Humankind is always making improvements. Fire was discovered for warmth, and now humans have heaters that keep them even warmer. The shadows told people what time of the day it was, and now it can be found out instantly by looking at phones or watches. Many innovations have a positive impact on humans. However, there are some cases where it is not, or at least there isn’t a black-or-white categorization for it. These ideas can be seen through the close reading of the essays “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan” by Ethan Watters, which focuses on the progress of the company GlaxoSmithKline spreading their antidepressants, and “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” by Michael Moss, which focuses on the progress of the quality …show more content…
In the case of the companies and their products in both essays, a negative aura surrounds the alleged progress that the companies in both essays are trying to make with their products due to the selfish ambitions, such as profit, that they hold; this is illustrated by the steps the companies take to form and sell their products and the actual effectiveness of it. In order for the products of the companies in both essays to be truly impactful to the general public, companies must first understand their potential customers, although the evident intentions for understanding the customers doesn’t shed a positive light on the companies’ products. In Watters’ essay, he notes that a conference of brilliant minds was assembled to help the drug company GlaxoSmithKline understand why Japanese people don’t regularly take antidepressants for depression and how to sell their specific drug. The main point of the conference is presented as, “GlaxoSmithKline needed help solving a cultural puzzle that might be worth billions of dollars” (Watters 516). The fact that Watters mentioned that it “might be worth billions of dollars” signals that Watters believes that money is the company’s main goal. If Watters believed that …show more content…
Watters’ text exhibits this attitude in certain passages, such as the part about the Japanese making GlaxoSmithKline retest their drug. Watters’ summation of the company’s attitude towards retesting is that, “No doubt that annoyance at having to retest drugs was so intense because a couple of recent large-scale human trials of SSRIs in Japan had failed to show any positive effects” (Watters 524). Referring to testing as an “annoyance” hints that Watters interprets that the company would rather do without the testing. Testing is necessary to enforce that antidepressants are effective. It defeats the idea of maximizing health if it’s true that the company thinks it’s bothersome to make sure that their drug works to the full potential that they describe. In reference to this “annoyance,” describing this feeling as “intense” suggests Watters sees that the companies have a firm dislike for wanting to test. Watters continues on with his point by saying, “Instead of considering the meaning of such results, the drug company executives railed at Japanese testing practices, calling them second rate” (Watters 524). The specific mention of the word “instead” at the beginning of his argument makes it seem like the course of action that he continues on to state was an obvious and correct choice that the companies blatantly
Moss is able to persuade his audience due to the fact that logistics, or usage of logos, is a great addition to the claims made. In fact, Moss connects with his readers and attracts emotion by giving a cause-and-effect sentence structure. Moss goes on to write, “When [Philip Morris] wanted to get bigger, they purchased General Foods, which resulted to a $9 billion industry leader” (53). The usage of the numbers given concludes on how Moss’ view is correct and thus Moss accomplishes his
In Ethan Watters’ essay, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan,” he has a discussion with Dr. Laurence Kirmayer regarding Kirmayer’s invitation to the International Consensus Group on Depression and Anxiety. In their discussion Kirmayer talks about how the basis of his invitation was on the notion that he as the director of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill could add to the answer the large pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline was looking for. The question at hand was how culture influences the illness experience, but more specifically how depression is influenced by culture in Japan. If the conference was a success, the company would be able to enter and expand into a market worth billions of dollars. The reason that the cultural aspect of depression was very important was because in countries like Japan, the American conception of depression was taken as a more serious illness, rivaling heights of diseases like schizophrenia. The company hoped that by somehow changing the Japan’s perception of the illness from being something social or moral to the American conception where expressing the illness to others is considered being strong person rather than being a weak one, that their drug Paxil would be able to sell to the market, which is where the scientific and economic aspects of depression come into effect. The scientific and economic aspects take place due to the intentions of the company to sell the drug, and the drug’s ability to help
The target audience is focused predominantly on the American population because of her frequent referral towards Americans as a whole. She uses the question, “why in the world did we buy all this junk in the first place?” as a means to draw the audience in (500). Short stories are supplied in order to support her claim of happiness not being derived from objects. She begins with a story of a holiday disaster, where an employee gets trampled to death by shoppers obsessed with getting the greatest deals. This story is used as an example of the most extreme materialism, and informs the audience of what can happen when materialism gets out of control. Quindlen provides several examples to back up her claims about American debt. For instance, she claims that debt from credit will reach a trillion dollars in the year 2010 (501). This claim supports her statement about how bad America’s addiction to consumption is. She goes on to provide several additional examples throughout her piece. Other than providing examples, Quindlen uses uncomplicated vocabulary and provides the reader structure within her article. Both good and bad aspects are provided in her piece of literature and in the end she does get her point
Culture is known to be able to shape the beliefs of a society through its language. The term “depression” for example, was not commonly used due to the impression that depression was not psychological, but rather more physical. This is because the people of Japan were able to find ways to avoid giving in to the feeling and moving on with their lives. In Ethan Watters’ “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan”, Watters looks into how pharmaceutical companies attempted to change the concept of depression in Japan in order to create a market to sell their antidepressant drugs. He discusses how the Japanese culture was influenced by the companies that were selling the drugs by imposing western beliefs on Japan, which would result in the
This quote derived from Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld's “The Influencing Machines”, voices the anxiety that other people feel when being introduced to new products and how they could destroy society overtime. It gives us insight as to what trends are helping the people vs. the one’s that aren’t. Take the fidget spinner, this product was created for kids with ADHD as a means to alleviate stress and help them stay still, but as its popularity increased so did its use with children who do not have ADHD. The use of it in schools has led it to being banned in some states such as: Florida, Illinois, New York and Virginia. This quote suggests that society will concede to outside influences and will be utterly lost to the point where they are
Two relevant themes that relate to each other are “Because it is built into things we use every day, marketing is inescapable¨ and Negligent consumerism is destructive to the environment¨. These two themes relate to each throughout novel. With that being said, marketing is widely demonstrated all through our daily lives because of the modern societal use of products that are brought to our attention day in and day out. Whereas abrasive marketing tactics become more prevalent in the average consumer's daily habits. The draconian nature behind marketing is easily forgotten. With marketing comes consumption, with mass marketing comes negligent consumption, with negligent consumptions comes a
The first question asks, “Do you see a difference between what these companies are doing and the illegal production of counterfeit products that are
Just as youth matures, and a bright passionate flame begins to fade into adulthood, companies expand and grow to a point in which the founder’s purpose of the company may become diluted to a point where it simply isn 't able to be felt. My intended purpose of this paper stems from questioning this very concept through the method of analysis of rhetoric used. my choice on example was chosen on the basis of using a company nearly everyone knows, a company founded most certainly on a purpose, one of being “different.” my test to find if this spirit of the founder is still present is to compare two ads from Apple: one from the very beginning, “the 1984 Super bowl Ad” as well as one from modern day with, “Broken Promises” coming from the year 2009. Both ads were chosen on the basis of time being the only variable in which was changed as both ads are presented through the same medium, as well as representing the same product, Apple’s Macintosh.
I agree with your analysis, on how we individuals can be persuaded and convinced into buying a product without difficultly. I, myself can relate to this observation being made. Due to the fact that, I can get easily persuaded into buying a product by the simplicity of an advertisement. Additionally, on how us human beings always have a want for things, that may not be unnecessary,more of a luxury. Moreover, we are sucked into buying these products, by advertisements being aired on television or written on magazines. Making it appeared as a need to us the consume and not a want. I found appealing the references you inform with and the way you analyze them to the reader. Furthermore, I also agree on how one can have it all,
Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult
In the documentary “Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis, I caught on to an extremely important message that is relevant even in today’s economy. That message was that important figures in the corporate world right around the time of WWII would influence the general public into buying different products. They did this by adding symbolism to objects, which in turn made people act irrationally and make emotional decisions on whether to use that object based upon how they wanted to be viewed. For example, corporate executives were able to convince women that smoking cigarettes made them free from men at the time. This is a completely irrational though in today’s mindset, however, the act of smoking at the time made women feel independent.
The innovations and developments that continue to be experienced throughout the world have their advantages and disadvantages. Nelson asserts “Alas, if only it were so…it is this model of “shaming-us-into-action-by-unmasking-the-truth-of-our-actions” cannot hold a candle to our capacity to assimilate horrific images” (300). People are willing to carry out actions that will lead to their benefits no matter the cost. The production companies that brought about gadgets such as smart phones and computers looked at their innovations from the point of view that they were making life easier. However, they did not put into consideration the level of alienation and broken relationships that would exist as a result of their innovations. People are becoming more consumed in their gadgets than they are in their work. Watters asserts “But it was clear from the start that the gatherings of the international consensus group on depression and anxiety were different from the normal drug” (514). This is an indication that the conference was aiming at bringing the idea to market the pill and increase of levels of depression in order to make profits. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline that came up with the antidepressant pill perhaps was able to perceive that the over reliance of these gadgets would lead to depression. The economy was changing and so was the need for people to earn more so that
Producers are enablers. They encourage people to spend money on things they don’t need and aren’t necessities. Consumers are like drug addicts, they shop for things they don’t need and are constantly striving to acquire what they don’t have. “We Americans are beyond a simple, possessive materialism.” (Rose) Americans have developed a shopping problem. We buy things simply for the
In relation to marketing, it is clear that the more a company is able to ingrain their product in the minds of the population by way of relating it to a common idea, statement, or action, the more likely that product will be used again. Berger makes it clear in the beginning of the book that we operate under the need to gain social currency, but we also seek the attention and affection of those around us. We do this in part by telling grandiose stories that would make us appear more
Student Answer: `One of the most common innovation mistakes companies make is urging risk-taking while punishing commercial failure. The academic literature suggests that almost every successful product had a failure somewhere in its lineage. But inside most companies, working on something that “fails” commercially carries significant stigma, if not outright career risk. It’s no surprise that people play it safe. That’s not to say that companies should encourage failure. When people do something stupid, make sloppy mistakes, or screw up something that has dramatic repercussions on the business, they should absolutely be held accountable. The trick is