COMM 287 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Raymond Williams, Magic System, Herbert Marcuse
Document Summary
Criticisms of advertising 2: how does advertising work, subliminal, more about the underlying message of advertising, false symbolism, advertising convinces us that the products are never good enough by themselves. Products connect to us in a symbolic way. Diamonds = love: advertising does not focus on the goods themselves, but on what it means to consume them, raymond williams **** Essentially invented the field of cultural studies. Modern society is accused of being too materialistic, but people are actually accused of the opposite. Thinks people need to be more materialistic because the more materialistic, the less people believe in/care about advertising. The more materialistic, the more irrelevant advertising would be. As humans, we need to give things meaning, so without. Irrational = symbolic (what it means) advertising we would have something else to help us understand materials. Humans need meaning to understand: magic, promising that goods will magically transform us.
