POPULAR CULTURE OR POP CULTURE IS THE TERM COINED DURING MID-20TH
CENTURY TO DEFINE THE COLLECTION OF CULTURE, ATTITUDES, IDEAS, PERSPECTIVES
AND THE OCCURRING IN THE MAINSTREAM CULTURE, ESPECIALLY IN THE WEST.
T
he uprising of the pop
culture is to make appeal
to masses, especially, as
pop culture are a form of
cultural activities or commercial
products that reflect, suited to or
aimed to the tastes of the general
masses of the people. Pop culture is
viewed as an era in which the media
is the most impactful in the lives of
majority of the world.
The show stopper in the
21st century, the infamous
Kardashians who started out
with their own reality tele-
vision shows have become
multimillionaires, out of
advertising, cosmetics
and clothing lines. The
family has made it as
business mogul, by
just being rich and
popular.
Offering their
lifestyle to be a part
of a show cast to the
audience, they ex-
hibit the livelihood of
luxurious and glamor-
ous life which made the
masses green with envy. Prod-
uct placement in the media, a
form of subliminal messages we
view and perceived as normal
is the epitome of how we are
abused and exploited through
the media. We are buying things we
cannot afford and we do not need at
the very first place.
The stereotypes and the
beauty standards that are broad-
casted through the media by the
emergence of pop culture are set
incredibly high and unnatural. The
cosmetics industry is one of the
industries with the largest profits
which is about 62.46 billion U.S. in
revenue for 2016 according to statis-
tical web-
site, statista.
com.
The consumerism of the people has
contributed to the rise of the profit
as compared in early 2000s.The de-
mands are increasing, as the media
are romanticizing the pop culture
ideals and the “band wagon” culture
40 . SASARAN JURNAL KRITIKAN MEDIA
among the consumers.
The social media has a part
in pushing the capability of the
popular culture in influencing the
masses. Few decades ago, we are
highly dependent on the conven-
tional media such as the magazine,
dramas and billboards. According to
Google Trend on the second week
of November 2014, Kim Kardashian
reached peak popularity by being
the most searched keyword on the
search engine.
Being on the cover of Paper
Magazine with a naked butt and
the title ‘Breaking The Internet’
made her the talk of the town. The
rise of Instagram, a photo sharing
application provides an unlimited
possibility of online business, for
the stick thin figure on Instagram
are basically telling those who are
struggling to lose weight to drink
detox tea. The Instagram famous or
so called ‘celebrity’ are endorsing the
products via social media, tricking
their potential customers into the
capitalist traps.
The pop culture started
to emerge in early 2000s, Britney
Spears are the bomb dot com.
The audiences want to look
like her, buying stuffs she
wears, on the concerts, on the
front cover of the magazine,
the stuffs she endorsed as an
ambassador. She was the power-
house of the pop music and this in
a sense, also contribute to the pop
culture identity. Looking smashing
hot, trendy and being popular is
cool. College or fraternity themed
movies are aligned to be diverting