Commercialism And Advertising On The Internet - Essay Example

Commercialism And Advertising On The Internet 1. Introduction The advent of internet has broken all geographical barriers of the world and has changed the mode of operations in all walks of life. The field of education has been improved with the intervention of e-learning management systems. The world has never experienced such effective and efficient modes of communication as the ones that have been introduced by the internet. The business industry has also been revolutionized with the emergence of extensive degree of advertising on the web. As much as this change in the field of business has benefitted the industry, there have been few severe drawbacks such as users’ unpleasant internet experiences, awareness of inappropriate merchandizes to younger internet users and promotion of materialism in the societies. The bombardment of advertisement makes the users lose focus of their real intention of work on the internet and annoys them by frequent reinforcement messages. The younger internet users get awareness regarding inappropriate merchandizes and services, such as alcohol, adult bars etc. Online commercialism is aggravating the concepts related to materialistic ideas since these advertisements cannot be ignored by the internet users. 2. Degree of Commercialism on the Internet Internet has made the whole world come onto a single platform where businesses have the opportunity to access their local, as well as international clients with ease. The attraction of reaching a greater segment of customers on a global scale attracts the companies to prefer the online medium of advertising. According to an article in Business Wire by Goldberg and Silber, the first half of the year 2011 saw an increase of 23.2% in the internet ad revenues which amounted to approximately $15 billion. This figure identifies the inclination of companies towards the online commercialism and the degree to which it is increasing. The cheapness of online advertisements has given way to extensive forms of commercialism on the web. Such instances may result in making the user lose focus from his work and may simply waste his precious time. The problem does not end at the point of being annoyed by the frequent emergence of advertisements; it becomes a data storage issue for some users since they receive hefty emails regarding ad campaigns and promotional messages on their personal email addresses. It is due to such constant spam that people may not receive important emails since their inbox might reach maximum storage capacity. The exponential rate of increment of commercialism makes the online experience an unpleasant one since every user is compelled to view distracting messages in the midst of his time on the web. The internet has made it an ordeal for parents to monitor their children’s activities since any browsing guarding software does not prove to serve the purpose. Young minds can be distracted from fruitful activities to futile ones even more easily than the adults. Commercialism of different products (some of which might not be suitable for young users) harms the youth to an alarming level. Companies do not follow ethical code of conduct while pursuing commercialism on the web by thinking that some products and services might not be suitable for a certain age range. There can be adverse consequences of such greater degree of awareness and accessibility of inappropriate objects, such as lack of interest in education, mingling with inappropriate company and development of unhealthy habits. Internet began with limited, unattractive and smaller form of advertising. The eventual improvement of graphics and web development tools has given way to more attractive and integrated form of commercialism that cannot be ignored by the user. Therefore, it can be said that the promotion of certain products and services on the internet tempts the younger minds to be engaged in futile and dangerous activities. The advent of advertising in the past decades has aggravated at an incremental rate. The rate of commercialism has further been increased and promoted by the advent of the internet. The abundance of promotion of products and services on the web promotes the concept of materialism among users since the constant viewing of desirable objects and services tempts the users to buy them like their peers. According to figures given by Whitney in an article on CNet, the average rate of internet hours that are spent by an internet user is 13 hours per week. During these hours, the user usually gives undivided attention to the commercials and ad campaigns since the content is directly in front of the user, rather than a newspaper or billboard on a road. It is due to such reasons that online commercialism has an even greater impact on an internet user and he becomes a prey to materialistic thinking and approach towards life. 3. Conclusion It is almost impossible to survive in the modern world while staying aloof from the internet; however, the business industry has taken this concept to a new level. The transition of most of the advertising from the media and billboards to the internet has made the commercial messages harder to avoid. The global access of the internet attracts the businesses since they are able to cater to a wider customer segment. In the endeavors to attain greatest presence in the world as well as their respective local regions, businesses bombard the internet with their promotional messages. It is due to this bombardment that many internet users are not able to have a pleasant web experience; useful information is overshadowed by irrelevant and repetitive commercial messages. These messages even tend to waste time of the user. Every parent wishes to protect their offspring from inappropriate products and services; the widespread of ad campaigns of all kinds of products and services on the web gives the young minds unsuitable exposure and may lead them in the wrong direction. The constant reinforcement of products and services also induces materialistic thinking among the internet users; materialistic thinking makes a person greedy and may compel him to attain his desired objects at all costs. Therefore, it can be concluded that the aggravating commercialism on the internet is making the web experience an unpleasant one, drifting the young minds’ attention towards things that might be inappropriate for their age and inducing a materialistic thinking among the members of the societies. Work Cited Goldberg, Laura. Silber, Steven. “Internet Ad Revenues at Nearly $15 Billion in First-Half 2011, Up 23%, Second Quarter 2011 Breaks Record Again”, Business Wire, 28 Sep. 2011. Web. 6 Jan. 2012. Whitney, Laura. “Average Net user now online 13 hours per week”, CNet, 23 Dec. 2009. Web. 7 Jan. 2012. Read More