Entry 1

  

Hype

                                       

  When people think about pollution, they often refer to air, water and soil contamination, yet there is another type of pollution that might not be physically but psychologically. According to the excerpt “Hype” from Kalle Lasn, the continuous increase of commercial advertising has become a mental pollutan since they can be found everywhere around us including buses, taxis, trains, billboards even restrooms with ads trying to catch our attention and persuade as into buy their products or services. Moreover, publicity has influenced people’s behavior and habits.

     Kalle Lasn states that everyday an estimated 12 billion display ads, 3million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials are dumped into North America’s collective unconscious. It is easy to believe such estimated, especially if living in a place such as New York City, where publicity is everywhere. One of the most famous  places in New York City its Times Square which has every kind of advertisements such as some of the biggest screens and billboards in the world announcing sodas, cars or stores, people giving flyers in every corner, people giving samples of food promoting a restaurant, taxis and buses announcing movies or TV shows and if you take a look at your coffee cup, you will notice an sleeve around it announcing more products and services.

Lans also mentions that he used to hear Beethoven’s music in his head, but now he hears a kid singing the Oscar Meyer wiener song. That can be because publicity goes really deeply into our minds that can affect our behavior and habits. For instance, people use some slogans to make comments or jokes. Last week I was drinking a Red Bull while working and a regular costumer saw me, so he smiled at me and said, “don’t fly to high” because “Red Bull gives you wings.” It is amazing how advertising can affect us even in our habits like why to cook that may be will take 30 minutes if we can go to McDonal’s  and get food for less than $5.00 in 90 seconds.

     Indeed advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic mental pollutants as Kalle Lasn said and there might not be a way to escape, but people should rather to think wisely before doing anything.