"I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me... but I can't help it that I'm so popular. "

As the sun rises and the birds chirp, another day at Hegemony High School is about to commence. We all are students attending there, whether we like it or not. Are you part of the dominating social group? Will you try to impose your views on the lesser groups? Well, the media essentially functions as a high school.
Let's use the fictional North Shore High School from Mean Girls as an example for understanding hegemony.
Composed of several unique cliques, there is still one ruling power that towers above the rest.
We have:

Freshmen,

ROTC Guys,

Preps,

J.V. Jocks,

Asian Nerds,

Cool Asians,

Varsity Jocks,

Unfriendly Black Hotties,

Girls Who Eat Their Feelings,

Girls Who Don't Eat Anything,

Desperate Wannabes,

Burnouts,

Sexually Active Band Geeks,

the Greatest People You Will Ever Meet,

and the worst:

...The Plastics, dominating this monkey-see, monkey-do world.

Reality television, for example, functions similar to the Plastics, ruling the world of culture. After all, everyone wants to be a Plastic, right? Reality shows such as Jersey Shore, Gossip Girl, and America's Next Top Model pretty much brainwash the viewers into wanting to become what they see on television, making them feel like what is being portrayed is normal and everyone should conform to the norm. When someone watches an episode of Jersey Shore, which has become so widespread among teens, a person will want to adapt to the Guido lifestyle as seen on television, using Snooki and Pauly D as inspiration for how to act. When a young girl watches an episode of America's Next Top Model, she will be given false hope by Tyra, thinking that she, too, can someday walk in the heels of the strutting beauty owning the television set.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE5JKrU_VxQ
In the above clip from America's Next Top Model, the model is praised by Tyra for being skinny, tall, and having an extremely small waist. Female viewers want to become what is seen on television, and they would try to imitate what they have just witnessed, because the body being shown is portrayed as normal and desirable, so they feel like they must look the same way.

No matter what is on television, it will be sure to create a world of fantasy for those watching, a world which seems to be normal, for the viewer, and impose views upon the non-Plastics, who will do anything to fit in and be accepted by Regina George.