Mass Media and False Consciousness

The ways media tries to sell us various ideas that shape and influence our beliefs to reach the main goal of selling a message has been a controversial topic for years.While often times we are rarely aware that we ourselves to some degree, embody the notion of false consciousness, we too give into the messages of media from time to time. An example of false consciousness would be knowing that a product the media is trying to persuade us into buying is evidently useless, but going along and buying it anyway. Now the simple question is, why? The mass media do their job by distracting people from the realities of society and of creating false consciousness. Giving you a reason to believe that what media has to offer will improve your life even when you already can note a few reasons why it simply wouldn't change anything. But as they always say, keep an open mind. And this is where media makes it appeal.

False consciousness is any belief or view that prevents a person from being able to understand the true nature of a situation. Now, one emotion we feel as humans often times is stress. The media appeals to these everyday situations by presenting us with something that makes us feel as though we can find an outlet through them. Why else would people use Twitter for example? Well,  the media presents the idea that it can be used as an outlet to rant about different thoughts and complaints. Let us not forget about the Apple commercial made in 1984, which was also discussed in class, where the use of women and technology come into play. The imagery of women being liberated and acting as a personification of a computer, sends out a message to escape the mess we are in, resulting in following another trend to "liberate" us.


In all, as it has been said, the media industry's "main business isn't to sell product, it is to expand and train our consciousness in order to exploit it."

                                                                       Source: YouTube