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Nicole Sanders
Professor Wall
English 1301-011
19 February 2014
Corporate Brainwashing
It is not common to see an overweight man or woman, as the star of a television show or movie unless it is a movie about his or her life as an obese individual. In society today, fat and ugly does not sell. Every commercial that is aired and every television show that is watched has beautiful, sexy individuals. America is consumed with the “model” body image. To be sexy in America, a person has to look a certain way to be deemed beautiful by Hollywood’s standards. To be successful, a person has to make a certain amount of money.
If a person wants to be cool by America’s standards, a certain car has to be driven and only name brand clothes can be worn. Instead of having wisdom and intelligence, having sexy looks and material possession win every time. America people are being brainwashed by hours of mindless television and news media propaganda that they have forgotten to think for themselves.
There are many ways to mass-produce propaganda: television, newspapers, magazines, and the everexpanding Internet. Out of these, it seems, the television screen does the most damage to the values and morals of the American people. Six corporations own every channel on cable, satellite and dish television. One person does not own a corporation, however, hundreds of stockholders do. These stockholders elect a board of directors to run the corporation, and it is the board of director’s job to make the most money for the stockholders. In most households, television is the staple of the family. It has replaced family dinner at the table and most businesses have at least one running during business hours.
Whilst a person is mindlessly watching their favorite programming, they are being “programmed” by countless advertising. Sharlene Hesse-Biber said it best: “Convincing certain vulnerable groups that they need

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to purchase goods and services to feel good about their bodies is very profitable” (769). When watching television, countless advertising is being thrown in the public’s face, such as: Use this facial cream to have perfect skin. Drink beer and eat chips and no weight is added to the waistline. To be successful, one needs to become a doctor or lawyer. A woman cannot be sexy without flawlessly shaved legs. The list can go on and on.
If anything was learned from the German Reich, it was how to successfully control the minds of millions of people to follow with a specific agenda. In America, that agenda is to have the American people spend their hard earned money on possessions to make one “cool” and to impress people who do not care. In the book,
Taking Back Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance, by Ellen Schwartz and Suzanne Stoddard, they stated, “We are over stimulated and disconnected from ourselves and nature. Image, not substance, is the stuff of our lives: how we look, what we wear, and the car we drive “ (10). It seems that America has removed the most important ideals in life.
America is consumed with Hollywood and celebrity gossip so much that it makes local and national news. Americans are obsessed with who is dating whom, who is expecting, who got arrested and who just broke up. Looks in Hollywood are everything, and the people who work there are judged first on appearance. Instead of having role models to look up to, little girls have scantily clad women who glorify the image of the sex and drug lifestyle. Instead of brains and intelligence being glorified on sitcoms, the “smart” characters are outcasts while the dumb popular girl gets all the glory and is made a star. This type of story plays on almost every channel, including Disney and Nickelodeon, which are children’s shows. Hollywood and corporations are brainwashing the future of tomorrow with mindless television garbage. Berman, Naomi, and Alexandra White stated: “Unrealistic, photo shopped and