Concocting the Ultimate Panacea and the Quest to Defeat the Adverse Effects of Advertising Advertising in our day

and age points towards a general failure of our society. It glorifies greed and narcissism while feeding the belief that the way to happiness is through the accumulation of material goods. This quest for material satisfaction is a goose chase being led by the master of all tricky geese, human desire. Because when we have some, we want more. Of anything and everything this is the case. But the consumerist lifestyle as shown in advertisements isnt an inherent trait of our society; it is something that has been fed to us since birth. Its been whispered into our ears, blending in with the background noise. The message is slipped into movies, books, highway travel, and even other products that weve purchased. With our current dismal trajectory seemingly already set in stone, our prospects might seem fairly dim. However, now is not too late to change the course of our future. While old habits are hard to break, fostering the growth of healthy and productive beliefs and practices in the future generations is a very attainable goal. To instil these values in our youth is an invaluable endeavor that whose rewards will be reaped for generations to come. While there might not be sudden or easily visible effects, the simple act of showing the dangers of excessive individualism and impressing the importance of collectivism will construct the basis for a society built upon mutual gain and compassion, as opposed to competition and narcissism. This concept of changing the projected values of society through a conditioning of our future generations can seem daunting. In Jean Kilbournes book Cant Buy Me Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel she confronts this issue head on and offers ways to break down the problem and manage it from its most basic level. Instead of putting time, effort, and money into developing methods of reform for adolescents and adults who have already gone astray she suggests that we turn our attention to helping them before they get to that

point, when they are still children and babies. Kilbourne believes that the most important thing a parent can do is to connect deeply and honestly with them. She refers to the statistic that the best predictor of health and strongest deterrent to high-risk behavior in teens was a strong connection with an adult, at home or at school. This finding remained true no matter what the family structure, income, race, or education was. Jean Kilbourne latches onto this study and believes that it clearly shows that connections with adults help to quash dangerous or disruptive behavioral issues in younger generations. As simple as this solution is, it would seem that the problem would have already been eradicated. Why is it that troubled youths still struggle with the overwhelming desire for immediate gratification and self indulgence regardless of the consequences? The answer is a lack of conviction and inability to reach a broad enough range of children Jean Kilbourne pushes the idea that the key to fully shifting the course of future generations relies on our ability to reach out to all children, not just our own. If every parent concerned themselves with only their personal child, there would be so many left behind. That would forget about the children of parents who are unaware of the issue themselves or are unable/unwilling to devote that much time and energy into their own child. As sad as this concept is, it is more common than it should be. The hedonistic and individualistic ideology encouraged and idealized by advertising does nothing to help this. Why would it? Why would someone put effort into connection with another human when theyve been told that the only way to happiness is through material possessions, not human connection? This is why its so important to put funding into youth centers and mentoring programs, and why every able parent should care about the raising of every child, not just their own.

This act of reaching out will in turn foster in that child the desire to reach out to others. This passes our values on to the next generation, and continues the fight against the harmful effects of advertising. Because our progress is a double edged sword, at once both healing the symptoms and killing the cause. We are teaching the younger generation so that they will be ready for the responsibility of making a difference, and for helping to free themselves and the entirety of society from the mind-melting clutches of corporate greed. By teaching them to have an awareness of others we will begin to gradually move away from the dependence on material wealth and towards a more productive and sustainable lifestyle. It is up to our generation to continue the fight to change our way of life and to make sure that future generations are well equipped enough to do the same, because if we dont there might not be a society worth caring about. So take a hint from Jean Kilbourne and form a connection with a child that might just make the difference between them becoming a hedonistic narcissist or a self-aware and caring productive member of a real society.