Truth in Advertising

It has become a commonplace in academia that truth is a particularization of the process of power in society, but never has this become so massively apparent as in advertising. Particularly in recent high-end automobile commercials (1996), advertisements make statements about the value of life, the quality of life and kinds of life, ... That these statements are all crassly in the service of selling serves to erode the basis of these claims. Capitalism, right now, needs the help of intensive market maintenance and expansion, such as continuous advertizing that depends on the traditional authority of truth-claims. The very process by which it makes use of their authority serves to destroy them. Once again, the process of capitalism undermines its own foundation.