Have you ever felt left out because you don’t have a
certain brand of clothes, shoes or gadget? Have you ever made fun of someone else because he or the latest version of something? 

Image-conscious pre-teens and teenagers are targeted with messages about being cool and attractive. Do you ever feel that you are cool and attractive because of something that you own? 

Or do you secretly feel that you aren’t cool because you don’t own something that other people have? Have you ever found yourself believing this to be true? Is this fair? 

Buy! Buy! Buy! Advertising in our lives

We are exposed to mass media at an ever-increasing rate. Everywhere we go there are billboards, posters and neon signs advertising something. Radio and television, newspapers and email all bombard our senses with images, news and information. 

Over the many decades, advertising and the mass media have become an increasingly pervasive part of our lives. Artists have responded to this bombardment in various interesting ways. Some have embraced and used the language of this “visual culture” surrounding us; some have pointed out its ironies; others have criticised it, or sought to expose its hypocrisy.