GRE写作素材Section Four: Mass Media_GRE写作

GRE写作素材Section Four: Mass Media

　　Americans, adults and children alike, are being seduced. They are being brainwashed. And few of us protest. Why? Because the seducers and the brainwashers are the advertisers we willingly invite into our homes. We are victims, contenteven eagerto be victimized. We read advertisers propaganda message in newspapers and magazines; we watch their alluring images on television. We absorb their messages and images into our subconscious. We all do iteven those of us who claim to see through advertisers tricks and therefore feel immune to advertisings charm. Advertisers lean heavily on propaganda to sell their products, whether the products are a brand of toothpaste, a candidate for office, or a particular political viewpoint.

　　Propaganda is a systematic effort to influence peoples opinions, to win them over to a certain view or side. Propaganda is not necessarily concerned with what is true or false, good or bad. Propagandists simply want people to believe the messages being sent. Often, propagandists will use outright lies or more subtle deceptions to sway peoples opinions. In a propaganda war, any tactic is considered fair.

　　When we hear the word propaganda, we usually think of a foreign menace: anti-American radio programs broadcast by a totalitarian regime or brainwashing tactics practiced on hostages. Although propaganda may seem relevant only in the political arena, the concept can be applied fruitfully to the way products and ideas are sold in advertising. Indeed, the vast majority of us are targets in advertisers propaganda war. Every day, we are bombarded with slogans, print ads, commercials, packaging claims, billboards, trademarks, logos, and designer brands-all forms of propaganda. One study reports that each of us, during an average day, is exposed to over five hundred advertising claims of various types. This saturation may even increase in the future since current trends include ads on movie screens, shopping carts, videocassettes, even public television.