Couch Potato

1211 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of advertising

Sipping on a Coke that was left on the table the night before, I turn on the television and the latest installment of the Jerry Springer Show is on. A commercial break promptly follows after a few red necks stop brawling. An advertisement about Everest College comes on and begins to make me feel like anyone not getting a college education is wasting their life. Similar to this certain situation, advertisements are meant to stir a reaction and subconsciously tell viewers things about society. In this Everest College commercial, the ad was subconsciously making me believe that all of society was in school at that moment or already had their degree. Advertisements do not just sell a product. They are intended to sell viewers on how the rest of society behaves every day. While analyzing Everest College’s commercial, it is apparent that the ad sells how society negatively views minorities and degreeless adults because advertisements reflect what society believes is normal.
Showing different behaviors and ideas behind a product, advertisements sell viewers what is considered normal in society. In almost every public and private setting there are advertisements. In college classrooms there are ads along the walls. Driving home from school, I see billboards of awkward posing women in beer ads and television show premieres. In homes, people watch television and there are commercial breaks every five to ten minutes. Even in the most unexpected places, people will more than likely be able to find advertisements. Restrooms occasionally have advertisements posted above toilets or along the walls. As advertisements intrude into every aspect, they make statements about what society thinks is normal.
Using small or even obvious de...

... middle of paper ...

... beliefs about minorities. All of the details within the commercial are thoughtfully placed and specifically used in order to show what society thinks about minorities in order for their college to look appealing.
As advertisements continue to swarm and consume our daily lives, it is important we understand what these ads are actually selling us. If a person does not analyze advertisements carefully, they will ultimately have the biggest effect. It is important that society does not allow stereotyping commercials or idealized advertisements to control beliefs about what is normal. The Everest College commercial is just one of the many examples of how advertising can manipulate us to think a certain way towards different things such as race. Everyone should educate themselves about advertisements so that they do not fall prey to the manipulation by advertisers.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Robert Scholes On Reading A Video Text

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “On Reading a Video Text,” Robert Scholes discusses the idea of cultural reinforcement within television commercials. Scholes claims that television commercials remind viewers of their social whereabouts and displays their association with society. Commercials are played year around and people have the chance to view and form their own values and beliefs based on what they see. For instance, Scholes blatantly describes to his audience that the Budweiser commercial from the 80s focuses on more than just advertising their product; they try selling a message. Two and a half decades later Budweiser is at it again. In a recent Super Bowl commercial they focus in on a similar aspect, the American Dream. Only this time it is a little more

    Read More

  • Mark Edmundson Liberal Education Analysis

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    Judicious timing is preferred to sudden self-assertion. The TV medium is inhospitable to inspiration, improviproduct per se as show you what sort of person you will be once you’ve acquired it” (41).after seeing an ad on the tube about the colleges parent’s started to talk with their children about what school they would attend to after high school, the young adults was not sure where they were going to go; the parent’s would tell them what they had saw on the television and what schools would be great for them and how they would fit right in with their peers. With all the advertising that was happening they started to get students into their schools and classes was filling up fast, so parents would jump right in their car and drive to where ever the school was located and talk to advisories and see what would best fit their child’s needs; it’s like when you see a commercial on TV for clothes and food or how about a new movie that is coming out in the theaters you want to go see you are being influenced to go out and do or buy that item, so the question lies do consumerism have an impact on students

    Read More

  • Shock Treatment

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every company that has a product to sell wants to have their advertisements grab the attention of the potential buyer. Companies today are competing at high levels to come up with the advertisements that will be flashy and aggressive so consumers will become interested in their product. However, a commercial or an ad might not get the initial point across or cause many viewers to be confused when they see them. Sometimes, what the company is trying to do might offend people. Ethical lines may be walked upon so that the strong points can be presented to the consumer.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jack Solomon's Masters Of Desire: The Culture Of American Advertising

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans have long since depended on a falsified ideology of idealized life referred to as the American dream. The construct of this dream has become more elusive with the emergence of popular cultural advertisements that sell items promoting a highly gendered goal of achieving perfection. In “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising,” Jack Solomon states that ads are creating a “symbolic association between their products and what is most coveted by the consumer” to draw on the consumer’s desire to outwardly express high social standing (544). The American dream has sold the idea of equality between genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds, but advertisements have manipulated this concept entirely through representations

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Advertising Analysis

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    Advertisements are always around us. They are in every phone, every computer, the newspaper, and in every magazine. Advertisements are omnipotent and, similar to bothersome siblings, they are constantly reminding you that they exist. Advertisements always distract us and generally force you to look at them. Although we try not to look, our attention is always drawn to bright lights, the word free, or motion. It is these tactics that companies use to first grab your attention. From there, everything from the background color to the font that companies meticulously place serves an undeniable purpose to entice the customer and set them on a tunnel vision journey to buy their product. Whether it’s a new car, a new item at McDonalds, or a new beauty product, companies are always trying to grab your attention for money. For decades, the art of advertising is constantly evolving. They are always trying out new tactics to sell

    Read More

  • Rise Of The Image Culture Analysis

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever seen an advertisement for a product and could immediately relate to the subject or the product in that advertisement? Companies that sell products are always trying to find new and interesting ways to get buyers and get people’s attention. It has become a part of our society today to always have products being shown to them. As claimed in Elizabeth Thoman’s essay Rise of the Image Culture: Re-Imagining the American Dream, “…advertising offered instructions on how to dress, how to behave, how to appear to others in order to gain approval and avoid rejection”. This statement is true because most of the time buyers are persuaded by ads for certain products.

    Read More

  • What We Are To Advertising James Twitchell Analysis

    491 Words  | 1 Pages

    “What We are to Advertisers” by James B. Twitchell is a short article that emphasize how advertisement attracts audience magically. From the quote, “ Mass production means mass marketing, and mass marketing means the creation of mass stereotypes” James points out of how the world appear to be. The advertisers seems to be psychologically abuse to the public for them to be successful in their industry. Base on the way the society act, dress and thinks, we fantasize something ridiculous and only our imagination can only make it close to a reality. With that in mind, the industry of advertisements will immediately think of a way to try and sell their product to us.

    Read More

  • Dos Equis Advertisement Analysis

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Advertising is an ancient art. Sure, times have changed with the introduction of social media and all, but the game remains the same. Advertising is the release of paid information to the public that serves as a mean to persuade one to buy products, services and ideas, from the paying sponsor of course. As previously stated sponsors don’t just sell a product, they also persuade the public into buying in an idea. This concept is easy to understand when analyzing the famous “Dos Equis” beer advertisement. When first observed the advertisement seems to be just trying to persuade a consumer to purchase their beer, but when thoroughly analyzed the idea of racism, patriarchy and sexism is all too obvious. By altering the advertisement one not only

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A Commercial

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.

    Read More

  • Product placement

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    The culture that is prevalent in America is saturated with the commercials, images, and plugs for almost every consumer good available. It is so ingrained in to our culture that it often goes unnoticed by the conscious mind; that is not necessarily a good thing though, as that is one of the ways advertisers target consumers. Even the music industry has cashed in on the product placement with brand names embedded in songs, or even songs designed completely around getting a consumer to purchase specific products or brands. Music videos that are displayed on stations such as MTV and BET depict situations most people would love to be in, and in those images there are specific brands of goods that people assume will lead them to a life such as that one. Every day consumers are bombarded with almost fifteen minutes of commercial, program promos, and public service announcements, per one hour of network television. In addition they are subjected to almost eleven minutes of product placement (Campbell, Martin, & Fabos, 2013, pg. 321). With such an aggressive marketing strategy, almost half of the time spent watching popular programming is in fact some sort of product advertisement.

    Read More

  • Advertising: Modern Day Brainwashing

    3188 Words  | 7 Pages

    Advertisers and corporations are liable for using modern and sophisticated forms of mind control to the extent level of brainwashing consumers, in order to manipulate their choices and their spending habits. Our society is being negatively impacted, by becoming a consumer driven society constantly distracted by overwhelming persuasive advertisements, as opposed to ideal informative advertisements. The most vulnerable and negatively impacted targets of persuasive advertising are the younger, less mature, and/or less knowledgeable and self-directed consumers. Ironically, it was once said “An advertising agency is 85 percent confusion and 15% commission” (Allen). It is quite clear that social benefits are not part of this equation. The harm and severe social related costs far outweigh any economic growth and benefits deemed necessary for advertising and marketing companies.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Advertising On The Campus

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    To commence, the advertisements’ invasion into the campus includes different aspects of reasons. For example, according to Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor, who are the professor of Boston college and also the writers of “Every nook and cranny: the dangerous spread of commercialized culture” (2005), Channel one enters schools by offering free TVs to classrooms and the students are only required to watch two minutes’ ads before other programs. It is an effective way to tempt schools accept ads because they don’t need to spend money on TV which plays more necessary role in education and the only cost is students’ time, which seems a great deal overall in educational institutions’ view. Similarly, other commerci...

    Read More

  • Don T Drink And Drive Analysis

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Generally, advertisements are created to grasp the attention and awareness of the viewers. Print advertisements are meant to catch the attention of the target audiences with imagination, so that when they think of the ads it will influence them to act upon the message the advertisement portrays. A close look at print media advertisement highlights the social and cultural behaviors associated with traditional roles that are expected and portrayed on by society. Advertisements are strong assets of Western Culture, helping with and reinforcing aspects that are deemed necessary for people and the society. They have a strong role in shaping society by teaching, guiding, and perpetuating traditional societal values and attitudes towards

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Word Of Mouth Advertising

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    Advertising has been around for many years, developing and ranging from announcements, art, and handwritten material, to print, radio, television, and online. Regardless of the medium though, there has always been a common goal— to sell a product or service. In recent years however, Williams (1980) points out that advertising has “passed the frontier of selling goods and services and has become involved with the teaching of social and personal values” (p. 421). This is done by brands creating a look of a certain lifestyle for themselves and selling that look to consumers in a magical way (Williams, 1980). Advertisements for brands make consumers feel that if they buy a certain product they will feel a certain way and when people identify with

    Read More

  • The Power of Advertising

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    Advertising has been defined as the most powerful, persuasive, and manipulative tool that firms have to control consumers all over the world. It is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Its impacts created on the society throughout the years has been amazing, especially in this technology age. Influencing people’s habits, creating false needs, distorting the values and priorities of our society with sexism and feminism, advertising has become a poison snake ready to hunt his prey. However, on the other hand, advertising has had a positive effect as a help of the economy and society.

    Read More

More about Couch Potato

Open Document