American Advertisements

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America's film industry, whether it be movies or television series, spans the globe. In almost every country in this world American entertainment reigns supreme. While I was in a rural village of Indonesia, an elderly man approached me, knowing I was an American, and asked me about who I would be voting for in the 2004 Presidential Election. The extent that our media reaches is astounding.

So I ask myself: what would a person think about our country by simply viewing our television advertisements? What do these advertisements say about the values of our country?

Our nation's media has many freedom's and with these freedoms have come many liberties in relation to morality. The demise of our country's morality is directly tied to the instruments of our entertainment. Is the state of our country's moral standards reflected in the media or is it the media's influence reflected in the state of our country's morality? This question is like the chicken or the egg question. Which came first the chicken or the egg? I believe it is both. The media is controlled by a small amount of people. This small number of people have rid themselves of moral boundaries and the greater mass has been influenced by this smaller demographic. But the real question is, what do the advertisements say about us?

When viewing advertisements on television, there are apparent displays of sexual enticement. Girls and guys, scantily dressed, beckon us to buy their products, ranging anywhere from soap to cars. The products take a backseat in the advertisements; the models are the real thing being sold. Axe body soap campaigns to our wallet with the promise of sexual attention because we use their new scented product. We are sexually aroused into an advert...

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...h is typically a trade for financial debt. This is also displayed in our advertisements. Debt reduction ads are regular within commercial breaks.

From the outside looking in, American advertisements make this country appear void of social control or moral values. I think that this is not far from the truth. There is a great need for the reinstatement of purity and self-control within our society. The direction we are heading will lead to further and further abandonment from morality and this will cause greater and greater danger to the social structure.

We have been blessed, as a nation, with great influential position in the world. With that influence comes great responsibility. We need to not rid ourselves of morality but of immoral pleasures that lead to the degradation of our country and the individuals within as well as those who are influenced abroad.

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