Consumerism in everyday life is generally considered to be negative. Consuming as much as we do in western civilisation, can give us a sense of false needs. One could suggest that it is capitalism that promotes false needs, and that consumerism is a way of controlling the public. Often the cause is cited as media. Most theorists believe that what the producer advertises through mass media such as commercials influences what the consumer buys. Eventually, material goods become commodities and extensions of peoples daily lives. However in Chapter nine of ‘Key Themes in Media Theory’, theorist John Fiske argues otherwise.
Fiske believes that popular culture is determined by the people, not by the producers of the culture industry, we are not controlled by consumerism, but rather we control it. For example when cultural or media products are put out into society, it is the public that determines whether or not said products become popular, in which case they then become a ‘necessity’ in everyday life. One of Fiske’s most relevant arguments is that of ‘consumer resistance.’