Do Audience Members have the power to subvert messages brought to them by the mass media?

As was brought to our attention in Chapter 4 of Essentials of Mass Communication Theory, all audience members, regardless of age, sex, or culture and surroundings have the ability to challenge what messages are being brought forth by the media.  Furthermore, even though we are exposed to  different types of communication from numerous sources, including radio, television, cable, magazines, etc., we can decifer these mediums and their messages to fit our own likes and dislikes, and make a conscious decision to follow the message and be agreeable to it, or to dismiss the message and not give it another thought.

Having the power to subvert these messages is what makes us all individuals.  These communications, even though we are subjected to them from the minute we rise in the morning, till we go to bed at night, are exactly that, messages.  If we remember to consider our own self, and our acquired belief system, we can subvert any thought or message put before us, based on our own ideals and realizations.

For example, you can take any commercial that you have seen throughout your life, and what may have been acceptable, and even humerous when you were younger, if given the same message to view today, you might find it to be of bad taste or even gross, thus proving the theory that as we age and mature, so does our ability and power to subvert the messages that are conveyed to us through mass media.