Media Exploitation of the Poor? Is the Media turning America’s Poor in Helpless Consumers?

zombie_togo asked:


I’d love to get some opinions about this (it’s a question inspired by Diana Kendall’s “Framing Class”) subject. It was suggested by Kendall in her essay that the wealthy owned media outlets are intentionally turning the poor of American into helpless consumers. That the lower classes of America are unable to control their spending habits as they attempt to achieve a better lifestyle through consumer goods, simply because what they see on television.

Do you think that the lower classes of America are helpless victims in the clutches of the media? That they’re spending habits are not their faults, but the faults of the media?

Or do you think that people, regardless of class, in America are responsible for their own lives? That just because a commercial comes on, advertising a new product doesn’t mean they need to pull out their credit card to buy it? That the television is only an entertainment outlet with far too much value in our society?

SON