The Spectacle.

On the surface, the spectacle seems like complicated idea, but it actually affects us on a day to day basis. Developed by Guy Debord, the spectacle is the idea that media and consumerism controls and influences us. Commodity is spectacle. It gives people the ultimate desires and urges to invest time and money into certain products.

The iPhone is in my opinion the greatest example. Every year Apple introduces a new model and every year the public goes crazy. If you look closely, Apple usually doesn’t even offer the best phone on the market in terms of specifications. So why does the public go insane for these devices? Because people have the urge to buy the newest and latest thing. Debord states, “The spectacle is a permanent opium war designed to force people to equate goods with commodities and to equate satisfaction with a survival that expands according to its own laws. Consumable survival must constantly expand because it never ceases to include privation. (Chapter 44)” People will always continue to buy the newest products, because even though it's not essential for survival, people need to consume it over and over.

The spectacle is also powered by marketing and PR. Marketing and PR shape the way we think and perceive certain products, companies, and other humans. Marketing is designed to target a specific audience and make you think about what it is they are selling. PR is shaped to either change your negative way of thinking or help show the public the good from people/companies. Look at Nike’s signature catch phrase, “Just Do It.” This screams at consumers to basically just do it and buy Nike products. That line will be embedded in our brains forever, Nike controls that line and influences us around it.

Example: The head public relations chief for the White House is always trying to shape and form the way we think. Whenever a story needs damage control, they do their best to change the public’s opinion and perception about them. Hillary Clinton’s email scandal is also another example of PR trying to change our opinion about her.

News media outlets play a huge role in controlling how the public thinks about anything. There’s so many ways to get your news and even though it’s always accurate, it’s makes people form an opinion. After reading about the spectacle, it does make you think about the kind of society we live it, but it will not change from here on out.   

Works citied: Debora, Guy. The Society of Spectacle.