Response to Jamie's Week 8 question

What do you think the world would be like without advertising? How would our relationships be with one another?

A world without advertising is impossible to imagine. In order for a world without advertising to exist, we would have to live in a world without brand names because even wearing a shirt with a Nike symbol is an advertisement for Nike. It is true that we are defined by advertisers so to imagine a life without seeing an advertisement redefines the entire world as we know it. The things that we own, what we eat and the way that we eat, how we look, how we relate to one another, how we act... these things have all been defined by advertisers. I believe that relationships would be stronger because through the removal of the advertising overlords, we would depend more upon interactions with other human beings. We would actually rely on other people's perceptions rather than acting as mindless slaves to advertisements. A world without advertising and consumerism--too good to be true!
This made me think of a point that Jamie brought up in one of her other questions: can a person really say they are not impacted by advertisements? My answer is, definitely not. Advertisements have an effect on every aspect of our lives whether we know it or not. Our very beings are so intertwined with ads, it is impossible to separate the two. In a class on theories of communication, we discussed how attempting to show that you have not been affected by societal standards show the exact opposite--that you perhaps have been more affected. Someone who claims that they have not been impacted by advertisements is the exact opposite of what they say. In order to avoid being impacted by advertisements, it would consume your life and you would end up being the ultimate slave to advertising.