has conformity replaced consciousness?

Compared to the general knowledge of mass media and consumerism effects people had in the 1940s, which was little to none, I think today, most people have a grasp on this liberal argument of criticizing the media and consumer industry. Adorno's view that "the customer is not king, as the culture industry would have us believe, not its subject but its object" still rings true today (Adorno 99).

In our consumer society today, products do not even have to be advertised. They are the heart of the ideology of consumerism and will prosper undoubtedly due to the never-ending societal desire for material goods. With the increasingly harsh competition in advertising, sales, and marketing, we have a basic standard/trend that everyone seems to willingly adhere to. For example, Apple changed the way modern advertisements look today. Their chic/sleek/simple/futuristic/minimalistic design structure can be seen in countless companies (i.e. every hipster wannabe coffee shop in Minneapolis). Originality is hard to come by and when something becomes the norm, the once original concept loses all value. But isn't that what people want? To have their ideas make them money? "It lives parasitically from the extra-artistic technique of the material production of goods, without regard for the obligation to the internal artistic whole implied by its functionality" (Adorno 101). Although there are people who don't want to sell out, the general consensus today is that making money is synonymous with success. The "individualistic residues" seen throughout media make people happy. I agree with Adorno's point that "if it guarantees them even the most fleeting gratification they desire a deception which is nonetheless transparent to them" (Adorno 103). Instant gratification is quite literally what people live for and without it, most of us who are unconsciously and/or consciously (but not willing to do anything about it) entangled in this system, would not be able to survive. The success of the consumer industry "lies in the promotion and exploitation of the ego-weakness to which the powerless members of contemporary society...are condemned" (Adorno 105). Can a human being ever be completely satisfied in the world today?

"The power of the culture industry's ideology is such that conformity has replaced consciousness" (Adorno 104). How do trends happen? How do they so subconsciously pervade society/set a standard? (i.e. fashion, recreation, even drugs)