Societal Pressure

After listening to Martina talk about how her family manipulated her into wearing her childhood watch on her non-dominant hand, it struck me that society manipulates us to do the “correct” thing often. When we watch a commercial, the viewers see the actors having the “latest” trend and wish to be like them. This is especially true when we see a famous actor buying a specific brand of toothpaste, and see their pearly white teeth.We say to ourselves “Oh, if so-and-so gets this toothpaste, then so should I”. As humans, we have this innate need to belong, and we think by buying the product that our good friend Brad Pitt is showing, we can fit into society. This manipulation helps companies by having more of their product sold. As the viewers, we want to associate with the celebrities because they are the aristocrats of our society. They set many of the trends in our society, and incorporate these trends into our culture. Advertising is the key manipulator in the business world. It helps drive success amongst businesses across the globe. Without these ads, many companies could not sell their products because possible customers would never see their merchandise.

It seems interesting to me that at Hamilton most students have Apple computers and not PCs. When we had to bring our computers into my Spanish class one day, only one person had a PC. Is our society pressuring us to buy Macs? Is there better advertising for Macs? Or is this solely a coincidence?