The_Affects_of_Advertising

The Persuaders makes a great point of view to show how advertising goes far out of its way to grab the appeal of the everyday consumer. Busses, walls, even subway the average American is bombarded with advertisement. Even if the typical consumer wants to believe that they can’t fall into advertising clever ways to grab the appeal, how can they when advertising or products fill in the gaps that most Americans don’t have. They can’t. Advertising does many things to grab the viewer’s appeal. So much that they spend so much money analyzing the average American woman. How she feels when she eats the bread, is loneliness, happiness or pure ecstasy they help to fix or enhance that feeling. Then they micromanage how it is broadcasted with almost astonishing results. Most Americans don’t even know how much they feed into their plays and acts. “Pink makes me looks good and makes me happy” would be the stereotyping analysis of the average girl, so by playing on this the companies make their drink have a pink logo with bright white curvy lettering to increase the lack of adolescent girls buyers. Thus feeding their wanting to be “cool.” Teenagers especially fall into the lies of companies when it comes to buying products. For example, if it the adolescent boy wears khakis to school and that is the new fad then their commercial should have a khaki wearing male eating their cereal to draw the appeal of the cereal. First of all the attention has nothing to do with the cereal, it is the boy behind the cereal. “He is handsome, he wears khakis and is wearing what appears to be a designer shirt thus if I want to be cool I have to eat this cereal,” is exactly how the cereal company wants the cereal to be seen. Of course the “cool hunting” is a vicious paradox for the manufacturing company all together, because once they have gotten the cool out in the world every one does it, thus not making it cool or special anymore. In result, the companies have to try to reach a whole new level with the advertising. But what if it goes too far' A study showed that at least 200 alcohol commercials would be shown to adolescents each year. (Alcohol Advertising…) How would a teen react to seeing this' Most it would seem to be encouraged to drink because it seems to be cool. And being accepted or feeling good is really all that matters to teenagers even if it has harmful outcomes. So in corporate America which person is most likely to buy more stuff' Teenagers. If one thinks about it they realize the exhausting attempt to satisfy the social status that teenagers do it makes perfect sense. Lets take Jamie as our example girl, 17 years old and lives in L.A with a single mother. Now the single mother can’t necessarily be there for her since she’s working full time so she gives her “guilt” money to fill in that lonely space. Because after all if Jamie buys new clothes to enhance her appeal to her friends who needs the company of the mother' It’s a sad but true thought that feeds the manufacture demand for products. Jamie might feel she is in the position that she can be on her own because after all she has to take care of herself and is almost soon about to be on her own like most American adolescents feel. In result the advertising campaign in Sprite runs an AD poking fun almost at how ridiculous advertising showing that teens all along know they can’t fall into their game. “Sprite understands me, so I will drink sprite” is how teens typically will react to this. (The Merchants) Such as Ralph Lauren, or American Eagle, they also play as a parenting role almost to fill in the space that most parents can’t fill or are “cool” enough to fill. So after playing into American’s appeals the “persuaders” are now led into a different roles as well as therapists, or parents but now entertainers. For example, the so clever example of Superman with Jerry Seinfeld to advertise for American Express credit card. In the webisode, Jerry is seen with Superman, after getting his DVD player stolen and later broken by the man of steel that he cannot fix himself. Jerry then takes it to the retailer to get it replaced successfully since with his credit card he is covered for damages of the theft, which superman cannot do. (the persuaders) Its examples like these that help shows how advertising soon becomes entertaining. But what happens when it completely takes over' The creative voice and almost unique ideas would be vanished it seems all together. The appeal even for television would diminish as well, leading to more and more public advertising. Then after media itself wouldn’t make enough money because the lack of creativity caused by the “clutter” of ads or product placement, America would soon lose its creativity. After knowing this the “persuaders” back off a bit but go into a whole different way to capturing our eyes. Such as guerilla advertising, diving into a football stadium with a soda logo on the parachute, or illuminating a bright billboard onto a skyscraper. The consumers enjoy the creativity thus the appeal of the product increases. In conclusion, even if most Americans believe that they are unique or don’t fall into the clever little tricks the advertising throws out at them, they can’t help but fall into it each time. Because the companies filling each roles that most Americans don’t necessarily have or afford to have breaks past that defense mechanism. After all if someone feels lonely it’s much cheaper to buy a coke for a temporary pick me up instead of talking to a therapist. Sources The Persuaders. Dir. Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin. Frontline, 2003 The Merchants of Cool. Dir. Barack Goodman. Frontline, 2001 “Alcohol Advertising Reaching Too Many Teens On Cable TV“ Medical News Today. 2009. MediLexicon International Ltd. 21 Aug 2009