The development of mass media can be attributed to the new mediums of communication. With the advancement of new technologies such as the printing press and telegraph, people were now able to send and receive information across longer distances with greater ease. Therefore information was beginning to be delivered in a more unified way. Newspapers and magazines were created. All of these new mediums are how the idea of mass media came about. However, with new technologies comes some sort of change. In the case of the creation of mass media we witnessed a significant shift toward a consumer society.
Mass Media was important to the introduction of advertising. Advertising came about due to a societal demand for consumer goods. This demand was due in part to the ability of information to reach individuals at a more rapid pace. Therefore people were now completely aware of how others in the world were living. People went from interacting with only a few people each day, to interacting with people outside of their town. Technology was constantly changing, and society was taking an interest. Rosalynn Williams’s discussion of the expositions of the late 19th century is just one example of society’s interest in new technology. At the exposition of 1900 while the idea of technology inspired the exposition, once there people were more interested in the social aspect than the technology. “At the 1900 exposition the sensual pleasure of consumption clearly triumphed over the abstract intellectual enjoyment of contemplating the progress of knowledge” (Williams, 169).
Technology had created a mass media, which in turn gave the public an interest in technology. However, the public was eventually more interested in the advancement of their own wealth and possessions. This shift is clearly seen at the exposition of 1900. People were interested in other people and consumption. This interest began to spark the demand for consumerism in society. The Bon Marche was the first department store and it opened its doors in Paris is 1852 (Williams, 172). “Department stores were organized to inflame these material desires and feelings” (Williams, 172). People were free to browse and were not required to buy (Williams, 172). When the public became more socialized and accustomed to what was going on in the world they began to dream of “things”.
“After 1900, advertisers became more concerned with reaching milling mobs on the run” (Lears, 197). Advertising became an essential part of a consumer society. Without advertising new products and technologies might have never succeeded. Mass Media made this introduction of things to the public possible. The newspapers and magazines could run ads that would reach the public quickly. “The manufacturer correctly sensed that advertising was not about the things themselves, but about the representation of wishes for things” (Lears, 199). The public wished for new things and advertising presented these wishes as not only attainable but necessary. Market research was now increasing important in an advertisers understanding of how and who to market their products to (Lears, 198). But without the introduction of mass media, consumerism and advertising wouldn’t be what they are today.
Looking at advertisements today we are aware of similar presentations of goods. For instance the advertisement above depicts a man sitting on a couch while painting the wall. His body is in an extremely relaxed position and yet he is still painting. Further examining the ad we are aware of a small red van in the bottom left corner. The tagline says “Relax While Working.” I am aware that the advertisement is attempting to sell a Volkswagen Van simply because of my familiarity with the Volkswagen symbol. The ad is selling a van that is hardly the focus of the picture. The red paint and the red on the car are the only immediate connections between the two. If you took away the van and the Volkswagen symbol I am confident that most people would believe the ad was for paint.
However upon carefully examining the advertisement I began to make more connections between what is being shown, and what the ad is hoping to portray. This ad is promising that you will be able to relax while you work if you drive a Volkswagen. The ad is fairly affective as far as communicating the idea of relaxing while working. However, there is no connection made as to how owning this Volkswagen van will help you accomplish what the tagline claims. “Given “an age of faith,” and a lot of money to be made from acquiescent belief, the temptation to lie was overwhelming” (Lears, 201). Lears is suggesting that advertisers were tempted to lie in order to sell a product. While the advertisement that I chose is not an outright lie, there is definitely no connection between the product and the promise.
The advertisers and manufacturers at Volkswagen are hoping to portray the van (which appears to be a work van of sorts) as a comfortable and reliable. They promise that while on the job you will feel relaxed if you drive this van. The advertisers take the focus off of the van and onto the idea that they are trying to sell rather than the product. The advertisers are also playing off of the myth that all of society is lazy. This can also be seen as the American dream for success where relaxation is the entire work one would have to do. Barnes says, “The relation which unites the concept of the myth to its meaning is essentially a relation of deformation.” They have taken the idea of the ad and distorted the truth. “…since myth has in fact a double function: it points out and it notifies, it makes us understand something and it imposes it on us” (Barnes, 1). The myth of this advertisement is that you could actually relax while working. After careful examination of the advertisement I find it slightly more affected then my original observation. However, I still believe that most of the target audience would not be enticed to purchase the van.
Mass Media was essential in the formation of a consumer society. It provided the means for societal interest in consumerism, as well as the means of transporting advertisements to the public. Thus, creating and advertising industry that moulds and shapes the images that we see on a day to day basis. Without Mass Media consumerism in our society would not exist in the form we know it today.
Barnes, Roland. “Myth Today.” Mythologies. 1957. Web. 11 Oct. 2008. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/barthes/myth_today.html
Lears, Jackson. “Advertising and the Idea of Mass Society.” Communication In History. Fifth edition. Ed David Crowley and Paul Heyer. Pearson Education, Inc, 2007.
Williams, Rosalynd. “Dream World of Consumption.” Communication In History. Fifth edition. Ed David Crowley and Paul Heyer. Pearson Education, Inc, 2007.
