Cultural Stereotypes In American Culture

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Pages: 7

Since the print book was created in the year 1453 as the first medium of media, the term ideology has become prevalent among media as a discursive relay station for defining social groups. An ideology is a set of beliefs that a social formation or culture finds to be inherently true. As the advertisement industry produces each of its ads, they create ideologies of the American culture that then create stereotypes for various cultures. As stereotypes are created in America, the advertisement industry continues to produce ads that reinforce already existing stereotypes. It is my belief that the greyhound bus company advertisements depict their consumers as lower class individuals.
As media surrounds us daily, it is the scope of how the individual
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A stereotypical family for example can be an ideology that the dad should work to provide for his family and the mom should stay at home to maintain the house and kids. The way media disseminates these cultural stereotypes is defined as a “discursive relay station” as said by John Fiske in Hyland Wang’s article on, the struggle of contending stories. "figures," both fictional and nonfictional, in embodying and energizing cultural politics in a media-saturated wor1d. He theorizes that figures often operate as "discursive relay stations" in contemporary cultural struggles drawing in already circulating social discourses, highlighting certain discursive threads, and relaying powerful messages out again into the culture." It is when stereotypes are created about social groups, everyone who falls among the stereotype becomes accustomed to a certain social image. This is known as an internalized ideology as said in the article America On Film written by Sean Griffin. “...for individuals who have already been inculcated into dominant ideology. Such individuals are said to have internalized ideology, or to have adopted socially constructed ideological assumptions into their own sense of self.” (pg.10) As the individual finds himself under a socially constructed stereotype they gain a perception of their …show more content…
In the process of advertising they’re many decisions made by companies as to what individuals to market to as well as the social standard the product falls under. As advertising companies create ideologies for American consumers, they develop communities of people who share similar ideals and beliefs. In an ad called “How this Farm Family Travels More for Less” presented in the Country Gentlemen’s Magazine, the advertising company creates an ideology of the American agriculture community. The ad is created by the greyhound bus company and seeks to reach out to those who want to travel “more for less money.” The premise of the ad begins with the title as it is reaching out to the farming community members that do not have an easy method of travel. Another key indication into the target audience is the medium it was placed in, Country Farmer Magazine. The Country Farmer magazine was a popular magazine for individuals in the agriculture industry, as its intention was to provide farmers with coverage of the business side of their work. Given the target audience of the magazine, it is easy to interpret that the ad is aimed to reach out to individuals who live in the country and need a cheap way to reach nearby cities. By using farmers as the target audience, Greyhound is creating the ideology that farmers are members of a lower economic social