It's all part of the semiotic process, as Roland Barthes suggests. We create the world we see and understand by our subscribing, intentionally or unintentionally, to that which we see, hear, and touch. We assign truth and value to everything which makes up our world every day. I think that all of you have at some moment in your lives reached a point not many will ever see; you have the ability to discern what theorists suggest is the difference between the sign and the signified: our ideas of value and truth, for example. But with this knowledge must come the understanding that many will never understand. Only 25% of any people display an ability to think critically, according to research. So is it any wonder that marketers have such a monopoly on the general population? The first thing our current president did when he entered the White House was to hire an advertising executive to work on his image as a leader. Rhetoric and semiotics are powerful things. Remember WWII?
Just rambling.

Urbanmonk