Possible Social Engineering in United States Television Commercials

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Being retired, I watch a fair amount of TV, mostly news during the day, but the only news show I watcch regularly is CNBC. Less politics. Here's what I have noticed. On CNBC, they wouldn't be in business if it were not for the Mesothelioma Lawyer ads, the Progressive Insurance ad, GEICO, and some other car insurance ad, (You love your car, you named it Brad). The local news shows, (watched for weather) are the usual, car dealers, Star furniture, and the flooring ad.

When I have FOX on, (rarely), its pretty much like CNBC but with more ads directed at Veterans and Gold Bugs.

As to race, I see a lot of mixed race couples, and as you pointed out, few Asians or Hispanics.

The oddity to me is what I no longer see. No Michlen tire or any tire commercials. Practically no car commercials with the exception of the odd BMW commercial. No soft drink commercials, no cereal comercials, (guess Tony the Tiger died?).

I dont see much social engeineering, rather, I see age and target marketing with the few commercials left on air.

Exactly correct. This has nothing to do with social engineering. It's about marketing, advertising and pushing those efforts to the demographics they know are going to be tuned it to that particular medium.

As it is now, the TV is becoming more for the older folks and the younger generations, as well as the wise older folks, are moving towards smart tech and streaming.

a reply to: introvert

True, we watch more Brit TV than anything else courtesy of the Amazon firestick, Britbox and Acorn TV. No commercials at all. Any US cable shows we watch we record to zip through the commercials.

I have to wonder if broad cast TV is maybe going the way of print newspapers.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: introvert

True, we watch more Brit TV than anything else courtesy of the Amazon firestick, Britbox and Acorn TV. No commercials at all. Any US cable shows we watch we record to zip through the commercials.

I have to wonder if broad cast TV is maybe going the way of print newspapers.

I do not watch any TV whatsoever and I cannot say which direction broadcast TV will be moving, but I do know that as technology keeps getting better and the capabilities of the internet are explored further, it will become harder for TV to keep up.

The TV generation is getting older and will die off. TV may die of as well.

I don't think male teens do a lot of buying. Female teens are a larger buying force than male teens. Even if female teens aren't doing the actual purchasing, but instead her mother does the actual purchasing, the teen females have more of an influence on what clothes, shoes, etc are purchased for them. Teen males have less of an influence on the purchases made for them by their parents.

When it comes to adult families and couples, it is usually the female (wife, mother, live-in girlfriend) that makes more of the day-to-day purchasing decisions. The females are the ones who (generally) decide which clothes to buy for their children, what food to buy for the family, and which everyday household products are purchased. In general, the males are only consulted on big-ticket items.

It seems to be who they want to target at the time. If there is a show with a black person as one of the main stars, there will be more black people in the commercials. This is actually chosen by a computer. The commercials are often chosen by the triggers in the last sentence in what precedes it, if the person orders a mexican food from a taco truck, the commercial will probably be taco bell. If the person in the show talks about medicine or illness, it might be a pharma commercial. That is why often there are so many Pharma commercials in a row, and also lawsuits. Someone talking about suing someone or a criminal asking for a lawyer will trigger legal commercials and then if the legal commercial is about medicine, it will trigger a pharma commercial. It is a viscous cycle. If there is talk about medicine on the news, the commercial at break will often be pharma.

Get used to it, those computers use some weird programming, it is automatic sometimes. It may also be that they want us to be conditioned to be triggered by words, just like the computer that chooses the commercials is. Social programming is not working so hot though anymore since real people don't choose things.

originally posted by: Eshel
I'm sorry but I need to ask a question for clarification.

It seems to me that blacks, mixed race families, gay couples and even Muslims

How did you know they were Muslim? It may just be my area, but I've yet to see a commercial representing a specific religion. (not counting ones for LDS that pop up once in a great while)

Not an attack, just curious if there's something I'm missing.

Women wearing the tradition Muslim head scarf is what I was referring to.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

ok, I gotcha.

So it's Muslims, Orthodox Jews or Nuns ?

I get what you're saying, but let's not stereotype or make it about religion please

originally posted by: rickymouse
It seems to be who they want to target at the time. If there is a show with a black person as one of the main stars, there will be more black people in the commercials. This is actually chosen by a computer. The commercials are often chosen by the triggers in the last sentence in what precedes it, if the person orders a mexican food from a taco truck, the commercial will probably be taco bell. If the person in the show talks about medicine or illness, it might be a pharma commercial. That is why often there are so many Pharma commercials in a row, and also lawsuits. Someone talking about suing someone or a criminal asking for a lawyer will trigger legal commercials and then if the legal commercial is about medicine, it will trigger a pharma commercial. It is a viscous cycle. If there is talk about medicine on the news, the commercial at break will often be pharma.

Get used to it, those computers use some weird programming, it is automatic sometimes. It may also be that they want us to be conditioned to be triggered by words, just like the computer that chooses the commercials is. Social programming is not working so hot though anymore since real people don't choose things.

Very interesting indeed. I'll be watching for that Ricky.

originally posted by: Eshel
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

ok, I gotcha.

So it's Muslims, Orthodox Jews or Nuns ?

I get what you're saying, but let's not stereotype or make it about religion please

I think I know the difference between a Hijab and other styles.

Woman wearing hijab

But what about other religions? They are not to be seen, so that is something to consider certainly.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
People still watch commercials ??
Maybe it's just me but I watch everything online.
When a commercial comes on I skip it if I have the option , if not then I mute the sound.
I haven't watched or even heard a commercial in years.

Well, out in ye olde country, the internet isn't quite so powerful. No wired internet, just a dish pointed at a tower with whopping speeds that average about 2.5 MBPS but routinely drop to under 1.0 MBPS. Just surfing the net can be a challenge.

Streaming television or movies is simply not an option for people such as myself. The satellite television reception is exceptional, though!

I tend to think that commercials are more reactive than pro-active. You get a bunch of young advertising executives wanting to show how "hip" they can be, so they grab on to whatever seems to be popping up most in the news and in public discussions, then then clumsily incorporate it into their ads. I noticed this when I was a kid and commercials started to be filled with that stupid, tinny, crappy "rock and roll" music that was obviously just a bad imitation of real rock music. Pepsi Generation, and all that.

They do the same thing these days, except that now the commercials are filled with multi-racial transgendered Muslims because that's what is in the news.

However... it's not as obvious as it has been in the past, though, because The System has your number. It has been monitoring you and your purchases, and knows what channels you watch and what websites you visit, so they market directly to your specific needs and desires. Try watching a show you don't like or never watch. The commercials will all be unfamiliar to you. So if there is a social engineering agenda, it may be to keep you narrowly locked into your favorite programming and keep you stupid and unaware of what's really going on. (Hint: The Rich Get Richer.)

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Tell the difference ?

Not going to argue the point. Just saying, it's not worth stereotyping.

Its a smallish piece of the puzzle, but its definitely a piece all the same. Whether its intentional and consciously directed is hard to say..

Personally, I suspect it all began intentionally but the information became "alive" in a sense. A veritable mind virus, of a sorts at least.

"Managing expectations" is sorta the name of the game. Misrepresenting demographics, both in number and character, can give rise to perceiving injustice where none may exist (eta: among other things).

For example, if a demographic is over-represented in the majority of consumed media, this will foster the perception that they are under-represented in nearly all real life situations. Its a multi-faceted approach though, not only used in conjunction with other prongs, but wide enough even in individual application to cover multiple bases.

Its the new face of war and conflict, and has even been talked about quite openly. Though, it seems to remain under the radar for the most part. Those that fired the first shots, so to speak, probably didn't envision the extent of self replication, in my opinion.

I will have to admit to noticing the same thing, what I see the most of is mixed race couples or minorities. Token White males are thrown in playing the role of weak, bumbling and unassertive foils for a stronger, smarter woman. Masculine roles are mostly reserved for others.

I grew up in the early1960's seeing the Marlboro man riding the herd or John Wayne selling cigarettes, when Sammy Davis jr and Sidney Poitier were about the only black men on tv. To say it's been a massive change in culture would be the understatement of the century. Current advertising isn't representative of our actual demographics and like every branch of media is active in social engineering.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

One of the last times I saw a commercial that I can remember with almost everyone being white, it was a commercial for a product where the theme was adoption, the parents were lesbians and the child was deaf. So even then, they were pretty much all minority and they managed to exclude all males because even the child was a girl.

originally posted by: Eshel
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Tell the difference ?

Not going to argue the point. Just saying, it's not worth stereotyping.

Point well taken and certainly no argument here, in fact I give you thanks for that link. The similarities are striking. Number eight looks like my grandmother and great grandmother, although I never see that too much or at all in commercials.

Still, if I were to make such an assumption I would think that the public would as well and advertisers would know that, otherwise why use actors who wear them? I don't see that as much though and their representation on commercials is probably more in line with U.S. demographics. I'd remove that from the OP if I could, but too late now.

I got three out of the eight right, failed that course! I'm sure that wearing a head scarf is cultural and regional and even though I was so off in most of those examples, without context or knowing the region involved, it is an honest mistake and one most Americans would make. However I'd think that Muslim is the intention when those women are used in commercials regardless.

a reply to: mobiusmale

I have absolutely noticed the trend, in commercials, toward showing females as the brighter and more "together" of a couple...and the male as being dumb or slightly confused.

The Commercials we have been seeing have no women, no Mothers. They often have men alone with children, shopping, camping, men doing laundry with children..so on, no Moms.

I've been noticing commercials in our area and this topic did come into my head. In our area , I've noticed a lot of commercials where the white male is made to look like an idiot, dumb, goofy, and almost dominated. The wife and children are smarter and more important. The other character in the commercial will be a respected authority figure with power and will most likely be black or another ethnicity.

Also commercials around nightly news will most likely be drug pushing commercials or health commercials.

For some reason lately I've noticed lot of commercials that will have a red head in them.

Here in asia, it's 20-50 yo's that get the bulk of the work in media. Films, commercials etc.

Depends on the product too.

When I was growingup in the 50's and 60's, commercials were geared to the kids.

Almost no matter what it was, a kid was wanting it. lol. Just had to have it.

Pressuring the parents through the kids.

Not so much now, I think. At least I don't see kids screaming for certain things in the stores anymore.

I don't get to see westeren commercials, not in 16 yrs so not sure what is out there.

But I assume the psychology is the same all over.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep


What does product placement have to do with the point the op is making?

No need for commercials.