The American Consumer
Popular culture poses both negative and positive impacts in the current society. Several authors create articles that highlight significant aspects of popular culture. Some of these modern writers include Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. They wrote a book called “Signs of Life in the USA” that highlights certain aspects of popular culture. This book has several topics on popular culture that help people understand why some phenomena happen in their respective lives. The opening chapters of the book present a fascinating explication of such ides as American consumption, advertising and film culture. In these topics, the two authors explore the interrelation of popular culture with the mentioned lives of an ideal American. The topic on American consumption is the first and has different contributors apart from Maasik and Solomon.
This topic on consumer consumption is extremely insightful from the details that its writers create in the 7th edition of the book. It enables people to create their individual understanding in places where they did not even imagine they would encounter popular culture. Students are part of the consumers which these article highlights. This means that the article has absolute relevance to the chief reader who is a student. The authors of this piece on consumerism seem to question some aspects in the entire phenomenon of consumerism. The article includes facts that have significant relations with the students. The creation of these relations convinces students that they have a role in changing any negativity that could affect consumerism. In the article, there are deliberate efforts to enable the students get interest in the book. This implies that all readers of this book including students find it absorbing, and there is the perfect delivery of the message that the writers wished to deliver (Maasik & Solomon 89).
The extremely logical presentation of ideas on consumerism in the entire article is commendable. Later in the book, there is a recurrence of this theme on consumerism. The only difference with the later topic is that its chief focus is on advertising. There are significant similarities between consumerism and advertising. Advertising is a component of consumerism because it allows consumers to discover diverse products in their respective current markets (Maasik & Solomon 91).
There is a likening in the article of the prevailing American consumerism to passions. These passions that American consumers display could mislead them. They are passionate about shopping sprees that are not entirely beneficial to them. Instead of them incurring several benefits from the shopping sprees that they admire, they lose. Loses are in several forms that include both their health and the economy of their respective states. The passion that they display does not allow them to be thoughtful about the negative effects on consumerism. The entire notion of consumerism convinces them to be keen of short-term gains (Miller 63). In their respective shopping sprees, they never thoughtful about the long term effects of their shopping (Maasik & Solomon 85).
The article includes relevant signs and their representation in the entire consumer market of America. The inclusion of the use of semiotics as literary style in this article is commendable. It allows the intended readers of the article on consumerism to identify these signs. Most of the signs could be hard to comprehend for the American consumers. The authors attempt to offer extremely clear explanations on these signs. The signs could also be misleading if they portray similarity in meaning. If this happens, then consumers need to be careful in the identification of their respective signs whenever they shop (Maasik & Solomon 89).
At the end of the article on consumerism, the writers present relevant questions for the readers. The questions are necessary because of their ability to enhance understanding if the same topic. The writers attempt to guide their respective readers in understanding all the symbols that they might encounters as consumers. These questions appear to be extremely real in the context of the American market. Anyone who reads the article and is successful in answering the questions is certain that he/she can identify most of the existing signs in consumerism. The authors create their questions in a way that makes the reader reflect on the reading and the experiences he/she has had (Maasik & Solomon 79).
Before the writers beginning their explication of the message on consumerism, they offer a lengthy introduction on the same issue. This is fascinating because it encourages readers to conduct individual further studies of the consumerism topic. The provision of a simple background on the topic is a commendable style. The style proves to the respective readers that the topic of discussion in the article is relevant to them. Almost all the examples in the introduction aim at convincing the reader that he/she is a gullible consumer. The authors present a brilliant piece in which they also make the reader realize that they are not entirely powerless in making significant consumer decisions. The authors attempt to educate consumers on the possible existing signs in their respective markets. The knowledge of these symbols cited by the article is necessary since it protects some vulnerable consumers (Maasik & Solomon 88).
According to the article, consumerism is encouraging the buying and selling of products at an intense level. The notion includes social and economic aspects for everyone that participates in the phenomenon of consumerism. Some significant aspects of consumerism include the protection and activism of consumers (Miles 50). The two aspects are significant because they ensure that respective consumers do not waste their money after a shopping experience. In this article, the authors seem to be creating their own consumer activism. Their article protects consumers by revealing the symbolic language that most markets use. Apart from lose of their money, the consumers could also buy products that they do not need because of the convincing language that sellers use (Maasik & Solomon 80).
The article suggests that consumerism is an international endeavor that involves everyone on earth. They need to understand policies that protect them as consumers. Apart from protecting consumers, this article offers insightful information to consumers. This is significant because consumers are always in need of such information that guides them while shopping. The authors of the same article indicate that there is passion in the American consumer. The passion could be negative for the consumers if there are no checks on the same (Maasik & Solomon 95).
The writers of this article imply that there should be sufficient advertising of such articles as this on consumerism. Advertising ensures that consumers learn about the existence of the article and read it. The irony would be that the advert for the article is a consumerism process. The subtitles on this topic on consumerism include the following. The first aspect that the writers’ discus is “The More Factor” which explains why consumers will want more of what they purchase. In this subtopic, the authors begin their revelation of symbolism in consumerism. They research on all possible signs in consumerism that could convince consumers to buy. Careful analysis of this subtopic educates consumers to understand that they need to buy necessities. The signs in the consumerism field are unsuitable because they do not consider necessary buying; instead, they encourage intense levels of impulse buying (Maasik & Solomon 86).
In their second subtopic about understanding shopping, the authors further divide this bit of the article in two. The two items under discussion include “The Science of Shopping” and “The Signs of Shopping”. The presentation of these articles is the one that probably includes most examples in the entire article. They consider shopping to be a science that has several signs in consumerism (Maasik and Solomon 93).
The article also introduces helpful information on the semiotics of home decor. Most consumers would wish that they had the most beautiful houses or homes. They look for services that promise to transform their homes to a beautiful one. In this article, the authors reveal the signs in the home decor market that could mislead consumers. The insight of this article is to make consumers realize that they need to understand all these signs before they choose their respective decorators (Maasik & Solomon 89).
The article indicates that consumers need to identify suitable ways that ensure they are free from consumerism exploitation. Such exploitation compromises the ability of individuals to live in suitable economic environments. Consumers are likely to purchase less durable commodities because of rampant consumerism (Swagler 6). The relevance of this article is the guard against the above exploitation. Negative effects of consumerism on the existing societies include the following manifestations. The first negative effect is the manner in which consumerism healthy relations in the society. People from the same family could disagree because of consumerism. Some members could insist on having items that the other members consider irrelevant in their lives (Maasik & Solomon 83).
The article indicates that the prevalent semiotics in consumerism increases disagreements in family. They have several negative impacts on modern families that would be peaceful if consumerism did not exist. This article on consumerism proves the above claims against consumerism. In its inclusion of the article on ten fashions called, “Teen “Haulers” Become a Fashion Force” they disregard this negativity. Fashion has the most vulnerability to consumerism. Diverse designers keep innovation designs that are likeable to both teenagers and mature individuals. The adverts that accompany these latest designs have a significant effect on the possible purchases that the respective designs get. The authors’ focus on teens that relying on popular culture and wish to wear latest fashions regardless of what it costs them or how long the items they buy will last. It appears as though significant shareholders in the fashion industry understand the mentality of these teens. They create the design that will be most appealing. They also ensure that they run several adverts that will convince these teens to but the respective designs (Maasik & Solomon 81).
People in the contemporary world need adequate protection from the negative impact of consumerism. Consumes should be careful during their respective shopping sprees. This carefulness is significant because it allows encourage them to determine whether they require shopping (Whitman 78).
Work Cited
Maasik, Sonia, Sonia Maasik, & J F. Solomon. Signs of Life in the U.s.a: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print.
Miles, Steven. Consumerism – As a Way of Life. London [u.a.: Sage Publ, 2000. Print.
Miller, Toby. Cultural Citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, Consumerism, and Television in a Neoliberal Age.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007. Print
Swagler, Roger. “Evolution and Applications of the Term Consumerism: Theme and Variations.”
TheJournal of Consumer Affairs 28.2 (1994): 347-. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 13 Oct. 2012
Whitman, James Q. “Consumerism Versus Producerism: A Study in Comparative Law.” The Yale law journal 117.3 (2007): 340-406. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 13 Oct. 2012
