Air Date 6/6/2023
Today, we take a look at the widespread impact of marketing on culture, consumerism, transportation, food, gender roles, and gun ownership in the United States.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Transcript
BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content)
Join our Discord community!
SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Our Consumer Society - Then & Now - Air Date 6-9-22
I explore our consumer society, looking at the history, philosophy, psychology, and sociology of what consumerism really means. Is it a useful concept? Where did it appear from? Are there alternatives?
Ch. 2: Would You Fall for It? - Not Just Bikes - Air Date 1-9-23
In the 1950s, the US automobile industry was lobbying hard to get more funding for roads and highways. Part of this effort included propaganda targeted to the general public.
Ch. 3: How The Auto Industry Carjacked The American Dream - Climate Town - Air Date 4-8-21
Based on an article by Spencer R. Scott P.h.D.
Ch. 4: How Backyard Grilling Conquered America - Cheddar Explains - Air Date 5-19-20
Backyard grilling is an American institution. But have you ever wondered where it came from? You might be surprised to learn that the history of your weekend barbecue twists and turns back through the earliest years of America’s past.
Ch. 5: WOKE BRANDS - hbomberguy - Air Date 2-22-19
Can a product be truly progressive? How can I free my skin? Let's discuss!
Ch. 6: Men Eat Red Meat, Women Eat Salads –– But Why? - Cool Stuff Ride Home - Air Date 10-26-22
How and why did food become so gendered? Y’know, men eat red meat and women eat salads. When did those associations begin?
Ch. 7: Marketing Masculinity: How Guns Are Marketed, Glamorized, and Normalized - Marketing Muckraking - Air Date 5-25-22
Just like tobacco companies targeted kids to create a market of “replacement smokers,” so do gun manufacturers. Boys as young as 6 are targeted with ads conflating guns with masculinity so that by the time they turn 18, the seed has been planted.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 8: These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us - Not Just Bikes - Air Date 3-6-23
Engineers, planners, politicians, and advocates all around the world are trying to improve their cities and build more great walkable places with viable alternatives to driving. But there's a looming trend that could undo all of that hard work
Ch. 9: Of Meat and Men: How Beef Became Synonymous with Settler-Colonial Domination - Citations Needed - Air Date 6-30-21
"Beef. It’s what’s for dinner," the baritone voices of actors Robert Mitchum and Sam Elliott told us in the 1990s. "We’re not gonna let Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cut America’s meat!" cried Mike Pence during a speech in Iowa last year.
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 12: Final comments on the counterweight to the power of marketing
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: A 1930s print car ad shows an illustration of a large silver Pontiac car with nicely dressed couples admiring the outside. The tagline reads “If you want to ride in luxury and save your money, too… Pontiac’s the Answer”. Some ad copy is visible below the image in small unreadable text.
Credit: “Pontiac Car 1938 Ad” by Indiana Ivy Nature Photographer, Flickr | License: CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, some left-side color extended
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere!
Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft
Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft
Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
Bonus Sample #286 Looking to the Past to See Ourselves
#1603 Clarence Thomas and the Highest Court in the Land with the Lowest Standards of Ethics
#1535 We Don't Do Accountability (Trump and GOP Crimes That Go Unpunished) (Repost)
Bonus Sample #285 The Christians and the Pagans
#1602 What Happens in Israel and Gaza Doesn't Stay in Israel and Gaza
#1601 Christian Nationalism is not Christianity, it is Fascism
Bonus Sample #284 First they came for the Italian babies
#1532 Accelerationism is the Brick on the Gas Pedal of the Runaway Car of Society (Repost)
#1533 How Theocracies Begin and End (Rise of the Far-Right + Demanding Women's Rights in Iran) (Repost)
#1600 Housing Cannot be a Fundamental Human Right and a Commodity at the Same Time
#1599 Taming the Beast: AI Regulation Before Human Relegation
Bonus Sample #283 Meaningless rituals are useful but self-driving cars are more questionable
#1598 Kiss of Death: Henry Kissinger's Bloody Legacy of Indifference
Bonus Samples #281 and 282 No one likes how this is going | Not Worth It
#1597 The rise of fascism around the world driven by economic insecurity
#1596 Building a positive future by first envisioning it and then designing it
#1519 International Fascist Movement on the Move (Throwback)
#1595 Pushing for Medicare For All in the Laboratories of Democracy
#1594 Testing New Climate Solutions: Geothermal and Geo-Engineering
#1518 Ronald Reagan, It Turns Out, Was Bad (Repost)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Tiny Desk Concerts - Video
60 Minutes
Left, Right & Center
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
Kickass News