In class we discussed how
“mechanically differentiated products are ultimately all the same” (Horkheimer
and Adorno 43). We used automobiles as a focus example and asked if they were
truly that much different then one another. It dawned on me that these products
carry with them the same functions, but that overall, the culture industry
makes it seem like they are completely different. Through the example of
automobiles, it is blatant that the culture industry is very good at informing
us what we should and shouldn’t buy. As consumers we are drawn to the minimal
differences presented to us, and as a society, fall for this manipulation.
Going
along with the notion of products being the same, I want to look deeper into
the idea of power that comes from one obtaining certain things. Staying with
the example of automobiles, I wonder what makes a BMW much more expensive than
a Honda. In the reading, Horkheimer and Adorno state “The concept of a genuine
style becomes transparent in the culture industry as the aesthetic equivalent
of power” (47). In our society, if one has expensive materialistic products, a
higher power automatically represents the individual.
Overall,
I have obtained a more clear outlook on how advertising is key for commoditization.
It is stated in this reading “the dominant taste derives its ideal from the
advertisement, from commodified beauty” (Horkheimer and Adorno 64). It relates
back to the notion of the cult of the new and goes along with the idea that we
are subconsciously persuaded into thinking that we need these materialistic
products.
Below
I have included a Mercedes Benz commercial. This advertisement is an example of
how the media persuades us as consumers to buy their individual product.
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