With Ballard’s chapter in mind, we can think that the interests of the people that are buying “redneck products” are the ones who may think that Appalachia is backwards, ignorant, and illiterate. These people would people be typically less educated about the culture of the region. Therefore when they hear anything that may not be true, they will believe it.

It can also be included in the interests of the people that already live in Appalachia, more specifically the ones who make jokes about their own culture. We talked in class yesterday about places like Gatlinburg and Asheville. In those places there are retailers that sell “redneck merchandise.” Could the people that are aware of these vendors and sell these products be accepting these notions that their culture is considered backwards, illiterate, and ignorant? Maybe so.

I think the media portrays the region as so because it is humerous, cathches the eye, and because you can make money off of the stereotypes. For example, the DirecTV commercial that stereotyped the Appalachians probably made the company a lot of money before it got banned. People get a kick out of seeing people who have more flaws than they do. The people that were portrayed in the commercial were dirty, had not teeth, and were poor. People see this on commercial and it makes them feel better about themselves. They are also more likely to purchase DirecTV because images like the ones portrayed in the commercial are more likely to be engrained in the mind.