Though the different types of media are evident, I will list the most common ones: movies, television, magazines, books, newspapers, and the internet. Now within these different mediums come different pop culture icons such as MTV, Cosmopolitan, and The New York Times. Every single one these mediums, has in one way or another sent messages to our heads about how our "everything" should be. And by "everything", I mean from our appearances to our behaviour to what we should perceive as good and acceptable in society. Whether it be a music video that subconsciously influences us, or a little quiz we take in Cosmopolitan, to see if our lover is compatible with us, it is obvious that many of us turn to these mediums for answers, sometimes without even realizing that they are affecting us. For this essay, I have chosen the two mediums that I have chosen to focus on are the affects of television.
Whether people want to believe it or not, we are affected by the media. There are many people out there who claim that the media has no affect on them, which is just a plain fallacy. Every time, these people buy a can of Pepsi, instead of the no name cola, they are being subconsciously influenced by the media. Why would they choose Pepsi over the no-name cola? Simple, for years and years they have been surrounded by the different advertisements and commercials that Pepsi has displayed. But if they claim that they have not been influenced by the media, then why wouldn't they choose the no-name cola? Well, does anyone remember seeing Cindy Crawford drinking a no-name cola in order to quench her thirst? .
In an article entitled: Are American Values Shaped by the Mass Media, we presented with both sides of this argument. One by Neil Postman, who argues that American Values are shaped by the mass media, and the other by Horace Newcomb and Paul M. Hirsch, who both claim that the media has no influence on American Values.