Marketing American Culture

Marketing American Culture The average adult in the United States will look at the mirror and think that they have their life in control and do not feel the need to do anything about it. The average depressed adult may look and see a sad reflection, and upon seeing this they will seek out help, be it a doctor or a close friend. This is just an example of what the average American would do if they were sad, because in different cultures, people see depression differently because of various definitions of the condition itself. Depression in the United States is becoming as common as the cold, but only because that’s the way depression treatment is marketed. Marketing itself means the methods by which products are advertised and sold, and it is not restricted for just consumer use. In Jean Twenge’s essay “An Army of One: Me”, Twenge explores the increase in self-esteem and narcissism across the country, and also mentions the use of a new self-esteem education as a marketing technique for feeling good. In addition, Ethan Watters’s essay “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” discusses the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing strategies by better understanding how the Japanese perceive depression and adjusting their advertisements to better fit Japanese society. They were able to adjust their advertisements while also keeping the Japanese in mind, which commonly happens in American advertising, and therefore changes the way people think about certain issues. Thinking the same way everyone else does is the exact way that people are trapped in cultural norms by marketing and the only way out of the trap is by re-evaluating the image that mass marketing has created. Marketing is a very strange practice due to its double-edged, yet effective nature and the way it shapes society is truly very interesting. Mass marketing campaigns, from simple things like selling a product to complex things like advertising the Affordable Care Act, are all designed primarily to sell