Advertising and the Social Construct of Reality
The modern advertising industry is ubiquitous in American society and has become a fundamental influence in social culture. Around the turn of the 20th century, commercial advertising consisted mainly of passive messages designed to promote awareness of specific products; by the end of the century, the advertising medium had evolved into one of the most significant influences on actively shaping the perspective, beliefs, psychological identity, and expectations of the average person in society.
Among the sociological paradigms, the most accurate description of the relationships between modern advertising and the average individual is the symbolic interactionism perspective. According to that view, human beings absorb specific meaning and contexts attributed to everything they encounter based on the significance and interpretations they encounter in society. Advertisers rely very heavily on this principle: it allows them to promote products based on the learned association between specific products or services and particular attributes that their advertising associates with their products.
Automobile manufacturers and companies that produce so-called "luxury" goods present images of wealth, privilege, and (especially) the admiration of others to promote the value of their products to the consumer. The notion of "exclusivity" is another aspect of this approach because it creates the perception that consumers who can afford certain products are more accomplished or privileged than others. Likewise, clothing, beer, and cosmetic companies (among many others) use specific imagery to create the perception that use of their products is associated with an image of physical attractiveness and sexual desirability. In general, the most predominant theme in modern advertising is that commercial products can help the individual establish and maintain a desirable personal identity. In reality, there is little truth to that inference and it is purely a function of the exploitation of human social psychology and symbolic interactionism.
