Advertising and Class Relations

The other day, my boyfriend and I got into a huge discussion about the class system in America. He said that working class individuals are in and stay in precarious conditions because of a series of bad decisions and poor planning. I disagreed, saying that some people have a harder time moving up in the corporate world because there are barriers that society has set up to keep a large proportion of the population in the service of a smaller group. I pointed out that our world wouldn't work otherwise.

Just like this wouldn't work, either

After a heated argument, we decided that our different points of view were the consequence of two very different upbringings, based on two separate cultures. He is American, after all, the country that values individuality and underdog stories. I come from a culture that rose from a dictatorship and is very fond of their unions. But after seeing Class Dismissed I realize that a very specific part of culture – TV – has a critical influence over class relations. 

I won the argument!

By representing the working class as idiots and fools, and equating success with material goods, advertising companies succeed at stigmatizing being poor. More importantly, these shows survive on stereotypes that the networks and ads cultivate, such as a patriarchal society where men hold power over women. We see this in all the shows where working class families are characters. No matter how smart and capable the wife is, she is never able to succeed in life (i.e. buy things) because her husband – the one that is financially responsible for the family and main decision maker -  is a dunce. The woman holds absolutely no power over her own fate and well being. 

As in: not at all.

It’s important to be aware of what the advertising companies – through the shows we watch – are trying to sell us. Since poor people can’t afford to buy luxury items, these characters will always be criminals or losers and it will always be by their own volition. But we know better! and since we know what they are up to, we can stop agreeing with this skewed view of reality.