When reading the prologue of the Studs Turkel book "Division Street" we talked about natural and conscious barriers. We learned about the barriers around Hyde Park in Chicago and talked about how those barriers were made with a purpose, dealing both with class and poverty. When I was looking for inspiration for tonight's blog post (while checking my email) I saw an interesting video highlighted in AOL news. Here is the link Divorce Advertisement.
It is basically a Florida commercial advertising a divorce lawyer. I was shocked when I saw this. I was shocked about the abruptness of the commercial itself but I was mostly shocked that had a never seen a commercial for a divorce lawyer before. And then I realized I had never seen ads for many socially taboo organizations. I had never seen a commercial for an abortion clinic and had never seen any ads for a funeral home. There are many aspects about these topics that would go against what we see as normal and acceptable topics. The social structure of the American society itself acts as a conscious barrier against out of the ordinary or taboo topics. Just like the city planners made a premeditated and planned decision to separate Hyde Park from the rest of the neighborhood, the ads that the public are privy to are consciously determined by the American society and what they consider to be acceptable topics.
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