SAT Practice Essay

In class we wrote a practice essay for the SATs. The topic was whether or not the media has an impact on out culture and what is important to us.

I think that the media does have a very big impact on our culture and values. A lot of people look to the media to tell them what is important. People look up to celebrities on television or in magazines and often let what these people say or do influence what they think. The unconscious reasoning behind this is that if it’s on TV or on the Internet, it must be true. People in the media, know exactly what they are doing when they send certain messages. If a few celebrities pick up a new fashion trend, it is thrown in our faces through TV and magazines. People who see this might start to follow the fashion trend themselves. Other people will see these people and follow, until it has spread everywhere.
Sometimes people are influenced in a good way through the media. Bono from the band U2 started a campaign called Product RED, where certain products, such as clothing or cell phones, sold at certain stores will benefit AIDS victims in Africa. Bono appeared on TV on some talk shows to talk about this, and the campaign shows countless celebrities wearing or using these products. Shortly after the campaign began, I started to see people walking around at school or on the street wearing these clothes or using these products. I myself have a Product RED t-shirt and bracelet from Gap. I gave a few of my friends these bracelets for Christmas. Part of my reason for buying these is definitely because I want to help AIDS victims, but it’s also true that I hadn’t donated any money to this cause before this. In this situation, the media introduced the information about these products, but it also motivated viewers to buy them by showing celebrities wearing them. Because of the impact of the media on our lives in this situation, I now see people wearing t-shirts from the Gap line all over the place.
The media, through television, movies, magazines, newspapers, and Internet, has a big impact on what we think is important and on many aspects of our culture.