Dina Sanif
Joel Brunkala
English 1A
15 February 2023 When reading the readings assigned to me in Signs of Life I found that the reading "The More Factor" by Laurence Shames and the reading "Millennials Tried to Kill the American Mall, But Gen Z Might Save It" by Jordyn Holman had a lot of similarities. These two readings had very similar takes on how American culture has a lot of impact on consumerism. When reading “The More Factor” by Laurence Shames, Shames believed and argued that Americans have a desire for a lot of growth and expansion. Shames states on page 194 that Americans have a habit of wanting more and America has never-ending opportunities. “America was the place where one never quite came to the end” (Shames 194). This means that America will
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The same thing was also shown when reading "Millennials Tried to Kill the American Mall, But Gen Z Might Save It" by Jordyn Holman. Americans, especially Gen Z, expect what their consumer culture should be like. Gen Z changed the way we interact with places we buy things such as the mall. It states, “Nearly half of Gen Z shoppers want products tailor-made to their taste and interests” (Holman 209). Gen Z has changed consumer culture by making their purchases customizable to their taste and also altered the way American stores look like. “Old-guard department store Macy’s Inc. earlier this month rolled out in 36 of its locations ‘story,’ a colorful themed shop-in-shop” (Holman 209). In American culture, advertising has become a big thing in consumer culture. In the reading, "Millennials Tried to Kill the American Mall, But Gen Z
In the article, “The Perfect Name for the Next Generation of Americans,” Mary Meehan explains that generations all have distinct characteristics that influence their attraction to products, and these characteristics come from the events that those generations’ experience, which are often established in the generational names. Mary Meehan develops this by giving examples of events/characteristics in other generations’ lives, and how those events correlate to the generational name and traits they have today. Meehan’s purpose is to inform on where the generational names come from in order to show how to market products to those generations, especially the 1995-2012 generation, which at the time would be “new.” Meehan’s target audience would include
The problem with Kenneth Cole’s advertisement campaign
In the excerpt from M.T. Anderson’s Feed, the author shows how deceiving stores can be. The way employees are, and how they attempt to make their products fit into each individual person’s life, can become deceitful. Consumerism is a movement to protect consumers against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, and unfair pricing. UBIK and Feed give good examples of Consumerism, although the excerpt from Feed does an outstanding job of showing examples of consumerism while getting straight to the point. In UBIK, the author has ads for a product as the beginning of each chapter.
Cailen Hollins Assignment #1: Nickelodeons Many nickelodeons began popping up all over the country in the year 1905, but all seemed to have one thing in common: the owners attempt to bring in an audience by decorating their store fronts. Images 2, 5, and 6 are great examples of this practice, although each is decorated in a different way. In Image 2, the owner of the “Princess Theatre” adorns his storefront by advertising for the current film he is showing. A sign for “101 Ranch” hangs across the entrance and animal hides cover the windows. This sort of elaborate decoration is also seen in Image 5, but instead of advertising for the movies themselves, the owners of this nickelodeon are trying to appeal to the publics’ sense of national
It is important to note that Clifton is informal in this article because he wants to explain to his audience, which are people who want to understand adolescents why they want Supreme’s goods. In a part of this article, he is criticizing people for their decisions when he says “But that's fine..even if it's just a pair of boxer shorts”. It makes the audience feel as if he is talking directly to them as if they are having a conversation where he is explaining them the reasoning behind these millennia’s choices. Clifton makes a great point at the end of the article when he says that they are riding on their “authenticity” and if Supreme keeps opening new stores, they will lose all of their credibility. He shows his readers that everything that makes it unique will soon disappear, so he inquires why they would want to buy it later
Joshua Shavel Consumer Nation 10/5/17 How Consumerism Changed America America is often described as a nation of consumers. This description usually has a negative tone, implying that Americans are materialistic, and in comparison to the majority of other countries, this is true. Many people accuse Americans of having a level of consumption that is actually wasteful in a lot of ways. Finding the difference between “needs” and “wants” is difficult in a consumer nation, where options are almost limitless. Consumerism can also bring about positive change, though, and this is especially true in the United States.
"Hundreds of retailers display advertisements of the same concept year after year, season after season of young actors that appear to be underage partaking in risky behavior, regardless of the fact that the acts portrayed if committed or recorded of a minor is highly critiqued and illegal in society. Possessing images of minors in compromising positions is prohibited in the U.S" (Steinem 522). However, thousands of companies are depicting this prohibited act with of photogenic, of age actors simply because it sells more products. Millions of outdoor malls are designed to be encourage consumer window-shopping, having customers peer from the outside, and fantasize about purchasing items. Why would a company not actively encourage customer to enter the store and purchase items?
In Advertisements R Us by Melissa Rubin, she analyzes how advertisements appeal to its audience and how it reflects our society. Rubin describes a specific Coca-Cola ad from the 1950’s that contains a “Sprite Boy”, a large -Cola Coca vending machine, a variety of men, ranging from the working class to members of the army, and the occasional female. She states that this advertisement was very stereotypical of society during that decade and targeted the same demographic: white, working-class males- the same demographic that the Coca-Cola factories employed.
No matter where you go, it feels like advertisements are always present. Companies continue to approach consumers using out of date methods such as through billboards, magazines, newspaper, and etc. The millennial, which were born linked to the world of social media, have different mind sets compared to older generations; therefore ignore the advertisements that are constantly around them. In “Marketing to the Millennial”, Suzy Menkes states that finding a way to reach this generation is the focus of every smart luxury and fashion brand. So how do you market the Millennial?
Mass conformity has been around since ancient times, as social conformity was put into place in an attempt for a more unified group. This conformity has grown and morphed as time went on as people changed themselves to follow the set standards. Conformity is immense among teens, as many teenagers try to fit into the social norms surrounding the way they act and look. Nowadays, conformity around Gen Z includes having the newest shoes, clothing, slang, and careless actions. Gen Z has lost much of its uniqueness, as each clique of the generation has certain standards that must be met for its followers to fit in.
As I walk through the mall, I see a diverse community of people coming together; hence, the mall stays crowded even on weekdays. Age groups from teenagers to elderly people swarm all around the elegant mall, but why? Lenox appeals to each age group with desired stores, for example, a teenager loves to shop at Hollister, Abercrombie or American Eagle while an older shopper may go to Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, or Anthropologie. In addition, not only does Lenox offer a wide variety of stores, but also Lenox is conveniently located right off the highway, so it is easily accessible. A Marta Station is also positioned right next to the mall within a suitable walk distance to the food court.
In conclusion, society is being taken advantage of by the name brands that make millions of dollars. They are targeting people that are “Brand Junkies.” The Empire Mall promotes Americans’ spending habits and takes advantage of that, especially
All this shows that suburban whites tend to associate the trends of inner city poor with fashion, and that the marketing is the biggest link between the two groups. Next, Kotlowitz talks about the advertisement of name brands in these communities. He discusses how people in these impoverished communities are captivated into buying designer Coach wallets, Tommy Hilfiger shirts, and Calvin Klein sunglasses when they see their favorite rappers on magazines and music videos in a Ralph Lauren hat or an
These stores eliminated the need for awkward negotiations. Also, most of these stores were “richly decorated” to provide a “pleasurable experience” (Keene, 483). They had marble columns, decorative ceilings, and strategically placed statues. These merchants provided a place that “shoppers,” as they were called, could get anything they needed, and more (Keene, 483). These aesthetic elements opened up a world of retail and marketing.
For example Lego, Hasbro, Disney, Mattel, Barbie, Nerf, MEGA Bloks, and Fisher Price. Todays’ children “Generation-Z” have unique characteristics in many ways as compare to past generations. The ad film-makers, advertisers, and marketers always try to formulate new ways to attract their targeted customers, because of its rule the best way you attract to the customer and most likely to change their purchase intention and influence their decisions. The marketers and advertisers here use advertisement which targets the children are always based on anthropomorphism; using of non-living things like cartoons, animations, songs, logos, jingles, and different characters that advertisers keep in mind their audiences to attract the children, i.e. MacDonald, Disney, Barbie are the best example of