What are the effects of advertising and commercialism?
• Commercialism distorts our culture by turning every event into a reason to consume. Anthropologists say that holidays reflect a culture’s values. In America, every holiday is a sales event. • Advertising projects false images. For example, some ads imply that you’re not cool unless you drive an expensive car, that smoking means you’re an independent spirit, or that to be mature means drinking alcohol. • Commercialism contributes to environmental problems by encouraging wasteful use of natural resources. Over-packaging, disposable goods, and buying things we don’t really need all contribute to unnecessary use of limited resources. The manufacture and disposal of the things we buy cause other environmental problems, including habitat loss and increased air and water pollution. Billboards cause visual pollution. • Advertising perpetuates stereotypes. Examples include stereotypes related to race (African-Americans as musicians and athletes), gender (women as sex objects, men as business
