Hypercommercialism, The Media and Oligopolistic Markets

GUESS WHAT???
“Consumers are like roaches. You spray
them and spray them and they become
immune after a while. The only answer is to
spray them some more.”
-David Lubars, Senior Ad
Executive, Omnicom Group


The Burning Question

How many different
cans of Raid do
advertisers have?


HYPER-COMMERCIALISM
The Progression (and Annoyance) of
Advertising


What’s not new





Advertising has spilled into our television
programs with 30 and 15 second spots, in total
taking 14 to 17 minutes per hour of programming
Ads also appear in our newspapers, magazines,

on our radio stations and in other forms of media
Advertising in stadiums and other public venues
We have become immune to this.


What IS new
Advertising during TV programs, digitally
imprinted such that only the home viewer
can see it
 Internet pop-up ads, including those that
now avoid pop-up blockers
 Commercialized companies, making deals
with advertisers which benefit both the
company and advertiser



What IS new
Products written into programming
 Product sponsored events, books, etc.
• The Nokia Sugar Bowl
• The Oreo Cookie Counting Book


An alarming example to me: NASCAR
• The good ol’ boy network has fallen!


A closer look at NASCAR
Founded in 1948 by Bill France, Sr., its

primary series, the “Strictly Stock Division”
began on the dirt tracks in Charlotte, NC in
1949. The famed Daytona International
Speedway opened in 1959
 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and France struck
a deal that created NASCAR’s Winston
Cup Series in 1971



That was then… this is NOW!
NASCAR is a commercialized machine,
from the cars, to the drivers, to the
broadcasts to the Internet. All interactive
rights are now owned by Time Warner
 The broadcast networks now televise
NASCAR, and since that’s the case…
 Winston is GONE as the primary
sponsor…. it is now the Nextel Cup Series
as of this year



The Web Site



www.nascar.com
To the good ol’ boys,
Time Warner,

advertisers and
broadcast giants must
be the devil.


This Is Our Future
We cannot escape advertisers
Businesses are joining with them for more profit
They’re in our books, our stadiums, on our buses,
in public bathroom stalls, hospital rooms… we
are trapped, there is no way out…

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!


And If That Wasn’t Bad Enough…


MEDIA HEGEMONY AND
OLIGOPOLISTIC MARKETS
So Few Own So Much


Terms
Vertical Integration
 n : absorption into a single firm of several firms
involved in all aspects of a product's
manufacture from raw materials to distribution
Synergy
 n: The interaction of two or more agents or

forces so that their combined effect is greater
than the sum of their individual effects.
 Cooperative interaction among groups,
especially among the acquired subsidiaries or
merged parts of a corporation, that creates an
enhanced combined effect.


Terms
Conglomerate
 n: A corporation made up of a number of
different companies that operate in
diversified fields.
First and second tier media firms do these
three things WELL.


THE BIG SEVEN
These are the first tier firms:
 Time Warner
 Viacom
 News Corporation
 Sony
 General Electric
 Bertelsmann
 Disney


Cox Enterprises
Cox is considered a second-tier media firm

 Profits range from $3-$10 billion annually
They own
 Newspapers
 TV Stations and Channels (Partially)
 Other (AutoTrader.com)
 www.coxenterprises.com



What these conglomerates do
Acquire any and every thing that furthers
their efforts to control media outlets
 Work with each other to keep third-tier and
independent firms out UNLESS they can
get a slice of the pie (they are the
gatekeepers)
 Keep ideas stale; remain non-progressive
(they give the people what they want, but
then give too much of it)



Why is this happening???


Why is this happening???
Teleological Theory
 “The means justify the ends.”
Egoism
 the individual self is the motivating moral

force and the end of moral action
What ever happened to deontological
theory???
 action will be guided by a set of moral
principles or rules


What can be done?
Governmental Regulation?
 Advertisers claim they are protected by
the First Amendment
 Laws against oligopoly?
Consumers
 We have power, but too many people
don’t care


SITE TO REMEMBER!
Columbia Journalism Review
 www.cjr.org


THE END