Perfect American Life

688 Words3 Pages
A Guide for Successful Living in America Advertising surrounds us constantly with bold and flashy images of what our life should be like according to the advertising industry. Beautiful two story homes, enhanced with a light frosting of snow on the roof and lights twinkling in the cold air along with wives peeking out the window at new cars in the driveway that Santa left for them, are shown constantly in advertisements to subtly let us know the best present for a husband to give would be a new car. “From the glossy and colorful pages of magazines, catalogues, and newspaper supplements the reader can extract images of how to live the perfect American life” Amy Rashap tells us in her essay (347). This image of the perfect American…show more content…
“In recent years, however, though advertisers have become increasingly concerned with the purchasing power of ethnic groups, the images they use continue to reassure the consumer that the group’s “foreignness” is carefully controlled” (Rashap 353). Even though stereotypical beliefs play a huge part in advertising and how items are marketed, advertisers have started to target minority groups. Gender specific ads with certain sports stars or celebrities have endorsements meant to make them believe that if their favorite person uses this item, it must be good. “American Express features a slew of well-known people who assure us that they never go anywhere without their American Express card” (McClintock handout). Ann McClintock also tells us in Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising, “Americans, adults and children alike, are being seduced” (handout). We are eager targets, hungrily absorbing everything advertisers put in front of us (McClintock handout). Advertising slogans use words that make us feel warm and fuzzy without telling us in great detail about why we should feel good about a product (McClintock handout). A short, concise message to get the point of the advertisement across rapidly while using sophisticated details in images are the methods advertising uses (Rashap 348). You can almost smell the cake baking in the oven of the kitchen in the advertisements aimed at women. Smiling faces from
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