williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402) (07/31/85)
The Commercialist Paradigm I will first start out with two presuppositions. 1) Commercial media inherently appeals to the consumer's ego. You are more likely to purchase something if it reinforces or bolsters your opinion of yourself. Advertising uses psychology as a tool for this purpose. 2) That the basic purpose of management is to accurately assess talent and resource and to plan achievable goals. Management is very closely linked with marketing and Corperate image. By using commercials which cause the viewer to overestimate his/her abilities, Management is able to do two things: 1) Decrease the supply of persons that are able to views their talents objectively. 2) Increase the demand for management. Commercialism is a vicious cycle which increases the demand for non-productive talent. Management is in demend only in an environment in which people do not accurately rate their own talents. The media has effectively been exploited by Capitalist executives in order to increase their own demand. Nowadays, it's uncertain whether people feel like consumers, or specimins. Psychology is a powerful instrument, and is seeing the peak of exploitation in our current society. What can you do about it? Individually, nothing. John Williams PS This is a new topic. I welcome all response, even from (yech) Managers. It is my contention that Commercial Media, and in particular, sponsored television, reduces our desire to communicate, and increases the need for hierarchy. ANY COMMENTS?