Advertising: The Negative Implications And Consequences Of Advertising

Intro: According to Yeshin’s definition of advertising, it is a paid-for message from an “identified organisation” which gives information about a product or service in order to influence consumers (Yeshin, 18). In today’s society, we live in a place where advertising surrounds us physically and digitally. The discourse of advertising is one worthy of discussion as it brings forth both concerns of stereotypical portrayals, manipulative and persuasive messages, obsession with materialism, lack of information, and use of sex appeal (Yeshin, 18).

Thesis: Pollay’s statement about the negative consequences of advertising should be noted as it provides discussion whether or not advertising and its consequences are beneficial or detrimental. This

Para 1: Within Yeshin’s article, Pollay suggests that one of the reasons to why advertising has profound consequences for consumers is its use of sex appeal. Take for example Lynx’s marketing campaign in 2006 (The Lynx Effect). The advert illustrates several thousand woman in bikinis running through a forest and swimming through an ocean in order to get to a beach where we a man in board shorts heavily spraying himself with lynx. It is not until these women reach the man on the beach we see an aerial shot of the entire scenery of the beach and several thousand women where we see a dominating tag line over the shot which says “spray more, get more” (The Lynx Effect). This advert was the first of many marketing strategies from lynx which supports Pollay’s statement. Lynx’s advertising campaign also suggests the target market for their product – 18 to 25 year old males. Furthermore, Reichert notes that a woman’s body is a “common metaphor for sex” (Reichert, 273). Reichert continues on this notion of sex and how for young men, they are prone to “desires of the body” and are “inclined to pursue that relating to sex” (273). In suggesting this, Pollay’s statement is proved correct in the example of The Lynx Effect, as it commodifies women’s body by manipulating and persuading the target consumer to buy their product through sex