Question 1.  According to Berger publicity influences consumers by telling all of us that we are not adequate in the way we are and the way our lives are.  It also suggests that by buying a product we can change that and make our lives richer.  The mechanism it uses to do this is to show people who have been transformed as a result of a product, and are now envied.  And as Berger indicates, this state of being envied is called glamour and publicity is the process of creating glamour.  This is significant because it is a very effective way of selling products.  You make someone feel inadequate and then create an illusion that a certain product can produce the ideal life or lifestyle and thus curing this feeling of inadequacy.

Question 2.  These differences are important because in oil paintings they are not trying to sell something.  The paintings reflect what someone has or had in the present, while publicity is representing a future possibility with a means to achieve it.  The method in which publicity attains this goal is by showing scene after scene of people changing their lives as a result of buying certain products.   And the changing of their lives includes themselves, their homes and even their relationships.  Publicity also uses another method in which to sell products and that is to play upon people’s fears.  Specifically the fear of not being desirable or to be unenviable.

Question 3.  Berger provides three examples of dreams that are used to sell products and one of these he calls, The Dream of later Tonight.  This type of dream shows people greatly enjoying each other’s company with all the participants being good looking and very well dressed.  It also shows certain individuals who appear to be greatly envied, which plays upon the desire to be the life of the party and the most glamorous.  This type of imagery is very effective for selling products like clothing, jewelry, perfumes, alcohol and cigarettes, because if one does not own the finest of these products, one can not even begin to achieve this type of dream.