Exploring Advertising's Impact on Our Society - Research Paper Example

?Topic:  Research paper on exploring advertising's impact on our society Introduction Advertisement is all round! With the advent of sophisticated mass media and technology the advertisement field has become leaders in marketing products. Nowadays, advertisement is channeled to people through every form of communication medium including television, internet, video games, radio, cell phone, movies, Mp3 players and DVDs. The groups which are largely affected by advertisement are the children in the age range of 12 and under. Advertisement targets children with their skillful use of flashy graphics, animated videos and catchy phrases. Children being constantly exposed to television watching, newspaper reading and listening to radio, fall prey to such captivating advertisements. Moreover with the launch of face book and Twitter, the communication process has become more influencing than ever. The Advertising media’s influence on children has created a new social type in the society. Everywhere in the world, the largest audience of television is the children in young age group. “Children are a captive audience: The average American child watches an estimate between 25,000 to 40,000 television commercials per year. In the UK, it is about 10,000”.The Advertisers employ children who are popular in their advertisements in order to catch young people’s attention .The aim of advertisers is to develop a brand loyalty with the children as they can persuade the parents to buy their products .The brand loyalty once created with a child will remain throughout their lives. According to (O’reilly, pg.248)“ Corporations spend approximately $ 17 billion each year for marketing to children”. The main reason for advertiser’s to target children is because of the influence they have on their father and mother. The Current Phenomenon of Advertising The concept of advertising emerged as a process to influence the behavior and attitudes of a person in favor of the products of a company. Nowadays, we can find advertisement in every place we come in contact with. The main point of channelizing advertisements is newspapers, television channels, internet and radio. The main objective of advertising is to create desire and interest in targeted people. Today the advertising which appear on internet and television are much shorter but extremely attention seeking. As per (Janoschka ,pg.12)“ Today advertising must employ a variety of strategies in reactions to new conditions of communications, diversified markets and customers. Today the market is customer – oriented and advertisement is the sole method by which products enter the market. Now it is a normal practice to employ various gimmicks in advertisement to widen the customer market and beat competition. At present the media is overloaded with information and people are suffocated with product knowledge. The overload of information means there is excess of information to be interpreted and processed .The information released by the advertising media is so wide- ranging and comprehensive that it becomes difficult for people to retrieve it.Morever, the emergence of internet has made advertising so rampant that it is difficult to ignore or avoid it. Due to increase in market segmentation the variety of products launched and marketed is enormous. The advertising instruments used to market products also get diversified and the primary source of advertisement is newspaper, then radio, television and internet. The Primary Target of Advertising At present, the advertising media is not targeted towards adults but on children who are aged 12 and under. The advertisers have discovered a huge potential in children and formulate much of their advertising strategies keeping them in mind. This surge in children – oriented marketing developed a couple of decades ago and now turned into a massive industry. The main reason behind it is that the children molded as a potential customer would later be loyal to the product continuously. It is easy for an advertiser to establish brand loyalty in children as they are innocent and unable to analyze the vice and virtue of a product. According to (AAP, 2006,pg .2563-69)“Research has shown that young children—younger than 8 years—are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising. Children do not understand the notion of intent to sell and frequently accept advertising claims at face value”. At the tender age, children absorb the information of advertisement in its crude form and get persuaded by it. In his article (Markman,2010,)claims that “The reason that we accept all this advertising is that we assume that we can tune most of it out. If we don't pay attention to the ads, then they won't have that much of an effect on our behavior”. More the advertisement is broadcasted through different mediums higher is its effect on children. Moreover, the influence of advertising on children is large and consequently they effortlessly persuade their parents to buy the advertised products. The Marketing Techniques of Advertisers The advertising media utilizes many ideas and concept to catch the attention of young children. One of the popular techniques is incorporating the theme of fantasy in to advertisements. In his article (Hwang,2009)mentions that “The first technique is the use of cartoon characters. The term 'cartoon characters' means interesting characters children have known. Well-known characters, such as heroes of animation movies, comics and novels, are often used to attract children's attention”. They merge fantasy with cartoon and comic characters in advertisement to move the mind of children. Only an exceptionally visually effective advertisement can successfully capture the young minds. For eg. The comic characters like superman and batman are portrayed in the advertisement of noodles and candies to make it more appealing. Most of these techniques employed are misleading and distort the thinking capability of children. The children cannot judge the actual performance, size or action of a product due to the effect of exaggeration, fantasy and animation. It is an often practice in advertisement to enlarge the products larger than life to intimidate the children. The use of special effect, metaphors, celebrities and specific appeals has become a common practice in advertising media to entice young children. The buying power of young children is powerful and this is why advertisers solely target them as potential buyers. Children unlike elders, does not think twice or evaluate the product benefits before buying them. Especially when it comes to toys, the size is mostly enlarged to motivate the children to buy it. (pg.48)“Toy advertising in particular is open to criticism that the reality of the product might not live up to its advertised image” . The children in younger age do not have the cognitive ability to analyze the difference between theatrical special effect and reality. This lack of ability in children is utilized maximum by the advertisers. Such exaggeration when fuelled with animation and fantasy ignites the desire of children. This misleading tactics like puffery and imagination is employed in advertisement to get utmost benefit out of children. As children once get attracted, persuade their parents immediately to buy the particular product. Parents believe that children are too vulnerable to such advertisement which ultimately makes them addicted to many products. According to (Oswald ,pg.119)“ At each point of contact between the brand and the child’s fantasy, the advertisement builds consumer identification with the brand world”. This kind of magic and exaggeration is mostly used in case of food products especially in fast food. It is usual to see a fast food chain to promote their food products to children with an offer of toy or a doll. In an attempt to obtain the toys the children persist on buying that fast food, which in real is a wastage of money and damage to health. Many a times, parents feel helpless in front of children who are excessively obsessed by these mind boggling advertisements. The adamant nature of children mostly persuade the parents in buying products which otherwise are less beneficial. The Consequences of Advertising on Young children The advertising media acknowledge the growing stages of children and construct advertisement to suit the cognitive ability of each group. The advertisers involve promotion activities to encourage every age group. The worst consequences of advertisement are that the children get addicted to products which are harmful to them. This is fairly applicable in case of food products, tobacco and alcohol. In his book (Socha,2009,pg.221) writes that “The Academy of Pediatrics identifies that tobacco, alcohol and food advertising have the greatest negative impact on young audiences”. Such an immediate effect of advertisement on the children can motivate them to consume alcohol or get addicted to smoking at an early age. Many children who are early smokers and alcoholic nurtured these ideas from media. The advertising can transform a child in to more materialistic, rebellious, obsessive and socially conflicting. These advertisements also make children to be less controllable by parents. The children can gradually get addicted to many harmful products and become compulsive consumers. The parents do consider media advertisement as a potential threat to children but they hardly try to live without it. The media has become an integral part of our lives and this is the same reason for the success of an advertisement. Many a times, parents along with children are victims to the imaginative advertisement techniques. The advertisers study the impulsive behavior of children and manipulate it with animated advertisements. How to Fight Advertisement’s Influence on Children The media and advertisement is everywhere and our life is practically media saturated .The first and primary source of information to children are media and thus the influence it has on them is significant. However, parents play a significant role in shaping the behavioral pattern of a child. Parents can act as a strong buffer between the advertising message and children. It is essential for parents to realize that their children can influence them most often. The children who are encouraged by advertisement buy products solely with the assistance of parents. Many parents feel reluctant to object to whims and fancies of their children. Children do not evaluate the cost of a product and parents are resulted to spend highly on many products advertised. According to (Media Awareness Network)“Parents of young children have an important role to play in protecting their kids from invasive marketing and in educating them about advertising from an early age”. The media inputs certain social values in to the children like consumerism. This is further accelerated with the assistance from parents who help children in buying the products. The exposure to different products persuades children to buy things which parents find objectionable. If the child is taught at a very early age about the exaggeration and special effect of advertisement, then a lot could be done to distract the child from obnoxious advertisements. Conclusion The advertisements are not completely destructive as they provide people with information on new products and services. But when it is combined with misleading tactics and imaginary elements to sell a harmful product then it takes a backseat. Often advertisers promote products like automobiles to children to persuade them to buy it. Such unnecessary practices make advertisement damaging and provocative. Advertisers should make sure that they do not convert the social value and beliefs of a society. Every product should be productive and aim at well being of people. As per (Story,2004,pg.1-3)“It is estimated that over $1 billion is spent on media advertising to children, mostly on television. In addition, over $4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted promotions such as premiums, sampling, coupons, contests, and sweepstakes”. If the advertisers channelize this money in to a productive marketing then the society could be saved from manipulation. The marketers take advantage of the innocence of children in an unfair manner. The problem lies in advertisers marketing the toys and food products which are high in fat and sugar. The media is a communication method and they have an ethic of selling a product which is usable and healthy to public. It is mandatory for marketers to evaluate their marketing strategies considering the potential effect it has on the public. Instead of investing exorbitant amount of money on wasteful advertisement, the marketers should promote ideas and concept which are informative to young generation. Advertising is a powerful tool of communication and if used in a productive manner could change the world for good. Bibliography AAP.Children, Adolescents, and Advertising. (2006, December 1). Pediatrics, 118(6), 2563-69.. Gunter, B. (2005). Advertising to children on TV: content, impact, and regulation (p. 48). New Jersey: Routledge. Hwang, J. Y. (2009). The Advertising Techniques Used to Target Children. In JY Films. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://jyhwang.blogspot.com/2007/01/advertising-techniques-used-to-target.html Janoschka, A. (2004). Web advertising: new forms of communication on the Internet (p. 12). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Markman, A. (2010, August 31). What does advertising do?. In Psychology Today. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201008/what-does-advertising-do Media Awareness Network .Special Issues for Young Children (2010). In Media Awareness Network. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/issues_kids_marketing.cfm Oswald, L. R. (2012). Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value (p. 119). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shah, A. (2010, November 21). Children as Consumers. In Global Issues. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.globalissues.org/article/237/children-as-consumers. Story, M. (2004, February 10). Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 1(3), 1-3. Socha, T. J. (2009). Parents and children communicating with society: managing relationships outside of home (p. 221). New York: Routledge. Read More