In a groundbreaking essay on the impact of media on individuals, Marshall McLuhan (2003) proclaimed ôthe medium is the messageö (1). By medium McLuhan meant any extension of ourselves, and by saying the medium is the message he meant that the medium dictates the message not us. Medium to McLuhan meant our speech, our books, our products and any other extension of us. With respect to products, McLuhan argued that the advertising carries the message and provides us with our extensions of ourselves. Likewise in CanÆt Buy Me Love, Jean Kilbourne (1999) argues four decades after McLuhan did so that we live in a world where we worship products and accept the blessings of Budweiser and Coca-Cola as the mark of divinity. More importantly, Kilbourne (1999) argues that by manipulating us through advertising corporations make us believe happiness comes from products.
In essence, Kilbourne (1999) argues that advertising not only makes us think happiness comes from products but it also is effective in manipulating us and basically making us into products. Kilbourne (1999) maintains that the majority of us are fooled into believing advertising has little or no impact on us. This is as advertisers would like it because advertising is most effective when people think it does not affect them. The mass media does not sell the kinds of products most people think of them as selling like soda and beer. Instead, they sell consumers to advertisers. As Kilbourne (1999) explains, ôMake no mistake. The primary purpose of the mass media is to sell audiences to advertisers. We are the productö (34).
The main reason the media exists or, according to Kilbourne (1999) the reason it exists is advertising. Advertising sells us products as we, in turn, are turned into products by our viewing of them by the media. The media uses quite a few tools and tactics to manipulate us. This is particularly true with alcohol advertising. Al
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