Reading Response #5 Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution

The article, "Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution," by Cynthia Selfes, is showing how technology is a great thing, but, its being too commercialized in alot of the ads being shown these days, bringing too much attention to ideas that don't really matter as a whole. She has organized her article in 3 narratives: #1 The "Global Village" and the "Electronic Colony", #2 "Land of Equal Opportunity" and "Land of Difference", and #3 The Un-Gendered Utopia" and "The Same Old Gendered Stuff."

In the narrative, "Land of Equal Opportunity," Selfe maintains, "citizens of the 21st Century can achieve the same kind of happy security and personal well being that was enjoyed by the people in the 50's-by purchasing software rather than a new home." Basically, she is saying that advertisers are trying to focus on the 50's lifestyle, where everything was "normal," when a family consisted of Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother, and the family dog were the personification of America. Unfortunately, we aren't back in the 50's, and there is alot of technological change going on, and everything isn't "normal," with alot more diversity and culture clash.

She has also went on to explain how alot of the ads nowadays are too fake. "America is the land of opportunity only for some people, and if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, our collective ability to envision such a world is not evident in certain ads." Typically, these ads show only the positive, main stream, average middle class white family, with very little cultural background, because back in the 50's, they were the target group for advertisers. Ads nowadays need to be more diverse, showing everything and everyone, not just focusing on one single group, because we are more diverse now.

In my opinion, I agree with what Selfe has said, that these ads aren't reality, when I see something that retro, I turn the channel. Yes, the 50's were a great era, but we're in the 2010 now, and retro just isn't a good thing to advertise technology. Ads nowadays need to be more diverse, showing more of how life is, including other races, cultures, other classes of people, and more women in them.

In conclusion, if advertisers are gonna be successful in todays markets, they're going to have to focus on advertising to everyone. If they generally only have ads for middle class and average American types, businesses will not have any customers that are diverse, which is how America is, Very diverse.