“Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better” (George Santayana). Today advertisements are more prevalent than ever. Nearly 10% of large companies’ revenue is spent marketing their products to specifically reach a particular group. There are several ways in which companies market their products: television, online, or visual advertisements, including billboards and newspapers. Most advertisements are made to target a younger demographic. A teen’s friends and family also play a role on their decision making. With the desire for teens to fit in, they are more likely to be manipulated by advertisements and the people with whom they surround themselves..
Advertising dates all the way back to the ancient Egyptians who would use Papyrus to make sales posters. The first printed ads were used to advertise a prayer book in England in 1472. During the American Revolution, advertisements were used to encourage enlisting (Fox). In 1941, the first commercial television ad for nonessential products aired and paved the way for the onslaught of advertisements that are viewed during television shows, games, and even political debates. Today the most prominent sources of advertising will be seen on the computer and TV screen. With the amount of time teens spend consuming media, the exposure to advertisements can easily have an effect on their behavior. Teens are constantly bombarded with ads and influences while searching the internet, following friends on Facebook, and watching television. With age comes privilege and independence, but teens need guidance and direction in making important choies..
With greater freedom and independence, teens face new decisions regarding automobi...
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George Parker once said, “The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising." Advertisers use many different techniques that target children and teens. Many people do not realize how harmful this can turn out to be. Advertising plays a harmful role in the lives of youth because it poses health risks, prevents children and teens from saving money, and exposes them to way too many ads.
Moschis, G. P., & Mitchell, L. G. (1986). Television Advertising and Interpersonal Influences on Teenagers’ Participation in Family Consumer Decisions. In Association for Consumer Research (Vol. 13). Retrieved from http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=6487
The fast food industry spent $4.6 billion to advertise mostly unhealthy products, and children and teens remained key audiences for that advertising, according to a new report by the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. The food industry has developed different marketing tactics to target children and teens. They are able to advertise through the use of TV, the Internet, social media, and mobile devices. I wanted to address how online advertisements affects teens and children throughout the use of social media. Many companies today communicate and interact with their customers throughout the use of social media, the fast-food industry is no different. Many teens today spend most of their time online, where they are exposed to many types
Advertising in its purest form has been an essential part of the business world for centuries. The purpose of advertising is to inform society of a certain product and/or service that has become available. Advertising is used as a method of communication between a consumer and the company in which the product is from, because it persuades the consumers to take action. According to Lindsay in “The Case of Print Media Advertising in the Internet Age” the individuals who are above the age of 18 and reside in America, spend a total of 9 hours, and 35 minutes using media per day (2007). In figure 1 it shows that non-print advertisements represent the majority of the time spent utilizing this media. The pie-chart showed that certain individuals spent 44.5% of their time watching television, 27.8% listening to the radio, and 5.3% on the internet meanwhile newspapers, music, magazines and books resulted in a total of 16.5% combined (The Case of Print, 2007, pg. 7). We are exposed to several hundreds of advertisements every day; some of these advertisements include direct phone calls from telemarketers, billboards, and commercials. While print advertisements aren’t at the high end of the typical consumers view scale, they are the most effective due to the consistency in which they appear. The use of print advertisements in marketing is posing a great danger to all members of society, because they put a damper on both men and women’s self-worth, encourage the use alcohol in minors, and is causing obesity rates to increase. (should be and causes obesity rates to increase, the way you have it is not parallel)
As a result, marketers and advertisers rigorously target the teen consumer in any way they can. Teens have a staggering amount of buying power, in part because they have the ability to work and have influence over their parent’s money. Advertisers go as far as create movements in youth fashion, music, and food among other products. They call it “taking the brand to the street” and it includes using high-profile celebrities to endorse their products on T.V. or in their personal lives. Overall, the goal of marketing teen consumerism that most businesses follow can be seen as marketing the “cool” to teen’s, advertising body images, and packaging girlhood and boyhood. Teens are continually bombarded with limiting media stereotypes of what it is to be a girl or a boy in today’s world. They “packaged childhood” and sell it to them through ads and products; across all media, from T.V., music, movies, magazines, to video games and the internet. Be it body shape, skin condition, fashion, music, being cool, or just, having the right type of gadget, teenagers are very uncertain about who they are or where they fit in. Advertising works best when it creates an insecurity about something and such insecurities are easily found amongst teens. This is also where the social fact concept of the functionalist perspective can be seen in this theme. As American consumerism continues to market teen obsession, this creates an
Advertisements are found everywhere in today’s world. They have a big impact on what the consumer buys. Commercials are often aimed towards children and teens because they will ask their parents to buy the product. Another reason teens are targeted by advertisers is because they have money to spend and are willing to buy unnecessary products, especially if it is the latest and greatest. Teens feel that they need the newest electronics, clothing, and other luxury items.
...rinking, parents can reduce the risk of their children drinking. Studies show the teens whose parents talk to them about alcohol are 42% less likely to use alcohol than teens whose parents don’t discuss the issue with them. Parents can also help by setting good example for their teens, by drinking responsibly, and never drive while under the influence.
All over America, families are suffering from their teenagers being taken over by the effects of alcohol. Teenagers that start drinking don’t know the damage they are putting on their bodies. Underage drinking is a rising issue in an alarming amount of homes. Drinking is unfortunately already a popular activity, but it shouldn’t be for teenagers because they can hurt themselves and others. The next generation of adults are in danger if they let alcohol control them during high school. While some parents can control their children or not, underage drinking is a problem everywhere.
Advertisers and corporations are liable for using modern and sophisticated forms of mind control to the extent level of brainwashing consumers, in order to manipulate their choices and their spending habits. Our society is being negatively impacted, by becoming a consumer driven society constantly distracted by overwhelming persuasive advertisements, as opposed to ideal informative advertisements. The most vulnerable and negatively impacted targets of persuasive advertising are the younger, less mature, and/or less knowledgeable and self-directed consumers. Ironically, it was once said “An advertising agency is 85 percent confusion and 15% commission” (Allen). It is quite clear that social benefits are not part of this equation. The harm and severe social related costs far outweigh any economic growth and benefits deemed necessary for advertising and marketing companies.
One of the factors that can contribute to the problem of underage drinking is accessibility of alcohol. It is relatively easy for minors to obtain alcohol, and the percentage of those who can get it without much difficulty grows considerably with age. Nearly 90 percent of twelfth graders feel that they have easy access to alcohol (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg). Thus, by the senior year of high school it no longer feels like a forbidden fruit, it is ev...
Across America in homes, schools, and businesses, sits advertisers' mass marketing tool, the television, usurping freedoms from children and their parents and changing American culture. Virtually an entire nation has surrendered itself wholesale to a medium for selling. Advertisers, within the constraints of the law, use their thirty-second commercials to target America's youth to be the decision-makers, convincing their parents to buy the advertised toys, foods, drinks, clothes, and other products. Inherent in this targeting, especially of the very young, are the advertisers; fostering the youth's loyalty to brands, creating among the children a loss of individuality and self-sufficiency, denying them the ability to explore and create but instead often encouraging poor health habits. The children demanding advertiser's products are influencing economic hardships in many families today. These children, targeted by advertisers, are so vulnerable to trickery, are so mentally and emotionally unable to understand reality because they lack the cognitive reasoning skills needed to be skeptical of advertisements. Children spend thousands of hours captivated by various advertising tactics and do not understand their subtleties.
Nearly 25 percent of teens drink alcohol because they think it is fun; however the problems it may bring are not so fun (Hyde 22). There over six times more teen deaths per year from alcohol than any other drug (O’Malley 30). Alcohol affects the body of teens as well as all of the developmental processes. A major issue of teens drinking is that it increases the chance of becoming an alcoholic in the future; which leads to lowered self-control, impaired judgment, and lowered inhibition (Heath 12). Alcohol can completely change the life of a teen from the time they start drinking till death. Alcohol affects so many aspects of a person’s life and once it does, it is so hard to get life back to normal. Alcohol effects teens by harming them physically, emotionally, and socially especially through relationships.
In todays society people are assaulted by ads every day. The ads are everywhere, in your house, in your car, on the streets. Slogans, catchy songs, videos and images are flashed across TV screens, websites, billboards, phones and radios around the world. These ads are produced by a handful of big name companies. The ads not only try to sell you tangible products but also ideas of what things and people should be or act. Over the years these ads have grown more controversial and suggestive. The teen pregnancy ads in particular have become more aggressive than in the past years with the increase rate of teen pregnancy. The New York City Human Resources Administration with their Teen pregnancy prevention campaign for example is causing a lot of controversy.
What is alcohol? Alcohol is many things to many people: To little kids, it is a curiosity. To teenagers, it is ?cool?. To responsible drinkers, it is a relaxant. To bartenders, it is a job, their lives. To restaurant owners, it is a moneymaker.