Illusions Are Forever

[SHORTYS]

What type of introuduction does the writer use? What is the impact of that kind of introduciton in this essay? What kind of conclusion does he/she use? What is the impact of that kind of conclusion in this essay? Explain your reasons.

I

know what you’re thinking: That’s rich, asking an adman to define truth.
Advertising people aren’t known either for their wisdom or their morals,
so it’s hard to see why an adman is the right person for this assignment.

Well, it’s just common sense—like asking an alcoholic about sobriety, or a
sinner about piety.Who is likely to be more obsessively attentive to a subject than the transgressor? Everyone thinks that advertising is full of lies, but it ’s not what you think. The facts presented in advertising are almost always accurate, not because

advertising people are sticklers but because their ads are very closely

regulated. If you make a false claim in a commercial on network television,
the FTC will catch it. Someone always blows the whistle. The real lie in advertising some would call it the “art” of advertising is harder to detect. What’s false in advertising lies in the presentation of situations, values, beliefs, and cultural norms that form a backdrop for the selling message.

Advertising including movies, TV, and music videos—presents to us a world that is not our world but rather a collection of images and ideas created

for the purpose of selling. These images paint a picture of the ideal

family life, the perfect home. What a beautiful woman is, and is not. A prescription
for being a good parent and a good citizen.
The power of these messages lies in their unrelenting pervasiveness, the
twenty-four-hour-a-day drumbeat that leaves no room for an alternative
view. We ’ve become acculturated to the way advertisers and other mediamakers look at things, so much so that we have trouble seeing things in our own natural way. Advertising robs us of the most intimate moments in our

lives because it substitutes an advertiser ’s idea of what ought to be—What

should a romantic moment be like? You know the De Beers diamond dvertising campaign? A clever strategy, persuading insecure young men that two months ’ salary is the appropriate sum to pay for an engagement ring. The arbitrary algorithm is preposterous, of course, but imagine the fiancée who receives a ring costing only half a month ’s salary? The advertising-induced insult is grounds for calling off the engagement, I imagine. That ’s marketing telling the fiancée what to feel and what ’s real. Unmediated is a great word: It means “without media,” without the inbetween layer that makes direct experience almost impossible. Media interferes

with our capacity to experience naturally, spontaneously, and genuinely,

and thereby spoils our capacity for some important kinds of
personal “truth.” Although media opens our horizons infinitely, it costs us.
We have very little direct personal knowledge of anything in the world that

is not filtered by media. Truth seems to be in a particular state of crisis now. When what we watch is patently fictional, like most movies and commercials, it’s worrisome enough. But it ’s absolutely pernicious when it’s packaged as reality. Nothing represents a bigger threat to truth than reality-based television, in both its lowbrow and highbrow versions
The lies are sometimes intentional, sometimes errors, often innocent, but in

all cases they are the “truth” of a media-maker who claims to be representing reality. The Internet is also a culprit, obscuring the author, the
figure behind the curtain, even more completely. Chat rooms, which sponsor intimate conversation,

also allow the participants to misrepresent themselves in every way
possible.

[Tdol]

It does say 'explain your reasons', so shouldn't you do that first before other people comment?