Celebrity-Endorsed Advertisements: An American Obsession

In the years since World War Two, Americans have undergone a profound change which has altered the way we see and present our individual selves. We have gone from a society of rational, sexually repressed people to one that instead consists of impulsive and sexually expressive consumers. What I think is most obvious about our new consumer culture is the fact that much of our self expression comes from presenting ourselves in a certain way aesthetically. We seek to impress people by wearing nice clothes, shoes, accessories, and makeup, and we want them to notice our expensive cars and homes. Self expression, in the modern sense, does not mean expressing one’s personality or interests. Instead, we try to accumulate as many of these self-expressive belongings as we can. Advertisements have helped to create this phenomenon, and they still perpetuate it today. We saw in the documentary “A Century of Self” a famous woman of the 1920s who urged her fellow women to express themselves through dress. “You all look the same”, she says, insisting that these women were boring because their clothes were not stylish. Advertisements like this still exist today. They play on our insecurities, and they make us believe that we will be noticed and admired if we present ourselves in a certain way.

The Cycle of A Consumer Society and Global Warming

Following the Industrial Revolution and the collision of psychoanalysis and advertising, came the “Consumer Society”, a society which can be found to blame for our global warming problems today. With a loss of community and a growing urban population in the big city life, came a country full of empty selves (Cushman 599). These hollow beings found no fulfilling substance in their day-to-day lives, and advertisements cleverly persuaded them, often unconsciously, that products or services would fill the emptiness they felt. So came about the cycle of always needing some new material thing, a newer TV, the next model car, or a special shampoo. This consumer society encourages focus on the individual, which Larsh explains creates narcissistic individuals (24). It is this narcissism that also deters attention away from larger worldly issues such as global warming. Finally, Barber introduces the idea of “kidults” and obsession with the easy, simple and fast (86). This distracts from solutions to the environmental issue which are obviously difficult, complex and timely. To solve the global warming dilemma, we must look at ourselves, the consumer society, our mass consumption, and find a solution to the “empty self”.

Faking It: The American Search for Identity

Since at least World War II, Americans have undergone a profound change in what Cushman calls the cultural construction of the self. At one time the "self" was constrained and duty bound and sexually repressed. Now the self has been "liberated" sexually and no longer constrained but driven by impulse, even whim. But while the self of today may be more free than the self of the Victorian era, this freedom brings with it a loss of those traditions and communities that used to provide individuals with a sense of identity. Now individuals are encouraged by advertising to turn to consumer goods as a way to establish identity. In the documentary, "A Century of Self, a celebrity addresses a female audience about using clothing as a way to express the self. "You all look the same," she says. She seems to suggest that through clothing a person may express her personality and stand out from the boring cround of look-alikes. Americans to this day seek to establish their distinct identity through purchasing goods: cars, accessories, new television sets. And advertisers continue to suggest that by buying certain produces a person may also purchase an identity.