Impact of American TV Series on Young Adult Females - Essay Example

A review of the literature indicates that consumerism has affected western parts of the world greatly (Paek and Pan 2009, pp.494-501). With more access to social media and exposure to advertisements, today’s youth are receiving an overwhelming amount of information. Besides leisure choices, Television is molding their day-to-day preferences and trying to influence them to adopt a certain unrealistic lifestyle as they view in their favorite TV series. Another major theme is the unhealthy influence of media on health and personality-building decisions. Be it an attempt to follow an unhealthy lifestyle, acting like an adult, or having an access to recently branded goods, there is a constant comparison between real lives and what is being portrayed on the TV (Toffoletti, 2008, pp.72-5; McRobbie, 2008, pp.534-42). On the contrary, these TV shows provide an opportunity to view how certain characters exhibit an ideal behavior in difficult situations which can be learned by the audience (Hill 2011, pp.354- 357).
Consumerism has affected spending patterns and buyer’s behaviors significantly all around the globe. The era’s prominent brands occupy a major market share by strategizing techniques that appeal to the youth. This is despite buyers’ prior awareness of the fact that advertisements only show the brands that they want viewers to buy. The effort to induce positive perception in the consumers is so overwhelming that it tends to affect the decisions of even the most knowledgeable buyers (Romeo, 2009, pp.18-25). The Television sector is not far behind in this race and they also strive to increase their viewership. Television is a powerful medium that reaches billions of viewers daily (Turow, 2005, pp.105-113). Trends introduced through this medium affect millions of young viewers on daily basis (Spalding, 2010). An upcoming trend that continues to gain prominence over traditional television commercials is marketing brands in television series or movies; whereby, big corporations avail their products to actors in a television series as part of costume and decor as a marketing strategy as is the case in the TV series Gossip Girl.