Does entertainment REALLY effect your life?

Entertainment can have a great impact on many aspect of today’s society.  Many people are easily swayed by information they hear on television and in the media. I strongly agree that entertainment has a very important impact on our lives through teaching us about politics through infotainment, news programs that support our beliefs, and healthy eating found in commercials and subliminal messaging.

Entertainment can impact our political beliefs. In a Political Science 101 (American Government) I learned many people use infotainment to learn something about politics. In a political sense, studies have shown many people learn things about politics through infotainment, especially people from the 18-24 age range. Infotainment is a hybrid form of entertainment where information is presented in an entertaining way. Television shows like The Daily Show With John Stewart and The Colbert Report are examples of political infotainment. Each show uses satire and comical descriptions to entertain viewers and help them learn about politics. Many people don’t know much about politics in general, and justify their beliefs from Infotainment television shows. Not only do people in general watch these programs, I have personal experience watching special reports and infotainment.

I know from my household, my parents would encourage me to watch infotainment and news coverage, especially if they found a skit particularly funny or if it strongly supported their beliefs. I frequently watch, The Colbert Report and I find it very entertaining and I feel like I learn something about the edges of the political spectrum by watching it. In the television show, Stephen Colbert provides a satirical glimpse of the conservative side of the political spectrum. His use of puns and comic language continues to educate me on some of the more polar political beliefs of people in our society. I think his program is also very funny and I do enjoy watching it. Not only do infotainment shows play a role in shaping people’s political views, news networks devote some coverage to entertaining shows that use political undertones.

Some news networks, such as CNN, include programs where people debate political topics. On programs such as Piers Morgan Tonight, political topics such as possible gun control laws are debated by Piers Morgan and his guests. This provides the audience with an entertaining look at both sides of a political argument and many people use these programs to justify their beliefs. Whether someone is for more gun control regulations or against gun control regulations, they can justify their arguments by watching these shows. Not only does entertainment affect people’s political opinions, it also can encourage healthy eating and exercise habits.

Entertainment shows emphasize healthy eating through their commercials. Many commercials on networks focused on children’s programming. For an example, Nickelodeon has developed commercials that emphasize the importance of eating breakfast. For TV shows that cater to an audience of mostly adults, viewers will see commercials about diet programs like Nutrisystem and exercise equipment such as the Bowflex Home Gym. These television commercials encourage society to eat right and exercise. They emphasize the importance of being a healthy weight in today’s society. Not only does entertainment emphasize good health habits through commercials, it also focuses on health subliminally.

Entertainment highlights the importance of being thin and healthy subliminally. Most television hosts today are thin, some are muscular and many would be characterized as healthy. Although many models are severely underweight, many television programs hire hosts that are healthy sizes. These stars on television shows such as American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest subliminally encourage viewers to look healthy and thin like he does, if they want to be famous and accepted by today’s society.