Try Me, Buy Me

The Media and Consumer Society

Being a consumer that is not only a message sent by the media and
commercial programmes, it is a genuine need of everyone who wants to be a part
of the modern society. Nowadays, happiness is a matter of shopping, pleasure is a
matter wearing or collecting brands and power is a matter of money! Modern
society is a consumer society. Brands are the way people communicate with each
other on the global market and the way they communicate with meanings which
are offered and sold to the consumers along with goods or brands.
How did the buyers become consumers these two words shouldn!t not be
used as synonyms, they should regarded as two different terms" who are addicted
to shopping and have a distinctive and an ine#haustible need for buying,
possessing and displaying goods and brands$ %f we &ust go back fifty years in the
past we shall see that family, church and government were the most important
things in every society. However, that was a life without '(, commercials or
brands. )onsumer society did not e#ist. Neither did a need for buying, nor a
feeling of a momentary satisfaction in a store or market. Neither did shopaholics.
'he consumer society started to form at the end of the *+
th
century and its
formation is still in progress. Buyers and consumers! attitudes towards goods,
consumption and brands have been undergoing changes from decade to decade.
'here were two ma&or events which transformed the process of advertising goods
and services and speeded up the emergence of the consumer society, the first was a
prominent display of a brand instead of the actual product and the identification of
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brand with the *+-.s lifestyle. 'he second ma&or event was the appearance and
development of television especially from the *+-.s until the *+/.s" which has
managed to forge a strong and causal relationship with the advertisers a
relationship sustained until the present times.
0rom its early beginnings until today, television has been ad&usting its
programmes, its contents and its operations to the needs of the economy and the
market. 'he 12 media market is completely dominated by the commercial
programmes and the manufacturers themselves, who can buy entire television
serials. Media in 3urope are much more restrictive towards the advertisers and
their mutual co4operation is defined by the 5dvertisement )ode which varies from
country to country. Media and advertising are the channels of communication
between the manufacturers and consumers. 5t the same time, they present
instruments which influence the changes in the society and create new values.
'hrough their direct and authoritative approach, media have managed to reach all
classes in a society and to impose consumption as a lifestyle, thus making
shopping a ritual which holds an important role in the social environment and
compensates for all other needs and pleasures. %n all these changes,
communication and psychology have played the most important role. 'he largest
part of this book is therefore dedicated to the mass communication media and
market communication", psychology and the changes which have affected the
general approach to viewers, buyers and consumers. 'hanks to the psychology and
communication, commercials are able to create and build our fantasies, and impose
needs which can be satisfied through shopping, or consumption of brands, goods
and services. 'herefore, advertising is not only about presenting goods and
services6 it is also a mi#ture of marketing, sociology, communication and, more
then anything else, psychology. How to replace one need by another, how to
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present material features as non4material, how to teach consumers to read and
consume communicative meanings inherent to goods and brands all these
7uestions are related to the marketing psychology. 8ith every decade, marketing
psychology is becoming more and more important issue in the process of
communication between manufacturers and consumers.
'( commercial is a multidisciplinary and multimedia feature which forces its
viewers to engage in different activities and behaviours. %t is a mass presentation of
goods and brands, and at the same time, it is a message transmitted and imposed by
the media about what should or should not be done, in response to the needs and
changes in the society and the global economic market. 5 proof for this can be
found in, for e#ample, fashion, decreased sales of one product, increased sales of a
different product. %n what way is a message transmitted through media, how goods
become messages, what are the meanings of goods and brands and how the
consumers participate in the creation of these meanings these 7uestions will be
dealt with in the chapters related to the media, mass communications, advertising
psychology and brands.
Media, especially television and '( commercials, have started presenting and
selling brands, wishes, dreams and mythology, instead of goods and services. 3ven
though being non4material and unreal, a brand has its real market value, which
forms the most valuable part of the merchandise as viewed by the manufacturer
and a consumer. )onsumers find pleasure and happiness in shopping6 they are
continually searching for goods and their communicative features, for new
identities and meanings suggested by advertisements. 5t the same time, the
meanings constantly undergo changes like fashion, instigating in turn permanent
moves and changes in the market. 'here is no doubt that consumers have an
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important role, but it is also true that their role is not crucial. 9ooking for the
balance between the viewers and manufacturers, media were forced to create new
ways of communication with their audiences and to change the forms of
commercials in order to balance the needs of manufacturers and preferences of
viewers. :resently, television uses all forms of advertising, including sponsorships,
time and commercial blocks selling, product placements, even buying and selling
of '( audiences. %n the past, '( stations used to sell seconds, or entire
commercial blocks to advertisers. However, in the last twenty years, media have
been selling '( audiences in of particular '( programmes. 'oday, '( stations
make type lifestyle programmes which promote and advertise consumption of a
particular brand or its goods and services. 2uch programmes are sold to
manufacturers as a ;ready made! product, which has clearly defined target
audience.
Nowadays it is important to buy, wear, consume and show brands because the
most successful brands create <fan communities= which communicate between
themselves e#clusively on the brand level. Brands stimulate the brain>s emotional
centres in a positive way 4 a lot like religion. Now, we know why people choose
one brand over the other very similar and where the differences are between almost
the same products, such are toothpastes or washing powders. )onsumers are ready
to pay a lot of money &ust for one piece of metal, or plastic with famous signature,
such as a watch. :eople believe in brands and they wear them like icons.

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