Social Segregation

Most people in our society would have a really hard time believing or accepting the idea that most advertisements are tailored made just for them.   The essays “Targeting a New World” by Joseph Turow, and “Buy this 24-Year-Old and Get All His Friends Absolutely Free” by Jean Kilbourne Ed. D”, elucidate interesting points of view on the topic of how target and mass media marketing techniques have negative effects by dividing American society.
The majority of the population is not aware of the master plan behind advertising.   Advertisers do not want ordinary people to believe they are being influenced by them to sustain their positive image.   “Advertisers…” says professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Joseph Turow, “… do not pitch their marketing campaigns to a universal audience.   Rather, they target specific audiences to market specific products” (330).   Advertisers use demographic profiling to sell specific products to a particular group of people.   Suppose an ad is selling a product just by narrowing down on a certain social group based on age, income, ethnicity, geography, and in jobs.  
Advertisers have taken advertising to a whole new level, using technologies as targeting devices.   “Using computer models based on zip codes, and a variety of databases, it is economically feasible to tailor materials for small groups, even individuals.   That is already taking place in the direct mail, telemarketing, and magazine industries” (333), says Turow.   It has also become some sort of a science by using professionals to understand human behavior.   Many companies hire anthropologist and psychologists to examine consumers’ product choices, verbal responses, even body language for deeper meaning and analysis.   Expert in psychology and the media Jean Kilbourne asserts, “One new market research technique involves monitoring brain-wave signals to measure how ‘engage’ viewers are in what they are watching” (338).   Doesn’t this...