Taste is less receptive to Change

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES VISAYAS TACLOBAN COLLEGE Brent Kenneth L. Calvo BACA 3 Dr. Victorio N. Sugbo Communication and Socio-cultural change

Blue, thats my brothers favorite color. For years now he has preferred the said color to any color in the world. In times of choosing what bag to use, even if the non-blue bag looks neater and more attractive, he will definitely choose the blue bag over it for the simple reason that its his favorite color. This setting, I suppose, is just a paragon of what the quote, Taste is less receptive to change tells us. But, what is with this aesthetic preference that makes it less amenable to change even if with the presence of mass media? Ill supply the answer with the proceeding paragraphs. We all know the fact that mass media reaches a large number of audience. It even affects how they should think, move, and even feel. However, what mass media has failed to alter or conquer completely is ones personal inclination to particular things. From the way I see it, mass media only stimulates a single particular group of people with similar aesthetic preferences at a single time and space. An example of this are those advertisements of whitening soaps being showed in your Television screens. They do not affect the people who prefer and are contented with what skin color they have. On the hand, however, men and women who want to revolutionize their skin colors are the ones being stimulated by these advertisements. In other words, mass media is only able to envelopes a small sample of people of the bigger population. Another thing why I think taste is less receptive to change especially to those ideas and values being presented by the mass media is that it is like a ritual of a certain society -- it is recurrent and is instilled greatly in everyones body and mindset. In addition to this, psychologically speaking, this personal inclination makes one mind feel comfortable and relaxed, it takes away ones worries and troubles just as what rituals do in societies it makes the people feel secure and hassle-free. However, in cases where one deviates from his/ her preferences, chances are that he will feel anxiety and unsure whether or not he/she has done the right thing; that there will be an invisible something bothering you from the inside an eerie feeling of something bad is about to happen; hence, preventing you from achieving the feeling of satisfaction and pleasure you desire. For instance, when buying a cellular phone we always see to it that what we buy confirms with our tastes criteria so as to feel at ease and delighted with ones self; otherwise, our minds will keep bugging us as what the conscience do whenever a person commits a crime. Lastly is that these preferences we have are a part of who we are. This includes your ethics, personality, social status, beliefs and values, and the like. Accordingly, if these are within us, altering it within one night or a blink of an eye is one heck of an impossible task to do. Like ones attitude, it is very difficult to abruptly change it for it is imparted into us and even if one is exposed to things that can affect your personality, still, at the end of the day the way you used to be stays. This seem to be in contrast with how one moves body movement, if one is in constant contact of remodeling agents, for sure, it would definitely revise ones movements. Say, Like how an aspiring model who walks like a running giraffe, if he/she will be exposed continuously to ramp modeling experts or people who have keen eyes for the proper way of walking then in less than a year, shell be walking like a regal and a superb supermodel. Its just a matter training. On a bigger aspect, however, how does the society (or the manufacturers) reciprocate to this kind of setting of individualistic preference? Its quite simple. They group the population into groups of similar interests and then, produce products that would attract or stir each groups taste. In addition to this, these companies bend over backwards to the extent of getting in touch or having a face-to-face interaction with the people through surveys to gain knowledge about what the masses want and need. Accordingly, this gives the people the opportunity to release their sentiments and suggestions regarding the products these companies manufacture; which in turn, give these companies the chance to remove the imperfections, and improve their products and service to the people. These win-win strategies ensure the welfare of both sides the masses receive comfort while the companies gain income. As observed, taste is less receptive to change because this aesthetic preference is intricately woven inside of us; no matter how strong the mass media bombards it with different ideas and values, aiming to alter peoples taste is futile. In the age where mass media controls every action, how people should feel, it is still nice to see that there is still one thing that the mass media did not conquer our aesthetic preferences. The mass medias sole job is to perk ones taste; it can neither control nor alter it. Also, it seems that instead of our taste confirming to what the society wants, it is the other way around the society adapts to what the people want. Just as my brothers blue issue. It has stayed in him for many years now for it is already imparted in him and even if he gets contact with agents that may change his preference, still, he sticks to what his aesthetic conscience tells him; and we, the people surrounding him, shall become accustomed to his personal taste. Accordingly relating it to the bigger population, no matter happens; whatever medium it takes, still, our personal tastes will always reign and shine.