How Culture Affects Advertising Expression and Communication Style

Abstract

Abstract What is the relationship between society and the communication media? How do the media influence society? How does society influence the media? These questions stimulate much debate. There are some who hold that the influence of the media predominates. and that the media mold and control the patterns of society. Others believe that the media simply reflect what is already happening in society. This argument usually centers around media content. McLuhan, however, has asserted that the characteristics of the media themselves, rather than the messages and communications they carry, are the media's chief influence on society. This article, which examines how society affects the media, also relegates the importance of media content, and explores the way in which society influences the expression of its communication media. Two media are considered — television (particularly television news) and advertising (particularly advertising in magazines).