Stephen Colbert and Consumer Society

On a recent episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert gave a commentary on the creation of needs for the consumer. He spoke about a new deodorant for women that helps to make armpits more attractive. I was reminded of Baudrillard's Consumer Society where he talks about the way "clothing, appliances and toiletries... constitute object paths, which establish inertial constraints on the consumer who will proceed logically from one object to the next." Unilever, in an attempt to create false needs for consumer, ran a "study" that showed that 93% of women find their underarms to be unattractive. This study was then used to justify the invention of a deodorant that will make women's armpits look more attractive in 5 days. Baudrillard says: "the manufacturers control behavior, as well as direct and model social attitudes and needs." He goes further to say: "...The whole economic and psychosociological apparatus of market and motivation research, which pretends to uncover the underlying needs of the consumer and the real demand prevailing in the market, exists only to generate a demand for further market opportunities."






                                   

The Daily Show and Glenn Beck's conspiracy theories

The Daily Show 4/7

On The Daily Show last night, it was revealed that Glenn Beck would be leaving Fox news. Jon Stewart did one of his Glenn Beck Parodies and in Glenn Beck’s conspiracy theorist fashion, suggested that the world was coming to an end. He also revealed Glenn Beck was sent by Jesus and Barack Obama is really a Mayan. Glenn Beck himself is a reified object of white male conservatism. The Daily Show is postmodern because it presents itself as fake news and satire, whose playfulness is used to inform people of current issues in the news.