the medium is in the message?

The other day I was just surfing the web when i came across an intriguing, unusually familiar photo online. In big red letters below a stenciled, black and white face read the word-OBEY. It caught my attention and after thinking about it for a few minutes, trying to figure out exactly what this poster's message was, I decided to Google the slogan.
What I found was this: In 1986 South Carolinian, Shepard Fairey, started a street art campaign to heighten the public's awareness of the relationship between them and their immediate surroundings. A student of Rhode Island School of Design at the time, amateur Fairey initially designed stickers of the Obey Giant, unaware of the popularity the campaign would eventually gain. Following the Big Brother-like stickers exposure, intrigued viewers responded immediately. The campaign sparked both a fearful understanding and a strange humor in the observing public. Fairey's intent of self-awareness is rooted from the theory of Phenomenology- "to reawaken wonder about one's environment." By uncovering the importance of this wonder to our society Shepard Fairey has slowly become one of the most widely recognized underground graffiti artists of our time.
Though interesting, learning about Shepard Fairey's history was not what I found most attractive about this search. Most captivating was a phrase coined by Marshal McLuhan which i found on Fairey's site. "The medium is in the message." This phrase is distinct from its familiar counter "The message is in the medium" which many of you may have heard. The phrase "The medium is in the message" can be explained (as best as i could in my own words) as follows. Messages (advertisements, comics, television shows) are given constantly through every medium known to man (song lyrics, 6 o'clock news, headlines in newspapers, etc.) and the focus on these messages is great. Whether it be on a funny billboard or a controversial commercial, one's focus is usually put on the content of each medium rather than on the medium itself. What McLuhan suggests is the opposite. More focus should be put on the actual medium through which each of these messages is delivered, for not only does the actual medium play a significant role in shaping our society as we know it, but the characteristics of each medium embed themselves into the messages the medium exposes. In other words, people perceive messages in different mediums differently due to the reputation each medium has. McLuhan uses an example of a light bulb, a medium with no content. At night, the light bulb creates an atmosphere by its mere presence. A lighted room. In the same way a murder shown on the 6 o'clock news creates a presence in itself. "It may be less the individual news story itself — the content — and more the change in public attitude towards crime that the newscast engenders by the fact that such crimes are in effect being brought into the home to watch over dinner," an extension of fear. So you see, the medium is in the message in that the medium is the message. Medium itself alone can change societies perception of the world. It influences opinions, fears, values etc. judging by the credibility it has gained.
To tie it back to Shepard Fairey's underground art- we should be aware of our surroundings, and the ever-changing influences of technology on them. Instead of naively allowing mediums to shape our daily lives, we should strive to gain deeper knowledge and stronger beliefs so as not be so easily influenced.