Negative Effects Of Advertising On Society

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Advertising surrounds the American people of the 21st century, appearing in varying forms: billboards, posters, fliers, television commercials, etc. In a study conducted by Yankelovich, a market research firm, a person living in a city can be exposed to 5,000 advertisements a day (Story, Louise). While these promotional materials seek to inform the population about their existence and the products or services they offer, advertising also communicates ideas to society which have a negative influence. Advertising has a detrimental effect on modern-day American society due to its demeaning, unhealthy, and dangerous messages, portrayal of negative and unrealistic body images, and promotion of materialism and superficial things.
Many advertisements in society today often intentionally convey content which publicize messages that are demeaning, unhealthy, and dangerous. Numerous ads nowadays, many of them for alcoholic beverages, suggest that stylish and sexy women prefer men who use certain products (“Advertising”). Not only do these ads send a deceptive message that women only like men who purchase a specific brand, the unnecessary use of sexual imagery reinforces the idea that women are merely sex objects (“Advertising”), a controversial issue prevalent in the world today. However, these promotions are also degrading towards men as well. In recent years, advertisements have emerged, sexualizing men in order to sell something to a different customer population. In addition to ideas which sexualize and objectify individuals, promotional materials also communicate ideas which glorify damaging lifestyles, especially to younger audiences. Often times, companies will advertise unhealthy eating habits and destructive practices like smoking ...

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...s well provides them with a biased education supplied by products sporting advertisements and labels.
Materialism and an obssession with superficial and material things accompanies advertising. Critics contend that advertisements have begun to have a negative impact on people due to the increased prevalance of ads and overwhelming amount of instructions to spend money and demand certain products. In a study conducted with 8 to 11 year olds, children who were frequently exposed to television advertising were discovered to have developed a greater desire for advertised products and had begun to become more materialistic in contrast to children who were less frequently exposed (Jacobs, Tom). Some experts believe that marketing has made both adults and children materialistic and has encouraged expensive obssessions with brand-name items (“Youth-Oriented Advertising”).

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