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How media advertising forms cultural values.

Examine the relationships among the media, advertising, and the formation of normative cultural values. Provide at least one real-world example of these relationships.

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The relationship between media, advertising and normative cultural values often go hand in hand. To begin, one must define each element separately and then bring them together to understand the whole. With media dominating a large part of the life of society today, it is only natural to say that advertising also plays a dominant role. What does this have to do with the formation of cultural values? A lot. Culture is often formed by growing trends in society. These trends often come from the media and in effect, advertising.

According to Paul A. Herbig "The average American is exposed to 61,556 words from the mass media each day which works out to just under 4,000 words per waking hour, about 60 words per waking minute per person per day." (Herbig & Kramer, 1994) Normative cultural values are often influenced by the media and advertising rather than "created" by them. Advertising is often repetitive and engaging, therefore affecting people's thoughts and beliefs.

The mass media is clearly one of the most powerful institutions in society; it is, for most of the public, the ultimate source of all their information. The structure of the mass media will therefore have fundamental implications for ...

Solution Summary

This posting explains the relationship between media advertising and cultural values. How does media affect what we do and why we do it? This posting includes real world examples of this realtionship.