Introduction
The average American household has about three television sets per household and the average American watches about five hours of television each day. Television has a very powerful influence in developing our value systems and shaping the behavior of both children and adults. The University of Twente states: “Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole.” It would be safe to assume, that to some degree, television shapes concepts about the way we …show more content…
The Latino population grew more than 43 percent from 2000 to 2010, and their population continues to steadily increase. Their buying power has been expected to be 1.6 trillion as of this year. To put this into perspective, the Nielsen Report says that if the Latinos in the UNited States were to constitute a nation, it would be the 14th largest economy in the world. This group, relative to the general population, attends more movies and listens to the radio more than any other U.S racial or ethnic group. Programs and movies that feature Latino talents and storylines are rewarded with high ratings and revenue. When programs or films seem to have anti-Latino content, both consumers and advocacy groups target studios and networks with very effective campaigns (Negrón-Muntane, The Latino Media Gap). For instance, CBS’s show “Rob” was cancelled after airing only eight episodes. The show was deemed offensive after its stereotypical representation of Latinos. On the show, Rob’s father in law talks about his carwash company employing many immigrants, and laughs, saying, “Between 100 of them, I think they have, like, three Social Security numbers.” Protesters rallied outside the shows studios, demanding the eventual cancellation of the show. Another example of an effective campaign was ABC’s “Work It.” This showed featured Latino actors, but it also used very extreme, stereotypical representations. It was the target of a large boycott, and it was cancelled after only two