Advertising to Social Classes

We live in a society of classes.  How does one determine what class he or she belongs to?  Keeping in mind that we have the right to freedom of expression, we should ask ourselves how our self expressions place us into a social class structure.  The clothing we wear, the places we shop, our credit card limit, and the price tag on our car may all represent our position of class in society.  We may be "buying" into a certain class by what we purchase.  Advertising agencies constantly study consumer habits and desires.  

The Pursuit of Perfection

Commercials like these have a major impact on a person's perception of perfect.  This ad targets the upper class white male.  This can be seen as an unethical tactic to limit the consumer base.  They are basically saying, if your not a rich white guy, don't bother looking at this car.

We often see lower class people trying to by vehicles like this to improve their status in society.  Many of these people can't afford cars like this and end up getting bad credit because of failure to pay their lender.

References

2010 Census. (n.d.). 2010 Census. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.census.gov/2010census/

Campbell, R., Jensen, J., Gomery, D., Fabos, B., & Frechette, J. (2014). Media In Society. New York/ Boston: Bedford.

Lexus. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHb26ny1Muk

Marketing & Consumerism. (n.d.). MediaSmarts. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://mediasmarts.ca/marketing-consumerism

McChesney, R. W. (2004). The problem of the media: U.S. communication politics in the twenty-first century. New York: Monthly Review Press.

data. (n.d.). data. Retrieved June 21, 2011, from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0695.pdf

youtube. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/