Advertisements promote drunk driving by youths - Admission/Application Essay Example

Youths are driven to consume alcoholic beverages due to the clever practices of marketing from beer and alcohol manufacturers.It seems that these producers are able to skirt regulatory restrictions by masking such advertisements with crafty language and playing on youth peer affiliation trends to gain loyalty. Thus, the promotion of drunk driving is an outcome of these efforts toward profitability. Advertisements Promote Drunk Driving by Youths “The youth market is considered to be one of the most cynical that brand owners can hope to crack” (Forsey, 2009, p.21). Because youths are known to have constantly-changing trends and fashions (Hargrave-Silk), advertisers must come up with innovative advertising concepts that are directly related to their current attitudes and lifestyle preferences.

It is well-known that alcoholic beverage advertising, when directly aimed at youths, is facing constant regulations from governmental sources and other regulatory bodies, thus they become more clever and subliminal in this effort to reach youths, especially when considering alcoholic beverage marketing. Youths are also known to be driven to make purchases as it relates to their favorite idols (Hargrave-Silk, 2004), which does not necessarily always mean celebrities and sports stars. In some cases, idolization comes in the form of adoration for automobiles and clothing for a very trend-conscious youth generation.

Advertisers understand this and therefore they are able to take a new approach to getting youths to buy alcoholic beverages, while also skirting regulatory forces and still getting their message across to the target market they desire most: youth buyers. The advertisement selected is one for beer products, showing the product with a catch phrase “America’s Favorite Six Cylinders”, thus relating the product directly to their values and idolization as it comes to automobile devotion and respect.

Knowing that youths are driven to make purchases with values related to fast cars and trendy clothing, the beer advertisers create a positive connection between lifestyle and product, thus ensuring that youths will be turned on toward making purchases for the beer products. In psychology, there is a theory of motivation that was offered by Abraham Maslow in which youths require a sense of belonging with their peer networks in order to fully develop their own sense of self-esteem. Affiliation “produces feelings of self-confidence, prestige, power and control” (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003, p.145). It is one of the most primary needs of youths in order to become fully actualized and valuable contributors to society with a healthy sense of well-being into adulthood.

Advertisers, such as those selected in the beer ad, play on these emotional needs in order to motivate youths to make purchases of products that are regulated on the consumer market. Advertisers know that youths are drawn to hot cars, as has already been mentioned, and therefore they are able to use ad slogans that directly relate to their current way of life. Advertisements tell youths that they should value, basically, whatever the marketing entity believes and then adopt these values when considering what products to purchase.

First, statistics illustrate that over 74 percent of today’s high school students have engaged in at least one alcoholic beverage before they reach the age of adulthood (AAFP, 2011). Marketers keep aware of these statistics and trends and, when they believe that statistics favor their ability to gain more consumer attention, they know what type of language to utilize in order to gain their long-term loyalty. Coupled with the youth tendency to behave according to their own social networks, under belonging theory proposed by Maslow, they are successful in motivating new youth behaviors that can be detrimental to their health and well-being.

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