The Big Picture

I was recently given the assignment to find blogs about my hometown and find out what people in my area were saying about it. Maybe I'm technologically incompetent (an assertion that seems somewhat ridiculous if you know me) but I found it nearly impossible using the method I was given. My mass communication teacher told me to go to http://technorati.com and enter the name of my hometown in hopes that it would produce some useful results. To my dismay - I found almost no truly local bloggers or stories. However, what I did find was intriguing. 

Rather than finding an interesting blog by a local Yorkian, (or Rock Hillian for that matter) I found publicity material. After watching a few videos like this one: Welcome to Rock Hill, I started to wonder how I had missed out on all these amazing amenities. It's not surprise that the city of Rock Hill wants to look good, but in the past few days I have become increasingly conscious of the marketers strategy. It all started when my marketing professor showed a film on marketing to teenagers called The Merchants of Cool. The brazen attitudes of the marketers appalled me. It is truly a cut-throat no child left behind or untouched mentality of selling. If sex sells, sell it. If violence sells, sell it. There seems to be no morality, no honestly, but what would I expect?

It's strange to think that our society has been shaped by our markets - but it certainly seems to be true. Our merchants sell us on what's cool, telling us what we want. And in return, we emulate their mentalities. It's a vicious circle that seems to be riding us around a demonized marry-go-round. Who will stop us?