It’s not every day that you feel a rush of unaltered emotions. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide what you feel and what you want to feel. A person’s perception of reality is a result of their beliefs. Media in all its forms plays a crucial role in determining our emotions. Also when you fall short of emotions, all you need to do is expose yourself to any form of media and you are bombarded with emotions. If you are sad you can watch Vodafone’s zoozoo ads and you will surely start giggling.
It is the job of the media to make you feel and by breeding these emotions inside you, it will get its way in your life. Below are instances that explain how emotions are manipulated by the media.
Fear is one emotion that is used aplenty by the media. Fear emanates survival instinct and hence it is widely used by the media in most of the advertisements, movies, news bulletins, newspaper articles etc. Fear marketing is a very successful strategy to sell any idea or product. We are sold hygiene and beauty products through fear. If you don’t want yellow teeth then you must use this toothpaste or nobody will talk to you. Similarly, you need acne cream so that the opposite sex finds you attractive. The basic idea at play here is “keep everyone afraid and they’ll consume.”
It is typical of audiences to fall prey to such tactics. Desire and the need to have something can play havoc with your brains. Emotions rule all your senses and this is very cunningly used by the media. Ads today easily sell you things that you don’t need in the first place. The basic idea is making you feel an emotion called desire. Such tactics are used by car companies, handset manufacturers and the likes.
Over the years, mass media has played an important role in making people understand the meaning of democracy. We also come to know about the positives and the negatives of the economy of our country, the population figures, the various problems faced by the nation, the increasing levels of corruption, and achievements of the nation in different sectors through the prompt and precise reporting efforts of the media. Media also creates a sense of pride and unity among the people of the nation. Media, when used correctly, helps spread positive emotions and feelings and this can make or break a nation’s integrity.
When used wrongly, all hell can break loose. As Adolf Hitler explains – “All propaganda must be so popular and on such intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those towards whom it is directed will understand it. Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched life as paradise.”
This concludes that media is indeed powerful in selling emotions. Whether or not you want them, they are still thrust in your system every day, every minute and you can’t do anything except feel grateful to the media for keeping you rich with unaltered emotions.
