Capitalism

Capitalism tends to be one of the most beloved aspects of our country, without question because of the enormous effect its had on our entire culture, and way of life. What it has created is what is known as a consumer society: A society where the interaction of buyers and products is forefront ground, a society intended to meet one end up with the other. Our nation has also been called a commodity culture, which means thanks to capitalism material objects are always looked upon in terms of market.

A flaneur, is someone who takes pleasure in the simple browsing and viewing of products, even without an intention to purchase anything. The concept began with the origins of of our commodity culture, and products began being "advertised" in windows and on shop signs. Since its beginning, the flaneur has been given more and more options, and encouraged to continue "pleasurable viewing". With mobility, its never been easier, and one could view products for weeks on end, just sitting infront of a computer browsing products at online shops.

Often times advertising (which can be found virtually anywhere these days) presumes a relevence to the viewer. That is, whatever a advertisement is selling is assumed to be wanted or required by people viewing the ad. This relevence is often completley over-estimated, but even still the most successful advertisements will make their product assumebly relevent. The actual point of the advertisement is not to encourage usage of the product either exactly, but rather make the product appear wanted. This is what the reading means by consuming a semiotic sign. The point of the ad is actually to turn a person's mind onto an idea of using a product (with a sign) the actual encouraging of a person's will to buy a product is therefore not needed.