Celebration, Condemnation, and Critical Use

 According to David Trend, author of “Consumption Ideology,” there are three

viewpoints regarding the relationship between mass media and consumer culture: celebration, condemnation, and critical use. Dittmar, author of “To have is to be,” would endorse both the condemnation and critical use approaches because consumers make "poor decisions from a system of marketing and advertising that promotes false consciousness by distorting needs and instilling irrational  desires" (46). And "the critical use model confronts discrimination by recognizing that some goods are not available to all people and that certain consuming practices are destructive both to people and to the environment" (47). Both Trend and Dittmar contribute to the understanding of the way in which identity is formed in postmodern culture is all about outward image and materialistic possessions. Trend explains that modern capitalism has gotten people to believe the road to happiness lies in material possessions and superficial signs of success (43). And Dittmar affirms, material possessions systematically influence how we perceive the identity of other people; not only that but people use them to express who they are and to construct a sense of who they would like to be. Which give people control, independence, enjoyment, or emotional comfort (43). Ultimately they both assert that postmodern culture is all about image, material possessions, and being a good consumer.