In 1992, a TV channel that was fully established on the purpose of entertainment, MTV, took a mission that was totally not expectable. The channel started two campaigns called “Chose or Loose”, and “Rock the Vote”, in order to increase the voting rate among the young generation. The result was highly positive; polls taken in late October showed that 75% of the 18 to 29 age group said that they would vote, compared to the 40% in 1988. In addition the votes were heavily in favor of Clinton who had accepted to present himself on MTV, unlike Bush (Edelstein, 110). Although the picture may look positive at first, with a deeper analysis it becomes dramatic. The only way of appealing to the young generation seems to be through a music channel, which is based on the creation and consumption of popular culture. The reality for them is the one that appears between Rock videos and designer jeans ads. The “in” thing to do is what Steven Tyler of Aerosmith does, so when he raises his hand and shouts; “Rock the Vote”, the mechanism is activated and the kids are popularly politicized. This impact of popular culture items on the young generation keeps them under the control of the culture industry (of course not completely). Their free thinking ability is almost limited with the mediated images that they receive from their idols, and the picture becomes more dramatic when we consider that under such circumstances the mechanism can well be activated in an opposite way, that is to keep them out of politics. When there is a propaganda (even a post-modern one like this), there is always the danger of a counter-propaganda that can turn the process into an inverse direction.
The Final Words
The culture industries have close ties with larger sectors of the capitalist economy. Moreover, they are directed with the principles of profit maximization, which makes them alone strong capitalistic “bastions”. Therefore, the continuity of the system is their main principle for survival. Motivated by these two facts they aim at creating a popular culture market, which serves both their economical goals and maintains the political stability. For this, they use methods of social influence and surveillance techniques, and in the end we have an apolitical, pop-public sphere in which the society is visually united around the principles of consumerist fetishism. Consequently, Marlboro smoking BMW riders with Che Guevara T-shirts, who secretly worship their cellular phones in commercial breaks, dominate our post-modern society.
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