I'm sorry but did you say people did research? Some people may do research, but the vast majority just blindly follow trends. How else do you think America has put itself in a situation where everyone gets offended about everything?

Sorry, are you comparing the buying of electrical to goods to hegemonic ideologies created by a neo-liberal media?

Yes I am. If people will blindly follow one thing, why would that not apply to something else. Example being person a, b, and c all buy console x. Person d not wanting to be left out buys console x strictly because the other three have it. Same applies with social media. Person a,b, and c post something about a dog killing someone. Person d doesn't ask if there was more to it, they just assume the dog is to blame.

Microsoft have far more money to throw around advertising the Xbox One yet its sales compared to Playstation have failed to deliver. If we go with your notion that its a trend, hegemony, neo-liberal media, the elite then the Xbox would be winning the advertising would have worked. That why we have the type of blame the dog news that you portrayed, short, sharp content spreading fear followed by and advert to stay in buy an Xbox One because some guy from Breaking Bad has one. The Xbox advertising campaign was far bigger than Sony's PS4 campaign. Its also the case that as the average gamer age has increased to being in their thirties and is still overwhelmingly male. Men like to research before buying electrical products, its considered the thing to do, its statistics, just like sports or cars with the horsepower what's under the hood mentality. A mentality driven very much by the media culture you refer to. Chomsky gives a lot of insight in to this in Manufacturing Consent which I assume you have read.

No, I have not read that. Microsoft has spent more money on advertising, yes, but their initial reveal screwed them over with sales which is why we saw the PS4 take an early lead. Even at this point it is still winning because the perception is that Microsoft is the worse console. My brother-in-law does not have Internet and asked me the other week if Microsoft's console still required a check-in. The perception is still there for most people, regardless of it being incorrect. Despite an overwhelming access to information, there are still a massive amount of people who are either uniformed or incorrectly informed.