Blog Asssignment Week 5- The Corporation

After watching the movie, The Corporation, it really changed my perspective on big companies, i knew corporations were overpowering but i was not aware of that they are some of the most dominating institutions of our time. Most corporations main concerns are with making as much money as possible, and making a profit off of other people even if it means exploiting them. These corporations are names we hear daily, such as Exxon, General Electric, Wal-Mart, Mitsubishi and many others, these companies are portrayed as ruthless bad guys who will stop at no cost.

People need to be able to create their own opinions on whether they are going to invest their time or spend money on these corporations. In the section of the video called perception management, communications organizations provide these large corporations with ways to create a good image for themselves and not make them look like the monsters that they are. These organizations use propaganda to make us think in a certain way. But if people have a proactive perspective on the media, they won't confine to the norm and willingly donate their money to these corporations. "We need to be proactive-rather than reactive-in understanding how the media affect us" (Media Literacy 73). This means we are able to make our own choices on whether we want to buy that product or support all the things that the company supports. The advertisements these companies use can be deceiving, for example the pfizer commercial from the video, it made it seem like the company was peaceful, calm and like they were doing a good thing. But in reality this company has committed fraud multiple times.

These companies have complete disregard for the well being of other humans, in one portion of the video called "Are Corporations Psychopathic?" they show case how corporations seem to actually be psychopathic, it seems almost true, they do not feel guilt, they fail to conform to the social norms with respect to lawful behaviors and they have an incapacity to maintain relationships. "The media are constantly influencing how we think feel and act" (Media Literacy 74). If we constantly let the media without us choosing to make our own decisions, these corporations will take a hold over us as a people and be a large monopoly that cannot be stopped. We are constantly experiencing process effects from our exposure to media messages, these messages affect our emotional and physical states of being, when we are able to make our own decisions about what we see on the media, we will be able to make the decision of whether we want to believe these decorated and over-exaggerated commercials about corporations.

Potter, W. James. Media Literacy. 4th ed. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2007. Print.