Television Commercial

A television commercial can be a very powerful tool as many can attest. Well crafted commercials are both visually and audibly memorably, making use of catchy phrases, catchy songs, and very particular visual images all to capture the attention of its viewers. Advertising agencies prey on those that do not practice the art of critical thinking when deciphering these commercials. Commercials about prescription drugs are exceptionally deceptive and attack several habits of critical thinking. The habits that they attack are judicious, inquisitive, and analytical. The three prescription drug commercials that I analyzed were Cymbalta, Zoloft, and Celebrex. It is evident that these commercials strategically highlight the "pros" of these drugs. By law they must also give you the "cons" or negative side effects of these drugs. These companies follow the law but put the negative side effects in very fine print or say them very fast. These companies are obviously practicing perception management as described in the Think Critically text. These companies are carefully manipulating the beliefs and feelings of large number of people.

Although some of these drugs have probably saved lives it is evident that society as a whole are not critical thinking because these pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars annually. One critical thinking habit I see consumers not practicing is the analytical habit. These drugs negative side effects severely outweigh its positives. Some side effects of these drugs are ulcers, serious skin reactions, bleeding of the stomach and intestines which could result in death, and adverse sexual side effects. Why would anyone take these drugs if they could have these potential life threatening effects? The answer is because consumers are not critically thinking. We are not truth seeking, analyzing using a systematic approach, being inquisitive and judicious. If we are critically thinking then there would be a lot of unanswered questions that these pharmaceutical companies would have to answer.

In addition to prescription drug commercials the same applies for regular commercials. In my endeavor to strive to practice critical thinking I always ask myself the question, Is this to good to be true when watching commercials? If the answer is yes then I need to relook at this commercial. My favorite commercials that draw in consumers who do not critical think are alcohol commercials, mortgage commercials, and car commercials. For example mortgage commercials lure consumers into thinking this mortgage is to good to pass up at these rates. Instead of critically thinking about this unbelievable interest rate they jump into a contract. If the homebuyer had practiced critically thinking they would have sought the truth and realized that this low interest rate was only for a portion of there mortgage. Another example is car dealership commercials that prey on military communities. These dealerships have flashy commercials that offer no money down, low monthly payments. In the fine print at the bottom of the commercial is the truth behind the "deal". These fine print items are overlooked because we are not critically thinking because all these young military members see is the flashy car and the scantily clad women that is in the commercial and they believe if I get a car like this then I can have a women like that.

Analysis of you tube clips, power point

As I reflected on the Carlin clips, the newsroom clips, the shock presentation , and the network clip I realized they have way more similarities than dissimilarities. The similarities all lead to one conclusion, that the majority of Americans living in a free society have lost their ability to critical think. This is evident by the state of American society. George Carlin so eloquently put it "The owners of this country are not interested in citizens