Synthesis Essay Assignment

AP Lang

1^st Synthesis Essay Assignment

    During the Cold War era, many of the U.S. politicians, especially those of Democratic Party, were threatened by the bold statement that Republican senator Joseph McCarthy had made. He made a shocking remark that he knows who the communists hiding in American government are. While McCarthy did not exert much influence before this incident, he was regarded as one of the most powerful politicians after this claim had been established. While further investigations proved that McCarthy lacked the evidences to support his argument, this case of the so-called “McCarthyism” greatly revealed how irrational human beings can behave when they lack sound information. While constituents of the modern world seem to have learned from the mistakes that their past counterparts had made, this would not mean that the citizens of today are perfect in their decision-making. Adding problems to this procedure, especially in the case of consumption, are advertisements. While some stubborn scholars argue that they are helpful in providing information, they actually promote the irrational behaviors on consumption.

    One of the primary reasons why this irrational decision-making procedure is established is because the advertisements often selectively choose information in the disguise of objectivity. As the main purpose of the firms is to raise profits, they often utilize the advertisements in order to increase their sales. While it is not to comment that such intentions are bad, some firms often use the process of selectively deciding which information they will present, without giving the prospective consumers a holistic overview of the product. Since people are often ignorant about the internal decisions that the companies have made, they enter the product market with inadequate and imperfect knowledge of the product that they are inclined to purchase. Regarding this issue, Eric Shaw and Stuart Alan argue that “advertising continued to increase the size of [tobacco] market, despite an expanding awareness of health risks and increasing advertising restrictions,” by providing the example of cigarettes in the book The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising. In this example, it clearly is revealed that while the populace is acknowledged about the health defects that the cigarettes can deliver, there are certain effects in the cigarette commercials are actually increasing the profits of such industry. This decisively enlightens one that the commercials are hiding certain information from their interpreters.

    Also, the advertisements give rise to irrational behaviors of consumption by providing the commercial readers with a wrong sense of image of a certain product. While the true content of the product may not be related to a certain feeling or a distinct sense of emotion, the advertisers clearly take of advantage of the researches done by J. Watson, a prominent behavioral psychologist. Watson argued and to a degree, proved that random behaviors can be attached to random emotions and feelings, and that due to this, the feelings of extreme fear, awe, liking and such are learned from our experiences. Using this method of manipulating the psychologies of the human mind, especially that of a prospective consumer, an advertiser effectively exerts pressure upon the consumer to buy a certain type of product. Eric Shaw and Stuart Alan, the researchers of the aforementioned essay, argue that the images that the cigarette companies made the consumers cling to a certain brand of cigarettes. Also presented by Nancy Day is the example in Advertising: Information or Manipulation, that enlightens the readers that advertisements are able to bring “[reinforcements in] racial, cultural, and sexual stereotypes,” which clearly are examples of distortions in the images that the advertisements make.

    Thus, as the aforementioned examples reveal, the advertisements are able to influence the consumers by providing the selective information and creating certain image. It is not to deny the benefits that the advertisements can bring, such as providing more information for the consumers to be more reasonable. However, unless the people are fully informed about their environments, the advertisements will have a negative effect indeed.