Advertisements and its Relation to Societies and Cultures

Wherever a person goes; from any high class area in a city to a village in any underdeveloped country; one will be heavily surrounded by big billboards with advertisements. If one were to ride in an elevator they may find advertisements on the walls. While playing minigolf, one may bend down to pick up the ball from the hole and will see a brand name written on the golf ball and another written on the grass and one may even be in the hole (The Persuaders.PBS. Whether a person wants or not one is always at the whims of the advertisers. One can walk around blindfolded, but yet the things that they may hear on the radio, for example, are somehow affecting their willingness to buy certain products. Virtually an entire nation has surrendered itself wholesale to a medium of selling. The language and concept used by advertisers to hypnotize ones mind, somehow differentiates and separates different societies and culture.

Language encodes culture and behind the change of language; there is a change of culture. In the past, parent was considered as the decision makers and the sole authority was with them; may it be allowing their children to go out with friends or buying them their favorite toy. Thus, the advertisers used to target parents and grandparents in commercials and ads. For example ads about beer would be targeted at adults. Now the advertisers have realized that the real prize comes when they hook teens on these products. The culture of the new generation has taken a dramatic turn in the opposite direction of the generation of their parents. Things such as sit down family dinners have almost become obsolete now, compared to when our parents and grandparents would sit down at the table together everyday. The main reason leading ...

... middle of paper ...

... would rather prefer a natural thing than processed one. Thus, the commercial may say ‘keeps your skin healthy naturally’.

Words are symbolic of concepts. Advertising language may seem simple but it has got a whole meaning and culture behind it. Advertisers try and understand the concept and culture of the society and transform that in the shape of a commercial. Advertisements are always trying to show people the increasingly changing fashions. The goal of advertisements is to try make people believe that they are lagging behind in today’s culture. As Mark Edwards once said “if people were comfortable with who they were, they'd never buy any products except the ones they needed, and then where would the advertising industry be?” Thus, these cultural commercials have become part of societies, and this multibillionaire industry continues to expand and mesmerize people.