Communication Studies 1A03 Assignment 1:

Communication processes must be critically analyzed or we risk giving up the freedom to choose our actions. For example, we could lose the freedom to choose how our money is spent and thus become powerless.
Although we live in the “information age”, what good is information consisting of lies, myths, and innuendo presented as fact? Advertisers use pervasive symbols (images and language) expressly to manipulate our thoughts, and thus our behavior. Symbols are very effective tools used to evoke powerful emotional responses. In succumbing to the emotional state advertisers have designed, you are extremely vulnerable to manipulation. In this state you will easily confuse the difference between your “wants” and your “needs”.
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/consumerangst.html
We need to ask: is what we think we think, what we really think? Or are we subtly or overtly conditioned to think that way, or possibly compliant in not even bothering to think? Norman Fairclough’s “Critical Discourse Analysis” is a tool which allows people to see coded messages and to understand who’s benefiting if the message succeeds. Defend yourself by becoming aware of the insidious and sometimes subliminal nature of advertising. To have a chance of negating the effects of the attempted brainwashing, identify the source, de-code the message, and determine if the information is really relevant. By becoming aware of your emotional responses (fears and desire) you’ll know when you’re taking emotional bait. Only armed with this awareness can you make informed, rational and free decisions about your subsequent actions.

Camille LaMarsh Student # 0569851