Being obedient, consenting and unquestioning things and obeying whatever we see, creating a system where we all follow the mass media and buy into the commercialism. The idea of “Manufacturing Consent” was first presented in by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman in the book “Manufacturing Consent” . The book published in 1988 explores the ways in which the media, especially in democratic societies, can influence and manipulate public opinion. The fundamental idea behind “manufacturing consent” is that the media use a variety of strategies to influence the public opinion and manipulate public perception in order to serve the interest of elites, such as governments and big businesses. The authors argues that this process takes place by framing issues, that support the interests of people in positions of power, and filtering information rather than by explicit censorship.
Chloe Patel | Senior Artist
In 2021 soon after Mars was followed up by a lawsuit because of the misuse of child labour, coincidentally in the same year they have decided to change the design of the green M&M, replacing the gogo boots with some tennis shoes. Both liberal and conservative outlets went maniac after discovering the change, Some progressives and feminists argued that Mars was trying to repress the sexuality of the green M&M. This is a blatant strategy from big corporation to stray away from the fact that they sourced their chocolate from cacao plantations that widely practiced child slavery, instead they got people indulging in useless conversation of why changing the shoes of a made up character is such a big issue for society. This is manufacturing consent and how it strays you from the truth shaping your opinion on irrelevant things and not focusing on what is actually important.
A propaganda model focuses on this inequality of wealth and power and its multilevel effects on mass-media interests and choices. It traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public”.
By Herman and Chomsky from the book “Manufacturing Consent”
According to Chomsky and Herman, the “propaganda model” of the media put out by media organisations are compelled to promote messages which promote the interests of the elite because of things like corporate ownership, advertising revenue, and reliance on official sources. As a result, some viewpoints gain more weight in public opinion through a subtle and systematic type of control.
References:
Manufacturing Consent [The Political Economy Of The Mass Media].pdf (PDFy mirror). (2014). [online] Internet Archive. Available at: https://archive.org/details/pdfy-NekqfnoWIEuYgdZl.
TheCollector. (2023). Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky on Politics & Media. [online] Available at: https://www.thecollector.com/manufacturing-consent-noam-chomsky/.
Anon, (2022). M&M’s and manufacturing consent | Bad Business – The Daily Free Press. [online] Available at: https://dailyfreepress.com/2022/12/12/mms-and-manufacturing-consent-bad-business/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2023].
I like the examples of the Mars lawsuit and the M&M character redesign that you mention in your article, which effectively emphasise the ideas championed by Chomsky and Herman and highlight the role of the media in creating issues for the benefit of those in power. The example of Mars Incorporated, which faced litigation over the use of child labour and subsequently diverted public attention by changing the appearance of its green M&M chocolates, is a powerful illustration of how companies can manipulate narratives to avoid criticism. Your insights into the controversy surrounding the production of character shoes and how it diverted attention from the core issue of child labour highlight the subtleties of such tactics and their impact on public opinion.