Marshal McLuhan "The Medium is the Message"

           In the first chapter, Medium is the Message of Marshal McCluhan’s 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, McLuhan delves into how the medium in which information is shared in itself is a huge piece of the message that is being conveyed through it.  An important example that McLuhan references is how electric light in it self has no content or intended meaning, but when it is used to display a logo, or a company/organization’s name it changes how people perceive the words or graphics they are looking at compared to if they saw the exact same graphics in a news paper or a magazine. 
            I agree with McLuhan in that the medium definitely plays a role in how the content is viewed, especially because with each new technology, comes new opportunities (as well as new boundaries).  For example, in addition to the medium itself being different, the use of light also adds more options to how something is displayed, whether it be color, size, brightness, change of color or brightness, or many more factors, which could all be factors in altering how viewers perceive the message.  As McLuhan recognized that “many people would be disposed to say that it was not the machine, but what one did with the machine, that was its meaning or message.” I agree with that one level, because as McLuhan mentioned, a light bulb itself doesn’t have any inherent meaning.  However I feel like even thought the light bulb itself doesn’t have a meaning, the people involved in marketing and advertising certainly know that their sign lit up over a city at night is going to carry a different feel than a sandwich board in front of their businesses door during the day, and they use those vastly different mediums to their advantage, depending on what message or product they are trying to sell.