Advertising and society - Research Paper Example

Advertising and Society Advertising and Society Is advertisement one of the biggest causes of the psychological disintegration of our society? Perhaps it is. The proposition is not hard to understand if we start analyzing how and what advertisement works for. In the 21st century with the advancement of age, there has been a lot of new changes and the development of innumerous modern technology which has not only afforded the luxuries we have today but has also opened new doors to revolution. And on this structure of modernity, technology and change, rests the structure of our advertisement industry. Advertisement has not only shaped the way every individual of the society thinks and functions but by targeting the thought processes and actions of every individual, it has in essence ensnared our society in a binding net for it now controls the way our society works and functions. The advertisement industry is not to be taken lightly for it has affected the way humans and societies in general behave (Next Step Marketing, 2010). Advertisement started among the ancient Babylonian Empire and from there the rest was history. “The first evidence of advertising was found among the ancient Babylonian Empire and dates back to the 3000s BC.” Therefore advertisement has systematically worked its way up the ladder of human consciousness and taken many years to attain the status it has today –that of a potentially influential medium (Hayko, 2010). Many psychologists and scholars believe that advertising has affected our society in shocking ways. For years they have studied the mental and emotional affects it can trigger in individuals and in turn the society at large. This has long been a very heated discussion that has a lot of facets to it. However, the ways in which advertising affects our society have been both negative and positive and have been fundamental to the advertising industry. The advertisement industry lives to sell itself. This is the main focal point of the entire hubbub in the media and the cashing of various products and ads. Without this primary and hunter-like objective, the advertisement industry would not be able to gain as much profit as it does now through deception and mockery. Through this instinct for survival and the ‘subliminally stimulated patterns the advertisement industry has adopted in order to ensnare more and more customers to buy their products (Hayko, 2010). However, in order to understand the workings of advertising, we need to discuss the pros and cons of the advertisement industry in order to see how they mirror our society. There are good and bad factors in every arena yet the advertisement industry is notorious for its ill effects on the people and hence the society. Advertisements are designed to attract the customer’s attention, to elicit a response and to change and command their behaviors. This factor has been talked about in length by the intellectual scientist, Mark Changizi, in his recent research in which he discusses how the ads try to sneak into the unconsciousness of the customer and therefore affect his attitude and behavior. He also talks about how repeated exposure to some advertisements results in the customer’s ability to not give much credit to those ads and how the manipulating advertising industry has seen through this, thus they have come up with new, subtle ways to work diligently to incorporate the desire for a certain product in the unconsciousness of the customer without him realizing this trickery –because the good old jingle on the television just does not work anymore (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2008). Because of this trickery, the advertising industry rolls in gold for by resorting to such tactics by hiring specialists, who formulate such ways to trap the customers they are able to cash in through the instilled desires of the customers. Advertisements target that segment of the society who is easier to emotionally manipulate, namely women and children. Most of the consumerist and capitalist industries target the fashion industry for example, which is an excellent avenue for cashing in the insecurities of women. First these insecurities are injected by portraying the concept of an ideal woman –a stage is set up and the goddess is shown. The rest of the play comprises of all the women trying to do anything and everything to become that goddess –which never happens in reality. In the same way children are targeted with fantastical stories. For example, children love cartoons and Disney characters. Whenever something needs to be sold, it is an excellent strategy to churn out a figure of that cartoon character with that product. Hence the idea, that if Mickey has it, so must I! But where does all this lead to? What is the point we are trying to make? And how does this psychologically disintegrate out society? The answer is plain and simple; advertising industry has not only introduced materialism but it has also fashioned a deep loss of inner happiness and contentment from individuals which has resulted in them becoming instable individuals of the society. Advertising has not only resorted to playing with the customers but it has also embarked on a journey of ‘brain surgery’ by manipulating the ideas of real life situations. What happens in the end is that people are confused, have disjointed ideas about reality and what it should be like –and eventually all of this culminates into a society that is barbaric and hungry and unable to sustain itself (Hayko, 2010). In an article “Advertising, Marketing and Media” on Next Step Marketing –a popular marketing website – the author states “it can be argued that advertising adapts and mirrors societal trends.” He explains that advertising works in a feedback loop and that while it is said that it feeds into the society, it is also fed by the society. The example the article gives are many. For instance, how the general trend of the society to rush to Facebook and other social media networking platforms has resulted in the advertisers and brands making Facebook pages for their companies. This means that a trend by the society –which is internet following - has resulted in advertisements following the internet too and using jargon and words commonly seen in the cyberspace. However while this is what the article says, for the purposes of this paper, perhaps it can be argued differently and said that advertisements mirror the society in order to gain advantage of the society once again. While on one hand they introduce trends and norms, they also follow the trends and norms already set, just to bend them again according to their will and advantages. This result in the advertising agencies once again influencing these already set trends, and thus in turn the people and their psychology as well. Everything is once again about materialism, injected wants and false desires (Next Step Marketing, 2010). Another way advertising negatively influences a society is that it raises the prices. Without advertisements, prices of the products would perhaps be much lower. However advertisements create brands and ‘images’ –and once these are created, it automatically means that the product is pricey. Because how advertisement works is by creating a familiarity with a name, and the unsaid rule states that the familiar is cooler and more expensive, while the unknown is a nobody and cheap. This is why people feel they need to associate themselves with a brand name as well to feel like somebody. When this does not happen it creates a general discontent. It also creates a frustration with one’s economic situation. People constantly want to earn more to buy more and when they buy more, then earn more again, thus getting trapped in a vicious cycle (Friedman). To conclude advertisement might be beneficial to the capitalists with their profit-making policies. However to the society, it is extremely detrimental –for it robs the individuals of their psychological well-being and makes them instable and insatiable. All this at the end culminates in the society falling apart. Therefore, it can be said that one of the biggest drawbacks of the modern world is the media and advertisement. While it has helped in some cases, it has done more harm and has proven to be the very anti-thesis of the society it was trying to create when advertisement first became the norm after industrial revolution –which was to make products that make life better, available to all. It has created a class difference and a psychological instability, both (Next Step Marketing, 2010). In a nutshell, advertisement is subtly eating away at the very roots of our society, gnawing at the values on which once our society’s structure stood sound. Annotated Bibliography 1. Effects of Unconscious Exposure to Advertisements by RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. SCIENCE NEWS. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209125828.htm This study is based on a new research which was led by the cognitive scientist, Mark Changizi, of Rensselear Polytechnic Institute. In his research, Changizi focuses on the effects of relentless exposure to ads which primarily develops the consumer’s penchant for these ads but gradually that preference decelerates. He argues that the most operative ads are the ones which penetrate the consumer’s unconsciousness and instill a strong likeness for that particular good without him realizing. This article does not explain the significance of this study and is full of repetitions about over exposure to ads. However, it sure gives an insight into the inner workings of formulating ads so as to catch the customer’s eye and attain maximum profit for the advertisement industry and therefore how targeting the customer in return affects the society. 2. Effects of Advertising on Society: A Literary Review by GOLDIE HAYKO. HOHONU - A JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC WRITING: http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/documents/Vol08x16EffectsofAdvertisingonSociety.pdf This article cum journal entry throws light on the pros and cons of advertisement and how advertisement in general affects our society at large. However, it talks more about the pessimistic aspect of advertisement on the society than the optimistic aspect. Despite the simultaneous discussion of both good and bad phases of advertisement, the article culminates with the statement that advertisements play an important role in our society for they turn the direction of the human brain and despite all the references, it cannot be said with certainty that they play either a negative role wholly or a positive role on our society for this whole advertisement agenda and its policies are quite intricate and have been framed by experts in their fields. 3. Advertising and Society by PROFESSOR HERSHEY FRIEDMAN ACADEMIC BROOKLYN. academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/.../ADVDMKTopic2.doc These lecture notes, on Professor Hershey Friedman’s class, enlist the effects of advertising on the society. Beginning with the rhetorical question ‘advertisement is wasteful –why is it needed?’ and the issuance of the statement that ads are generally deceptive in the middle, these lecture notes continue further to talk about the very deception and mockery of the ads. In addition it takes the so-called glamour of the ads which is in truth a sham by the scruff of the neck and stretches it further till the very end. The lecture must have been very insightful for the lecture notes are very informative and helpful when it comes to researching the consequences of advertising on the society but since the notes are enlisted in points, they are broken and at places do not make sense. However, they give the reader the overall gist and provide him ample material for his research. 4. Advertising, Marketing and Media -The Industry from a digital perspective NEXT STEP MARKETING. http://www.nextstepmarketing.com.au/articles/advertising/does-advertising-shape-or-mirror-society/ This article mainly focuses on the question that does advertising shape societies or not? Throughout its length, it demonstrates through various examples and points how advertising shapes the minds of the individuals by inculcating in them a desire to buy a certain product. It then goes on to explain that in truth, advertising does not just shape a society, it actually mirrors a society. By referring to the recent times, where modern technology has acted as a booster for advertising, this article depicts that media and marketing has played a crucial role in the advertising industry and that to survive, advertising must change and adapt to individual cultures and societies. Step 3 Position: Advertising is one of the biggest causes of the psychological disintegration of our society. Reason 1: It injects false desires in people’s subconscious, changing their values and morals. Reason 2: It makes them discontented, materialistic and greedy. Raising economic standards, it creates a vicious race to earn more and more. Support 1: Research article by the scientist Mark Changizi in which he argues that the most operative ads are the ones which penetrates the consumer’s unconsciousness and instill a strong likeness for that particular good without him realizing. Support 2: Professor Hershey Friedman’s notes claim that advertisements raise prices and without advertisements, prices would be lower. Address Opposition 1: Opposition: Advertisements are not always feeding into the society, but they are also fed by the society. Hence this mirrors societal trends. Addressed by argument:- Advertisements mirror societal trends only to try to influence them and change them according to their benefits. Address opposition 2: Advertisements do not affect prices Addressed by:- Without advertisements prices would be lower because advertisements create a brand familiarity and that raises prices. Connect back to claim 1: False desires make people unfulfilled and driven to fulfill them. When they are not fulfilled, they become instable and hence ineffective members of the society –resulting in an overall disintegration. Connect back to claim 2: Greed and loss of moral values also contributes to the disintegration. Read More