The Implications of Advertising on the Society

TheImplications of Advertising on the Society

Advertisinghelps people construe the world differently by saturating theirsocial lives. Some adverts help people identify new items in themarket, reinforce innovation, and enhance economies by creating jobs.Adverts sway people’s perception to buy a product by using signsthat reflect the reality. In fact, O’Neill asserts, “Advertisingshapes our perception of the world as surely as architecture shapesour impression of a city” (133). By shaping individuals’ view, itcan affect them positively or negatively. It influences changepositively, encourages innovation, and helps firms generate firms.The technology that develops against the backdrop of increasedcommercials creates jobs for people, enhance social responsibility,and appeals to people’s sentiments. However, others usestereotypical presentations of races, women, and people based on ageas well as utilize sex allures hence, cause psychological effects onthe audience. The paper highlights the implications of advertising,for example, the promotion of materialism, consumerism, andtypecasts.

Althoughthe implications of advertisement differ based on gender, age, socialstatus, and race, it tends to substitute people’s intimatejudgments. This means that it influences them to behave in a certainway since it uses symbols that idealize specific life situations.Different forms of advertising provoke particular mood states thus,allowing individuals to develop new perceptions on products. Whenpeople gets exposed to many adverts, they perceive the productsmarketed as premium and worthy buying (Lutz 123). The marketing drivehas seen demand for some goods increase greatly, especially duringpromotions. Barber says that the adverts pushed on to people, “Ispart of a massive world-wide campaign to instigate and sustainconsumer demand beyond any reasonable definition of need or want”(para. 1). The statement shows that advertisement has created aconsumerism where people buy products, because they have beenmarketed.

Commercialshave helped diminish conventional traditions or cultures and replacedthem with consumerism customs. For example, through the media, peoplesee it cool to drink expensive whiskey or decorate their rooms withads (Cave 114). Moreover, commercials have affected childrennegatively, especially through their excessive utilization of sexappeals. It is hard for kids to assess advertisement inducementhence, they cannot manage to recognize the dangers of adverts thatglamorize the use of alcohol or objectification of their bodies.Children become cognizant of their sexuality at an early age, whichmeans adverts have altered the structures of the society. It is alsosignificant to understand that some commercials propagate typecastsof gender thus, helping perpetuate the notion that women are sexobjects and men as authorities. For example, the depiction of womanas sex objects helps to embolden chauvinism. On the other hand, Caveposits that commercials have helped companies to sell low-pricedproducts and compare them to premium goods (112). Most organizationshave created homogenous products and since they know consumers haveconformist consumption habits, they advertise them as premium. Infact, they use celebrities to market the products, knowing very wellthat people who identify with the superstar will purchase them. It iseasy for people to take credits beyond their repayment abilities orcommit criminal activities to buy marketed goods.

Advertisingplays an imperative function in people’s lives, particularly in themessage that different elements of media send. However, some of thecommunication transmitted about women is twisted and harmful. Many ofthe commercials focus on women portray messages concerning theirhealth, exercise, and beauty, which means the message sent could becustomarily valuable in terms of appropriate practices to care foroneself. On the other hand, some of the adverts could relay adetrimental communication to females that they should appeardifferently. Kilbourne says that most advertisements focus on theyoung population because of their inexperience (para. 1). The mediaknows that adolescents are perceptive to peer pressure and willfollow concepts, stereotypes, or ideas that the society holds asaccurate. According to Kilbourne, most commercials depict women assex objects or housewives where a house-woman is infatuated withcleanliness. On the other hand, the media cultivates the idea of asex object by showing a “beautiful” woman with no blemishes orwrinkles. Although the image of “beauty” as illustrated byadverts is artificial, most women will emulate this ideal. Whenfemales look at images of beautiful women, the media is pressuringthem into imagining that they are seeing true beauty. Thus, womenfeel that for them to conform to the society’s anticipations (whichis not usually healthy or accurate), they should look at the sexobjects depicted. Kilbourne asserts, “A woman is conditioned toview her face as a mask and her body as an object…, she is made tofeel dissatisfied with and ashamed of herself…., objectifiedconstantly by others, she learns to objectify herself” (para. 2).This means that the commercials affect females negatively by coercingthem to become preoccupied with beauty and weight. Today, mostteenagers are on a diet as they feel they are overweight since theycompare themselves with the images depicted in commercials. On theother hand, it is imperative to note that most advertisementscondense individuals to items and understate uniqueness and humancontact.

Conclusively,although advertising helps to introduce products into the market,enhance innovation, or appeal to consumers, it sometimes perpetuatesprinciples that are loggerheads with the norms and traditions of thesociety. Some adverts promote materialism, stereotypes, consumerism,and sexism as evidenced by the existing sexual attitudes,objectification of women, and consumer disgruntlement. Advertisingshapes their attitude and that of the society as well as inexorablyimpacts consumer behavior. It provides extensive information topeople, which they utilize to make choices, draw inferences, and makechoices on the products they will buy.

WorksCited

Barber,Benjamin R. “Black Friday…Gray Thursday.” TheHuffing Post,2011.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-r-barber/black-fridaygray-thursday_b_74166.html.Accessed 4 April 2017.

Cave,Damien. “On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies!”WhatMatters in America: Reading and Writing about Contemporary Culture,edited by Gary Goshgarian, Pearson, 2012, pp. 111-115.

Kilbourne,Jean. “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.” Centerfor Media Literacy,no. 49, 1990.http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising.Accessed 4 April 2017.

Lutz,William. “With these Words I can Sell You Anything.” WhatMatters in America: Reading and Writing about Contemporary Culture,edited by Gary Goshgarian, Pearson, 2012, pp. 121-126.

O’Neill,Charles A. “The language of Advertising.” WhatMatters in America: Reading and Writing about Contemporary Culture,edited by Gary Goshgarian, Pearson, 2012, pp. 127-133.