A look into The

Effects of

Consumerism and

Pop Culture on a

Democracy

By: Johnny Gagnon

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and

free in a state of civilization, it expects

what never was and never will be.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1816)

Since the dawn of man we as human‟s have

produced, hunted, and scavenged all that was essential to

life, and have done so in large part with little excess.

Until…

• During post World War I and right as the industrial

revolution was coming to an end, the American

corporations and manufacturers began a new revolution. Selling things to people that they didn‟t

need.

• With the help of the growing new science

“psychology,” companies learn to market things to

people subliminally, rather than trying to convince

potential buyers with facts and reason.

• They do this by using the concept of the idea of

„self,‟ and that the clothes that one wears, and the

things that one owns, helps express who that

person is.

“A change has come over our

democracy. It is called

consumptionism. The American

citizens’ first importance to his

country is no longer that as

citizen, but now that of

consumer.”

-Samuel Strauss (American

Journalist published in Atlantic

Monthly 1924)

If the Empire State

Building

represented the

entire existence of

man, the age of

„consumerism‟

would only amount

to about 3” of the

building‟s 1454

feet, or about the

size of the aircraft

warning light on top

of the radio

antenna.

The “Shepard of

the Bewildered

Masses” • Edward Bernays (1892-

1995, seen here to the left) was the nephew of psycholgy‟sfoudning father Sigmund Freud. He very well might be the most influential man you never heard

of. He combined his Uncle‟s theories with that of other leading psychoanalysts to create many of the marketing tactics we still see today. He used sex, power, and social significance to help sell products

and ideas to the American public.

• Edward Bernays believed the mass mind

was unreasonable. The “bewildered

masses,” as he called them, must be made

docile and distracted, and left to the rule of

a specialty class beyond locality. He

believed he could do this by “stimulating

their inner desires and then sating them

with consumer products.” He called it “the

engineering of consent.”

“Within the life of the generation now in control of

affairs, persuasion has become a self-conscious

art and a regular organ of popular government.

None of us begins to understand the

consequences, but it is no daring prophecy to say

that the knowledge of how to create consent will

alter every political calculation and modify every

political premise...It has been demonstrated that

we cannot rely upon intuition, conscience, or the

accidents of casual opinion if we are to deal with

the world beyond our reach.”

1922 Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann (1889-

1974, Pulitzer winning journalist)

• I believe that democracy can work, but in order for

it to function to its potential, education must be a

democracy’s first priority.

• I also believe that our freedom comes at a cost.

That cost is a civic duty to stay informed. The casual

citizen is a democracy’s worst enemy.

• My mission with this project is to look at the effects

of consumerism and pop culture, to see if there is a

correlation between excessive consumption and

those that are politically active and informed.

My Mission Statement

• If you do, it shouldn‟t be too much of a

surprise, because according to emarketer.com U.S.

companins spent 168 billion in advertising in 2010 alone.

• A study done by The

US National Wildlife

Foundation (as

referenced by

Treehugger.com)

Showed that children

at the age of 7 could

already identify 200

corporate logos, but

hardly any local

plants native to their

own community.

• Can you identify this

local Maine tree?

My Research

• I surveyed/quizzed 36 people on their political

affiliation, political knowledge, how much they spend in

excess, how well they know about Corporate

logos, products etc. and how well they know trivial facts

pertaining to “pop culture.‟

• The survey quiz was composed of the same 41 self made

questions that were presented in a random order.

Sometimes I administered the test in person, and many

volunteered to take the quiz on their own time via the

internet.

• http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-

school/story.php?title=cosumerism-democracy

Warning:

I want to be up front and admit that some of the questions

were meant to be tricky. My intentions were to try to

eliminate educated guessing. Some of the questions

deliberately have answers that were meant to lure

anyone who does not know for certain away from the

correct answer. I did it on both sides, with a few of the

corporate logos, as well as the few of the political

questions. I figured anyone who had extensive

knowledge about the subject would not be fooled by trick

answers. However I do want to upfront with this now, as it

probably had an effect on my results.

My Hypothesis

• That those who consume excessively will be less informed

about current events and politics.

• That there will be a negative correlation between

knowledge of pop culture and knowledge of politics.

My Results

• I came across many trends with my study. It is hard to say

that any of them are conclusive however, given the small

sample size and broad range of questions asked.

Nonetheless the results go along with other trends I found

when researching this project.

• I found that with my subjects there was a negative

correlation with political knowledge and knowledge of

pop culture. Albeit very minute difference (only about 10

overall points on average). I attribute this to the overall

difficulty of my quiz, which I think was low.

• I found that regardless of who they were, or what type of

consumers they were, the overall knowledge of company

products and corporate logos was vast.

My Results

• I found that those who claimed to be republican used Fox

News as a source of news. All of those who claimed to be

republican listed Fox News as the channel they watched

most when watching the news, and 0% of all other parties

and ideologies claim to use Fox News as a primary source.

• In addition, I found that those who claimed to be

republican were better at identifying politicians positions

and party affiliations. I also found that they answered

consistently with the same bias amongst each other on

less objective questions( e.g. “has the US ever lost a war?).

While those of all other party affiliations were inconsistent

when answering the same questions.

Demographic

democrats

Republicans

Independents/

Non Partisan

Other

$ Spent on Luxury Items Per Month

$0-$100

$101-200

$201-300

$301-400

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Excessive Consumers Percentile Amongst the

Overall Group

Overall % of Product

Knowledge & Pop

Cultrue

Overall % of Political

Knowledge

72%

28%

0% 0%

If They Have Ever Received

Government Money or Used A Social

Program Ever

No Yes

Government Assistance &

Social ProgramsThis was one that was meant to trick those who were not

well informed in politics already. However to my surprise I

tricked the majority. I will admit this question is vaguely

worded, and somewhat subjective. However I believe

the question was worded properly enough where not

one single person should have answered no, regardless

of their situation.

The way it was worded I feel as though government

assistance could be anything from

welfare, foodstamps, section 8, to

medicare, medicaid, social security, pel

grant, subsidized loans, earned income

credit, mortagage subsidies etc. Also social programs

could be anything from public education, to fire

services, police services, driving on roads, and even

mailing a letter. I couldn‟t believe how many people

didn‟t take these things into account when answering

this question.

• My most shocking result was the

overwhelming amount of people who do

not even know their own representative.

This to me seems very alarming. There

seemed to be very little difference

between those subjects with knowledge of

pop culture, and those that did or did not

excessively consume. Overall, I found this

terribly sad, and even alarming on some

levels.

• Most Surprising thing was that everyone

aced the part of the quiz that asked people

to identify the company with their specific

product. They even knew the difference

between General Mills cereals and

Kelloggs! Also even though people could

not name their representative, you will all

be pleased to know, not one person got

the president wrong, (although I got some

strange spellings on that one), nor the three

branches of government, or that the

president has to be 35 years old to be

elected.

Criticisms

• There could be many factors for why some

people have become disinterested in

politics e.g. coverage overload, political

games, lost faith in the system, or the

seriousness of their current economic

situation.

• My survey/quiz covered a broad range. Next time I would attempt to make it more

focus.

• My sample size was very small (36 people)

and was not broadly represented (mostly people my age, my

friends, liberal, educated, and from

southern Maine.)

My Conclusion

• That we live in a society in which we are bombarded by

marketing and advertising, and whether you are aware of

it or not, you are effected by it on some level.

• In addition we as a society, we need to focus more on

educating if we want to continue to see our democracy

succeed. We need to not only focus on teaching our

citizens, but specifically focusing on expressing the

importance of our civic duty to remain informed and to

participate in the voting process as citizens of this nation.

Thank You!

Work CitedCurtis, Adam. "Happiness Machines." Century of the Self. BBC.

2002. Television.

"Edward Bernays." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Apr.

2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays>.

The EMarketer Daily Newsletter." Market Research & Statistics:

Internet Marketing, Advertising & Demographics. Nov.

2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.emarketer.com/>.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Quotations on Education." « Thomas

Jefferson's Monticello. Thomas Jefferson Foundation INC.

Web. 28 Apr. 2012.

<http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/quotations-

education>.

Work Cited

Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion. Free Press, 1922. Print.

Pg. 158

McLaren, Warren. "Logo No Go for Nau. A Peek at Branding

and Consumerism." TreeHugger. 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 28

Apr. 2012. <http://www.treehugger.com/culture/logo-no-

go-for-nau-a-peek-at-branding-and-consumerism.html>.

Strauss, Samuel. Atlantic Monthly Nov. 1924. Print.

"The Empire State Building." Wikipedia. Wikimedia

Foundation, 29 Apr. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_State_Building

>.