The Effect of Advertisements on Youth

During any given day, a person is exposed to a constant stream of advertising. It has become a part of life, quietly seeping into the subconscious while watching television programs, shopping for groceries, or even on the daily commutes. The main purpose of advertising is to illicit an emotion that drives us to purchase the end product. They influence attitudes, ideas and behaviors in those watching, and unfortunately those shifts aren’t always toward the positive. In the last ten years, there has been a large increase in the teenage population with anorexia and obesity disorders(Dens 368). According to another article, underage consumption of alcohol and tobacco has increased by 38% in 6 years (Jernigan 23). Lastly, more females are obsessing about weight loss, although they cannot be defined as medically obese, as well as have a lower self esteem levels(Halliwell par 8). The reasoning behind all these occurrences, according to many psychologists, is the onslaught of unhealthy, unethical and irresponsible advertising from the media for profit. In essence, the propaganda creates a need to imitate the attitudes, actions, images or behaviors shown. The issue then becomes that the continual bombardment of overly emotional and explicit adverting is detrimental to the audience.

It has been estimated that “the average American reading one and a half newspapers, half a magazine and one piece of direct mail, and listening to 2.3 hours of radio and watching 3.8 hours of TV—would be exposed to a minimum of 560 advertisements in a 16-hour period. (Britt 3) There are multiple studies with a variance of exposure hours estimated, but the message is quite clear. With the average numbers shown, it is easy to understand the influence that prop...

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...vertisements. In doing this, a real shift toward a solution that would empower both consumer and the company could be achieved.

To surmise, advertising is more powerful tool than most give it credit for. Although most propaganda is seen or heard in passing, the sheer quantity of it that people are exposed to leaves them vulnerable to be effected by it. The ideas and images it spreads carry a heavy weight in the social norms of a society. More attention should be paid to the possible dangers to the psyche of the consumer, as well as the consumer themselves becoming aware they are being covertly attacked on a daily basis. The sooner the public comes to an awareness of dangerous advertising, the faster a change will come about by the media. Being that the consumer holds the dollar, the power truly is in their hands.