Advertising Manipulates People

In our society, we are constantly surrounded by advertising. From the time our alarm clock wakes us up in the morning until we set it at night, our brains are bombarded with advertisements. Ads play a huge role in our lives, telling us what to buy, what car to drive, how our families should interact, and what we should look like. The business of Advertising is built on persuasion. Advertisements attempt to persuade us that we are not rich enough, pretty enough, thin enough, family oriented enough, and the list goes on. To put it more clearly, the advertising empire is built on the exploitation of the fears of the American people. They take the knowledge of our fears and attempt to convince us that if we buy their product, we will achieve all the things we need to attain perfection.

The possessing of material goods and wealth as a determinate of our status and self-worth is a huge emphasis of advertising. It works by convincing people that the amount of money they have, and the quality of the goods that they own will gain them social acceptance. Advertising is then exploiting a persons fear of rejection. We are constantly being bombarded with images of famous people in designer clothing, driving expensive cars, and living in enormous mansions. We are taught that this is a portrait of success, and to be happy you must be successful. Therefore, the possession of these items will endow the possessor with happiness. The rich and famous are viewed as the most socially acceptable persons in our world. Advertising uses the images of these famous people to convince the rest of us average Americans that we need to buy all of the things that the celebrities have in order to be accepted and consequently happy. This is why celebrity endors...

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...er and get along better if once a week you sit down at the table and play one of their games together. I mean, what else unites a family better than a good game of chutes and ladders? People are so afraid of having a “dysfunctional” or imperfect family that they will go as far as spending money on things they do not need in order to achieve this ideal. Once again, advertising has accomplished its goal.

Advertising is a complex industry, focused on the selling of products by convincing people that they need them. It is a business that manipulates people in order to accomplish its goals, which it does quite effectively. Our society is one with many fears, and because of this advertising will continue to find new and different ways of exploiting them in order to market their goods. And as long as the American people continue to buy into it, they will be successful