About: The Psychology of Fads and Commercial Advertising

As the producers would have us believe, the psychology of fads, and mass corporate media based commercial advertising appeals to self-image and self- quality; but according to Sigmund Freud the appeal is much, much, more basic than that. Mass Corporate Media Based Commercial Advertising appeals directly to the id--the compulsion for instant gratification, regardless of any economic, health, legal, reality, or safety concerns. It is also a type of mandatory brain washing--thirty minutes, often more, of an hour long TV program will be advertising commercials and many people are now watching them in preference too the program. Lastly commercial advertising caters to the many people living in our modern day society that have an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

North American children and adolescents spend an average of 8-10 hours per day with a variety of media, including cell-phones, television, radio, videos, video games, and the Internet. Considerable research exists to document concerns about media violence, the impact of media on teen sexual attitudes and behaviour, the relationship between alcohol and cigarette advertising and adolescent drug use, and the impact of R rated films on attitudes about sexual violence. Very little research exists concerning adolescent use of the Internet and the potential behavioural impact, but many parents and professionals are concerned.

Most North Americans do little or no thinking for themselves, because very few people on a world wide basis do any actual thinking. Instead we send our children to schools, colleges and universities to learn the thinking of others and we adults do exactly the same. Some of us become teachers and help pass the same facts and figures on to our children. They add the "knowledge" learned to the "pool" and assume that everything is true and factual. But is it? If we have not experienced for ourselves, examined and thought things out for ourselves, how do we know? The answer is, obviously, we do not-- we do not know. Because we do not know, we are like a herd of sheep, following "The Good Shepherd" Think for once: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I will follow him all the days of my life; right into the slaughterhouse. This phenomenon was well proven with the Nazis during the second world war.