"Think outside the bun"

        After our discussion in class about the branding and labeling products and companies as well as  reading Berger’s Marxist analysis which centered upon materialism, Raphael’s  article on television and its roots and Smith’s article which focused on branding on African Americans here in the U.S., I thought about what can these three articles have in common to one media text.  I then remember the Story of Raymond John, the founder of Fubu, who took 40 dollars out his pocket to make jeans, and created a multibillion dollar industry.  But how does this relate to TV? Or materialism?  Raymond John can now be* seen on the hit TV show, “Sharktank” where he is competing and outbidding investment opportunities for new products that everyday citizens come up with.  The four investors on the show, one of which being Raymond is up against three other potential investors and getting a cut of the ordinary citizens business plan is what drives the show.  This just brings to light markets beliefs on matters and the “social production” which drives this economically structured society we live in.  He also discusses the conflict in class and status here in America which brings back into light Raphael’s article about TV.  Reality TV has a relatively low cost compared too other shows, but with cost rising day by day, the demand for advertising revenue is rising as well as the demand for ad placement too.  This just shows how marterisic our political culture has become.  Just like in Smith’s article about BET in black culture, Fubu has branded the black culture as well.  But what is bringing, he claims it is the “relationship that secures future earnings be securing customer loyalty.  This can be good in my opinion, separating our society by culture by cloth and TV shows separates us in other ways, unequal rights and distribution of income, and misrepresentations and the development of stereotypes however on the other hand it does create a sense of belonging and identity.  In all materialism is a bad thing but branding and TV can have adverse effects in both directions.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yllacdwhE5Q