Masters Of Desire Analysis

Americans are the ultimate ideal for advertising companies. We like to be the best, stand out, feel important, different, and advertisers know exactly how to use our emotions against us in order to will us to buy their products. Perfection is an ideal set by oneself, and all the advertiser has to do is tweak a person’s view of perfection, and then offer a method to reach the new height. Many different companies with a wide variety of products make the consumer feel as though they are one step away from being perfect. “You are great, but you know what will make you one step better, and more unique than everyone else? Our product – buy it, and you will see how much better you will be.” Jack Solomon’s “Masters of Desire” accurately portrays American consumers as wanting to be the best through his description of American society as a high-school football game, where all the spectators are cheering in the bleachers; however, their true desire is to be the star football player or main cheerleader. Instead of creating a sense of being happy with whatever fate deals you, American society and norms makes every individual desire a greater portion of …show more content…
Nike makes the viewer desire all the attributes of the actresses and sports players, from their individuality to their nonchalant dismissal of all the gaping bystanders, and ending off with their prestige and exclusivity. As Jack Solomon says, “advertisers may give shape to consumer fantasies, but they need raw material to work with, the subconscious dreams and desires of the marketplace” (406). Consumers subconsciously want what the advertiser supposedly has to offer, but only once they watch advertisement does their desire turn into an impulse, and suddenly the viewer goes from simply wanting it, to needing it now. And in that moment, the advertiser has successfully become the master of