Advertisements are used to promote certain products and services. Therefore, advertisements are used to create awareness to the public about products and services that are available in the market. They also inform the public on how and where to get the advertised products. Advertisements are used to capture the attention of the public. This is in order for the public to accept these products and services. The message that is passed by these advertisements is usually controlled. That is advertisements are used to convey certain messages which are intended for the public. These messages affect and change the attitude of the public about the products and services that are advertised. Advertisements manipulate the public in order to increase their sales. This kind of situation therefore can lead to consumerism. This is a situation whereby one unquestionably accepts goods, services, and ideas. The acceptance of these things normally leads to family disunity, financial drain, and a generally weakened nation/society.
This is a result of what advertisements or mass media tell people to do and believe. This situation can further lead to materialism, a condition whereby people want to acquire possessions and wealth regardless of ethical or spiritual considerations. This is because of the promising slogans that are normally in the advertisements. For instance, they promise to give people fulfillment and happiness. Therefore these advertisements persuade people to get the “need” regardless of there being a genuine need for security, sustenance, or safety. Advertisement can cause people to choose materialism over self-restraint. But the question to ask is whether these goods bring satisfaction or fulfillment that is said by these advertisements. People seem to be losing focus on what is important. As consumers of the products and services offered, we are supposed to be very careful in order to know the deceptive advertisements. The concept of consumption is very important when it comes to advertisements. These advertisements are intended for the consumers (people who will need and use certain products and services). Advertising can therefore make consumers look greedy. They tend to create a situation whereby the consumer wants more and more.
One technique that is used by many advertising firms is the concept of fear and inclusion. The term inclusion is used to mean, to embrace all people regardless of their gender, race medical disability, or any other need. Whereas fear is a form of threat used in order to stimulate a change of attitude, this is not necessarily a conscious action, most of the time it is an unconscious action. Many advertisements try to play on our unconscious feelings. For instance, the fear of not fitting into a certain group can really bother youths. Fitting into certain groups is very important to the youths. So any advertisement that might help the youth to fit in is taken as the truth. For instance, if wearing certain clothes from certain designers is advertised as what will make one popular, then every youth will want to buy his/her clothes from that company.
This form of advertisement usually uses the fears of the youth by making certain things more desirable than others. (Fredric, 1994) So the youth are fearful that if they do not buy these kinds of clothes then they will not be popular. Using fear is one way of persuading the youth to buy the advertised products. Advertisements are used in order to increase sales so they attack the weak points of the consumers so that they can buy their products. This can lead to consumerism whereby the youths will want to buy goods/products even without questioning. At times the products that they buy might not be helpful. They will buy the products just because they seem to be popular among a certain age group. This kind of advertisement can lead to impulse buying and a waste of finances. As stated earlier this can also bring family disunity and in the long run a disunited country. Impulse buying can strain the finances of a family thereby creating tension and disunity in the family.
Inclusion on the other hand tries to make the target group fit into that specific group. For instance, the inclusion of marginalized people in a certain advertisement will help those people to fit into society. Today most advertisements are using children or the youth. This has on the one hand given the youth a voice in society, they are able to express themselves. But on the other hand, these advertisements have instilled in them the concepts of consumerism and materialism. Teenagers between the ages of six to eighteen are most materialistic. They want things for themselves (Adverse Effects of materialism on youth 2007).
Teenagers in this age bracket are so concerned about what is advertised. Research suggests that these teenagers enjoy shopping, they would be happier if they would buy more things for themselves and finally when they grow up they will be happier if they have money. An adverse effect of materialism is that it makes teenagers not to be appreciative and thankful for the things that they have. It creates an attitude of wanting more and more. To them, happiness is acquired through material things. For example having things for themselves like Cd’s, computers, cell phones, presents, and money will make them happy. Sharing is an important concept in human life, but materialism deprives one of this important virtue (Adverse Effects of materialism on youth 2007).
One of the main concerns of children between ages six to fourteen is acceptance. Being accepted by society and their friends is quite important. Advertisements that use the concept of fear and Inclusion do not help the situation. This is because the “cool” products are what every youth should have. This is what is expressed by the slogans that are used in the advertisements. Advertisements about clothes, games and other products are meant to distinguish between “cool” kids and the not-so-cool. This situation enhances the concept of consumerism and materialism. The kids want these products regardless of whether they are useful or not. That is without question. Materialism makes a person lack self-control/self-restraint. If people lose self-control they end up doing things that affect them negatively. For instance, buying products or services that are not helpful is not very wise. And at times people end up using money that was allocated for something else. Advertisements normally tend to misinform the consumer/ reader /buyer. And they make him/her irrational rather than rational. The buyer does not consider the cost of the product or the quality of information given by the advertisement. Therefore the unquestionable buying of products at times even leads the buyer to buy products that are of low quality and even at times these products do not make them happy.
As stated earlier consumption is the concept of using/ buying products and services. Consumption has adverse effects on the American youths (George, 2001). This is because the youth want to buy everything that is advertised, for instance, when it comes to food products, the kids want to eat almost everything in the stores. This has increased the number of obese children. These numbers of teenagers who are dealing with weight problems are many. The advertisement encourages teenagers to buy foodstuffs and some of them have negative effects on their bodies. This means that a lot of families are using so much money while trying to help their teenagers to lose weight. This weight gain also has certain medical problems, for example, most teenagers who are overweight suffer from diabetes type two. There is a direct connection between weight gain and diabetes type two.
This is normally a result of consuming products that are not healthy. These include products such as junk food which encourages weight gain. For instance, teenagers love to take soft drinks, which are sodas and other sweetened beverages; these increase the chances of greater weight gain. Other medical problems that teenagers can have by being overweight include asthma, cancer, kidney stones, high blood pressure, joint problems, and self-esteem issues. With this kind of trend, there is a threat of having a generation of teenagers that might live shorter lives than their parents. This is an adverse effect of consumption. This is because the teenagers believe the slogans that are used in advertisements and they believe that the products are important to them. This kind of advertising leads to poor eating habits. For instance, the teenagers are told by the slogans that alcohol and cigarette consumption is fine. Teenagers take up this habit. This is quite dangerous to their health. These products endanger the health of teenagers; just because they believe the advertisements and also that the products are important to them.
Food consumption is not the only cause of medical problems among teenagers. The use of some of the products enhances medical problems. Most teenagers between ages 6-14 consider technology to be quite relevant to their lives. For instance, they want to own Cd’s, video games, and computers. This reduced physical activity also contributes to weight gain. It encourages the kids to stay indoors rather than going out to play. At times the severely overweight teenagers require expensive Bariatric surgery. If the children are encouraged to have outdoor games, this might help to maintain the appropriate weight where the hospital expenses would reduce. These expenses are a result of the consumption of products that are not very useful to teenagers.
Advertising is deceptive. This is the first thing that these children need to know, that is, Advertising companies use narrations, music theatrical performances, images, superimposed illustrations, and others things to achieve the desired effect. They use false claims/slogans, deceptive images of the products, and visual fantasies and put them together in order to have various approaches to the product. For example, Gelatin desserts are made denser than they normally are. Most advertisements convey a message of celebration of life. They intend to convince the viewer that he/she has the ability to escape from everyday life. They appeal to the desire to have a perfect world, with a lot of freedom and perfection.
Everyone wants a better life. This desire for a better life is manipulated by the advertisements. Today most advertisements convey a sense of happiness, where people have a lot of energy, people dancing, with very bright colors, perfect hair, and good lives. But the truth is life is not perfect. Everyday life is characterized by a lot of flaws. Advertisements create the “perfect intended world” which is based on our desire and fantasies. Advertisements fake the appearance of products, places, situations, and people and also give false claims/slogans and promises. (Michael, 1997) The advertising companies take up our fears, desires, and our world and compose them into their intended worlds. Many viewers, readers, and buyers know that they are being manipulated but still many respond to these advertisements by buying the advertised products. This has resulted in a society full of materialists and consumerists.
This situation has resulted in a society that is easily manipulated through media literacy so much can change. Media literacy is the ability to sieve through and analyze messages that entertain, sell and inform people every day (Buckingham, 1995). The goal of media literacy is to help people to become sophisticated citizens rather than sophisticated consumers. Media literacy should integrate textual analysis together with the issues of production and the reception of the products. These skills are incorporated into the school curriculum will help the students to identify the ideas in either visual media, written or audio. The skills will also enable the students to specifically analyze the audience, point of view, construction techniques, the purpose of the massage. The students can also identify any omitted information in the advertisements. This will help them not to be manipulated (Michael, 1997).
The advertising firms should also have some code of advertising, for instance, advertising firms should infuse in their advertisements cultural values and practices. Some of these values include Afrocentrism, ethnic identity, and religiosity. Research has shown that teenagers who have these cultural values are not easily manipulated by their peers, that is, the need to fit into a certain group is not so much. Therefore the need to have a lot of things in order to fit in is not so much. Through media literacy, these children will be in a position to analyze the advertisements and be in a position to know what is important. Even teenagers with high-risk peer pressure will be in a position to deal with the situation. This can only be achieved through media literacy.
Media literacy also enables teenagers to know how to spend their time. The teenagers are taught how to spend their time. If media literacy is taught to these children then they would know how to deal with the technology (James, 2005) where the teenagers are taught how to make choices. When they acquire these skills, they are able to plan their time, For example, the teenagers are able to reduce the time that they spend with films, electronic, videos, television and other forms of print media. This encourages the teenagers to take up outdoor sports which are healthy.
Religious values if used in advertisements would help the teenagers to be contented with the things that they have. Today the advertisements portray people as greedy, always wanting more and more, but religious believes moderate peer risk behavior. Teenagers who have these cultural values and practices are able to handle peer pressure better. Thus media literacy should be included in the school curriculum to help the student deal with their religious beliefs as they ought to.
Media literacy will enable the students to know that the advertisements are only trying to sell the products and mostly these products are not good for them. So the advertisements normalize and glamorize such unhealthy behavior like advertisements try to normalize cigarette and alcohol use. Therefore media literacy will increase the awareness of the teenagers. The knowledge of how the media is packaged and produced will enable the teenagers to be more critical. This knowledge will help them to be more critical to what they get through the media, that is, what they see and hear. With this kind of knowledge, it is very unlikely that the teenagers will engage in unhealthy behavior.
Media education/literacy is a fruitful way in trying to educate the teenagers. This is because it affects the attitude of the teenagers. Through media literacy the teenagers are able to change their attitude about certain issues that affect them. These issues include healthy eating habits, body image and self -esteem. The above shows that a lot can be achieved through media literacy. Problems that burden the teenagers can be avoided. This is by equipping them with the necessary skills in order to survive in a world that is not perfect. Advertisements promise perfection, happiness and fulfillment. But media literacy will enable them to understand the advertisement. This is through critical analysis of the messages they get. The teenagers will therefore be in a position to avoid problematic situations and habits thus healthy American youths.
References
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