Understanding Popular Culture: The Uses and Abuses of Fashion Advertising

Today\u27s young people are bombarded by messages. They should be taught to evaluate what they hear, to understand how ideas are clarified or distorted, and to explore how the accuracy and reliability of an oral (visual) message can be tested (Boyer, 1983, p.92). Students are often manipulated by media messages and they are unaware of the uses and abuses of the media by advertisers. In many ways such manipulation makes students dependent on materialistic rewards, regardless of moral concern. As a remedy, Lanier (1966) advocates developing a critical consciousness, an informed awareness of the social forces which oppress our lives. (p.23)