Do you know someone rich and famous? Is he confident, popular, and joyful all of the time—the epitome of mainstream success? Or, on the other hand, is he stressed, having second thoughts about his life choices, and unsure about the meaning of his life? I am willing to be that it is the second one. Mainstream marketing and media have effectively brainwashed our society into accepting a false, even potentially dangerous definition of success.
Is there someone you know that is wealthy and prominent? Do they demonstrate the characteristics of a successful person in today’s society? Media today has effectively convinced our society into accepting an untrue, even possibly hazardous definition of success. Even though Webster’s dictionary defines success as “achieving wealth, respect, and fame,” the definition of success is different for everyone. Society wants us to accept that having money, having big house, and owning multiple cars is the key to happiness, and henceforth, success.
News channels most likely than not have now relied on celebrity gossip to gain and maintain viewers in the twenty-first century. The reality of today’s media and celebrity culture is that public figures with a spotlight on them, either because of good or bad reasoning, are the role models of the twenty first century (Aalai 1). There is no shortage of celebrities and pop stars who have adopted the mindset that there is no such thing as a negative publicity (Huston, et al. 3), and because of this, celebrities more negatively than positively affect society’s public eye of today. Celebrity lifestyles have become increasingly more prevalent in today’s society, especially to teens and younger adults; they negatively affect its viewers through means of advertising products and self-images, including the fashion industry, unreal lifestyles portrayed across reality TV shows, and the news of the aftermath showcased to the public.
Media has found a way to make us believe a false definition of success. Marketing brainwashes us in thinking that owning the newest cars, keeping up with latest trends,living in mansions, and having lots of money is the key to success and happiness.Let 's be honest all of that is false and not ever really true in life. I believe that the true definition of success involves living an honest life, receiving respect, patience, and appreciation. Having those traits in this generation are very hard and rare to find in a person due to marketing that has a way of controlling our thoughts and fooling us in order for them to reach success. In this generation, we
2014. Information Retrieval – Implementing and Evaluating Search Engines. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ir.uwaterloo.ca/book/01-introduction.pdf, [Accessed 28 April 2014]
The American Dream is defined as the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. During the period known as the “Roaring 20s,” this was the ideal American citizens were chasing; however, their American Dream was different. Many thought that it meant being wealthy and famous which led them to be unsatisfied and greedy. In The Great Gatsby, the endless search for something greater portrays this greediness, resulting in the corrupt reality of the rich and the famous. From the eyes of onlookers, the lives of the wealthy look glamorous and enchanting, but what these people do not see is the ongoing crave for something more.
In a bid to satisfy the public’s interest in celebrities it is ever-present that the news and entertainment media are going well beyond the point of providing consumers with basic information. “In this cult of celebrity, images of stars, people ‘famous for being famous’, are circulated and consumed daily across the world” (Penfold, 2004: 289). It is a generally accepted fact that the right to privacy is everyone’s right. Some critics argue that celebrities gave away that right the moment they became famous. However, it’s important to recognise that not all celebrities choose to be famous, and the media’s over intrusive behaviour toward celebrities cannot always be justified.
The mighty and elite are not the only people capable of being successful. Everyone wants to be successful, and anyone can be if they are given a chance (Bond, 1). Success, then, is not about being wealthy or well known; success is about desire and ambition. While achieving dreams often leads to happiness, high-profile bankruptcies illustrate that money can generate more issues. Therefore, being a millionaire or having an abundance of cash does not substantiate the definition of success.
Rockafeller and the likes are sometimes thought of as fat cats, getting rich beyond money people’s wildest dreams by controlling and cutting out competition. The funny thing is, Rockafeller wouldn’t even be able to sit at the table with modern day monopolists. The multilevel- super-conglomerates that currently power our economy have gotten so out of hand that practically everything you own, see, consume, or use was ultimately spawned by one of a handful of companies. Mass media is certainly not immune to this phenomena. The problem is, when all of your media has trickled down from one extremely powerful source, how can it be trusted?
It's the thing you do that makes you good.” (pg. 42) He repeatedly mentions “The 10,000 Hour Rule”, claiming it is the key to success. In conclusion, as I compare and contrast my ideas of success to Malcolm Gladwell and Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld's idea of success I found that there are more similarities than differences. Therefore, success can be ascertained by many different factors, it all comes down to the individual striving for it. Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm.