military recruiting phrase, “I want you!” which most people, even children, through cultural reinforcement recognize as their country beseeching them to do their American duty and defend their country. By having a young boy wear the Uncle Sam costume, the advertisement is letting its viewers know that they’re never too young to start doing their duty as Americans and serve their country. However, instead of asking its young audience help their country by enlisting in the military, Colgate uses the Uncle Sam image to encourage children to aid its own cause, which is to support the Colgate Company by buying its pump toothpaste. Thus, by using the patriotic image, Colgate utilizes cultural reinforcement and tricks its young audience into thinking that it’s their American duty to buy their product.
Proceed to majorly revise the rest of the paper in a similar manner as the paragraph above so that it is in accordance with the new thesis.
Along with its icons, America also uses stereotypes that its people recognize to sell products. In her article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” Cynthia Selfe states that current technological advancements in the Internet and computers have brought about the idea that a “new un-gendered utopia” is possible in America. However, Selfe asserts such a concept is false because stereotypes about women and their roles in society are too deeply in ingrained in the American people, as is exemplified by how the aforesaid technological advancements are advertised to the public. She states that according to the American cultural stereotype, women are supposed to “…use technology within a clearly constrained set of appropriate settings: to enrich the lives of their family and to meet their responsibilities at home—as wife, as mother, as seductress, as lover; within business setting, women use computers to support the work of their bosses—as secretaries, executive assistants, and loyal employees.” (Selfe 480). Selfe supports her argument by pointing out that an advertisement for Reveal, a home education computer network, promotes its product by introducing Celeste Craig, a single mother, to the public. Selfe explains that the advertisement endorses its product by telling America that,
“The invention of a sophisticated distance-education computer network has allowed Celeste to undertake a course of study from her home in Pontiac Illinois while, at the same time, continuing to fulfill her role as a single mother supporting a family, parenting children, and maintaining a household.” (Selfe 482).
In the Reveal advertisement, the stereotypical role of women as housewives is used to sell the product. Reveal uses the stereotype to attract customers because such an image is acceptable and familiar to Americans, and people like to buy into ideas that make them feel comfortable. In its pump toothpaste commercial, Colgate also uses the female stereotype to attract consumers. The commercial shows a silhouette of a housewife serving her husband coffee while he reads the newspaper at the breakfast table when the words “Even moms and dads agree that what makes it (Colgate toothpaste) good is MFP (maximum fluoride protection)” are sung in the accompanying jingle. Thus, the commercial is using the stereotype that in a typical American family, the mother serves the father and prepares meals for the household to sell its product. By having such a scene present in its advertisement, Colgate is telling the public that they are that stereotypical image and so they must buy the product because it aids people who are like the people shown, which is supposed to be every American family. Hence, by using stereotypes, advertisements such as Reveal and Colgate tell Americans who they are, what their lifestyles are like, and what they need to make their lives even better.
In his essay, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education,” Mark Edmundson also observes that the opposite strategy is effective in promoting consumerism in America. Instead of telling the general public who they are and therefore what to buy, Edmundson asserts that advertisements tell people what to buy in order to for them to become what they want to be. Edmundson explains that, “The Internet, TV, and magazines now teem what I call persona ads, ads for Nikes and Reeboks and Jeeps and Blazers that don’t so much endorse the capacities of the product per se as show you what sort of person you will be once you’ve acquired it.” (Edmundson 94-95). Edmundson even goes as far as to state that he has identified “…the central thrust of current consumer culture—buy in order to be.” (Edmundson 95). Such a theory also holds true in the Colgate commercial. The advertisement illustrates “cool” children wearing sunglasses and trench coats using the pump toothpaste. Thus, the message that is sent is that if one wants to be cool, they should use the Colgate brand pump toothpaste. Such a tactic is effective because the commercial is relying on the valid assumption that most people in America do want to achieve the elite status of being cool. Therefore, the commercial utilizes a characteristic of its audience—in this case the desire to be cool—to sell its product.
In order to sell merchandise and produce an effective ad, companies must know the population that they are trying to profit from. Only then will they know what advertising techniques will be most effective on them and the best ways to attract their interest to the product. Consequently, commercials and other forms of advertisement incorporate a people’s
culture and the characteristics of the people themselves into their ads. Thus what Scholes proposes in his essay “On Reading a Video,” should be accomplished. Analysis of commercials
and advertisements ought to be taught to students in school because it would teach them about their culture and themselves.
