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Team #1 Professor Deol English 101 11 October 2011 Advertisements Corrupting the Youth Advertisements use to be something you could walk by and ignore, or something annoying that got in the way of your program. Today advertisements appeal more to the younger viewers, by making them seem interesting, making you laugh, or showing something sexual. Ads back in the old days were used to show that the American lifestyle still existed, when America was going through its problems. They were used to catch the peoples attention with a nice looking picture or a quick slogan. When ads were commercialized on television it got right to the point of what the commercial was trying to sell to the general audience. Television and magazines were very simplistic with ads, everyone knew its intention. Today both show different types of advertisements that dont only get your attention, but also corrupt the young minds that see it. Television now has 30 second time limit and it can take a while before the commercial gets to the point of what product its trying to sell. What makes todays advertisements so different from the past ones, is that they can be very inappropriate for children to view. There are many innuendos used in the advertisements that send the wrong message out to those who see it. Some commercials make negative things look like its a good thing to do. The seller might think its a comedic form to catch the attention of the audience, but it does the opposite for the ones its not intended to. Advertisements corrupt youths minds while trying to sell their products. Todays advertisements use a lot of sex appeal to sell a product. This type of advertising can corrupt childrens minds. For example in 2005, Carls Jr. released a commercial advertising

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a spicy bbq burger with Paris Hilton sexually washing a Bentley, not to mention her own body. Its not until shes done provocatively grinding on the car that they show the burger, which only appears for a few seconds. Paris Hilton washing a car has no association with a burger. This is just using the sex sells method to try to promote a product. Another example is Tag body spray commercials. In their Mom commercial, the teenager is picking up his girlfriend for a date, while she is getting ready upstairs the mom greets him and asks him to come in. As soon as he passes her, she smells the body spray and instantly is attracted to him, and starts flirting and invading his personal space, as she tries to seduce him. Then a warning label appears that reads, The makers of TAG body spray cannot be held liable if product is worn in the vicinity of your girlfriends mother, your girlfriends mothers friends, your girlfriends friends or any combination of the words FRIEND, GIRL, and/or MOTHER that we forgot. This commercial is manipulating guys to buy this product, because they think girls will want them more. Commercials like these are distorting childrens views of gender roles in the society as they are growing up. Most children will grow up becoming what society wants them to be, rather than who they truly are inside. (Devor) Secondly, grabbing the young mind of a child to manipulate them to ask their parents for a product is a way companies try to sell their products. A way that companies try to market their brands is by using cartoon characters on their products. Spongebob Squarepants is a brief example of a cartoon character being used to sell products. The character is labeled onto cereal boxes, yogurts, ice cream, and even juices. The child sees the commercial, and when they are at the store with their parents, they will recognize the product causing them to ask for it. This manipulates the children to want things that they wouldnt normally want, just because a popular character is on the product. Using cartoon characters isnt the only way of getting a child's

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attention. Psychologist have teamed up with companies to help them market in a different way (Goodwin). Slogans that stick to your head will make people remember the product. The Oscar Mayer Company has been doing this for a long time (Shilcutt). Most Americans know the bologna jingle created in the 70s, My bologna has a first name its O-S-C-A-R.... which has people singing it at random times. The youth will catch onto this quickly because they are used in the commercial to sell the product. Causing it to be implanted into their brains and sing it over and over. Both families and children are targeted when advertising. Children are the main target with hopes that maybe they can influence their parents to buy them what they want. Also, Alcohol advertisements are another example of corrupting advertisements. For example, one alcohol advertisement uses an animated polar bear. The bear in the advertisement is smiling and looks as if he is reaching out handing you the beer. A polar bear and a beer have no relation to one another; it's just another way for a company to sell you their product. Advertisements for alcohol should not have animated animals because a cartoon polar bear has more appeal to a younger viewer than it does an older viewer. Animated animals are not the only corrupting type of advertisement a company uses. Many alcohol advertisements portray happy smiling people or extraordinary men in their ads. If you take the Dos Equis commercial for example it shows a man that is great at everything and when he chooses to drink he chooses Dos Equis. While many alcohol advertisements succeed in portraying a false positive image, they fail to mention harmful side-effects. Alcohol can lead to serious illnesses. Minor side effects include hangovers, weight gain, and vomiting. Major side effects of alcohol include high blood pressure, Cancer, liver disease and possible respiratory failure (Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse). There are too many alcohol advertisements that are misleading and corrupting.

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Furthermore, advertisements corrupt youth by using slim women and strong well-built men on magazines. Most magazines always try to attract customers through the use of these types of models. It has been almost 9 out 10 times that when I look trough magazines I see a lean beautiful girl or a beefy handsome man. For instance, clothing apparel advertisements use this strategy. The brand Guess, for example, always has a strong man with a slender woman in their advertisements. Another example is Hollister, which also uses slim women and muscular men to advertise their clothing. Thanks to these advertisements young women believe that to be beautiful you need to be thin and for young men, you need to be strong and have a muscular body. What these magazines dont realize, is that by using this type of strategy they can influence young peoples minds and have a dreadful effect in their lives. 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of a perfect body shape, (Media Influence on Youth). Youth can be easily influenced by what they see. Having all these models in magazines unintentionally makes young people want to be like them. Most women feel the need to be thinner because they think that being thin is a synonym of beauty. Western culture and media present images of thin women as being beautiful and desirable... (Why Are Men Anorexic). Advertisements have changed over the years, and although it might not be intentional, they are affecting our youth. Many of these negative advertisements are found all around us from childrens cereal boxes to adult beverages. When advertisement agencies try to sell products they can sometimes confuse and even manipulate the childrens mind. This is devastating because our youth will grow up wanting to be the ideal image that society portrays, rather than being an independent individual. The difference between commercials and television shows, is that on television you know exactly what youre watching and can stop children from watching

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something inappropriate, but for commercials, they appear at random and you never know what they are going to be about.

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Works Cited Devor, Aaron H. "Becoming Memebers of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender." Rereading America. Boston: Bedford/st Martins, 2004. 424-31. Print "Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse." UNC School of Medicine. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://med.unc.edu/alcohol/prevention/health.html>. Goodwin, C.J. (1999). Applying the new psychology: Applying psychology to business. A History of Modern Psychology (pp. 242). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Media Influence on Youth April 2011. Crisis Connection Inc. October 8, 2011. <http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm> Shilcutt, Katharine. "My Bologna Has a First Name: It's F-O-R-G-O-T-T-E-N - Houston Restaurants and Dining - Eating Our Words." The Houston Press Blogs. Houston Press, 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2011/08/my_bologna_has_a_first_name_it. php>. Why Are Men Anorexic June 2011. Eating Disorder Help. October 8, 2011. <http://www.mirror-mirror.org/why-are-men-anorexic.htm>