Extra, Extra! Read (or listen) all about it
This week, we’ve been focusing on the concept of mass media and early advertising. Some of the largest contributors to this was the advent of the television and the increased usage of the radio.
In Lawrence Samuel’s article, he goes on to describe the consumer culture that rose in America to keep consumers in line with the ‘American Dream’. This was made possible through the use of commercials on TV that were geared to the women and children who would be at home during the day and fulfilling their desire to “keep up with the Jones'”.
Another important addition to advertising came with the radio. This was used in a multitude of ways, however FDR was extremely well versed in using the radio to his advantage. Through the radio, he was able to reach the public in a way that made it feel as though he was both their friend and their authority figure. His implementation of logos, ethos, and pathos in order to establish credibility with his audience as well as appealing to their emotions allowed for him to be more in touch with the general public than other presidents before him.
I thought it was extremely interesting to see the ways in which we go about using the radio have changed. I personally always used the radio and never enjoyed listening to talk shows while driving. I now find this exceptionally funny given that I now love listening to podcasts as I drive back home from school. But it is definitely a very effective way of spreading the news to a large body of people!
Yu, Lumeng (Jenny). “The Great Communicator: How FDR’s Radio Speeches Shaped American History.” The History Teacher 39, no. 1 (2005): 89-106. doi:10.2307/30036746. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036746
Samuel, Lawrence R. “Introduction” in Brought To You By: Postwar Television and the American Dream. Austin: University of Texas Press. 2001. 10- 22. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umw/reader.action?docID=3443294
Hi Emma!
I, too, listen to podcasts driving back and forth to UMW. I am a channel changer because I hate commercials and I hate listening to music that I don’t like. So it is a never ending shuffle in my car. It drives my husband insane. So I discovered that I don’t shuffle and distract myself if I just listen to a podcast. I’m old enough to remember when you really had no other choice but to listen (or watch) commercials. I really love having XM radio, spotify, Netflix, and tv On Demand. Its so freeing to never HAVE to watch a commercial if I don’t want to. It fascinates me that my sons will never really be overly influenced by toy commercials. My older son only knows about games and toys from his friends or from a video he watched on youtube. I will be interested to see how this alters the forms of advertising over the next few years