>so people are sheep who will buy anything they see on tv?

I know so many people who get suckered into buying a multitude useless things that pass before their eyes in a blink of a second, repetitively over the course of a day or longer. And it's not just TV...Internet sites & pop-ups, print, radio, billboards, mail circulars, etc.-- all these images & messages take full advantange of rapid cognition but also the American way of jumping to a series of conclusions based on "standards". We have to have the same "nice" car as our neighbor even though we can walk to work, school, or the local grocery store a few blocks away. Sure, for some, a car provides a certain amount of freedom but most folks also want to fit in socially. It's part of a cycle that often begins with a campaign in a corporate board room and, yes, some of these have hidden agendas (such as UFCO).

Again:

"In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

In today's Metro there is a article about tobacco firms who studied methods to hook women. "Researchers say they tried to make tasty, stylish cigarettes...they modified their cigarette products to appeal to women." A review of 7 million documents show that weight loss and stress relief were key ways for these companies to sell to women. Perhaps, as a result, while international smoking rates are declining among men they are expected to increase with women. Somewhere in all this is a question of ethics.

>you
>dont seem to believe everything you see on tv, so what
>excludes you from the sheep who buy up everything they see?

I am not excluded but I am more media literate than many of the folks in my circle (family, friends, etc.). In my training (media literacy) I've become better able to decipher the messages I receive from TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, signs, packaging and marketing materials, video games, and the Internet. I've been taught how to analyze, evaluate (and produce) media...even at the blink of an eye. Those 2-3 seconds are critical...we receive TV images at 30 frames per second!

Every day I make an effort to cut down on the amount of time I spend looking at ads. I have lots of ways to do this. I can't avoid these messages but I can make a conscious effort to transmute the pollution through the power of intention. I don't watch much commercial TV or TV programming with ads...and if I do I often get up or change the channel when the commercials come on. My sister does the same thing when she's driving and listening to her radio. I use pop-up blockers. Why spend the time? I think it's worth the effort at the end of the day.

>and how can you prevent people from selling things to other
>people even if these things may be 'bad' for them. i.e. fast
>food, cigerettes. in a free country you cannot control
>people's buying habits, that is why marketing exists!

Media literacy training/education is a start. Understand that it is not my purpose to encourage people to turn off the TVs and radios. I think there can be good media but there's a lot of bad media. I am Libra and its all about balance. :)