Influence of Television Advertising on the People Report (Assessment)

Introduction

The focal point of this paper is to present a debate on the issue of negative influence of television advertising on people of the country in the context of sex and violence. Additionally, it would be taken into account that most vulnerable population influenced by television violence is the youth thus; much emphasis would be given to this section. There are several books and journals available that convey the studies performed on the basis of influence of television and advertisement on the parameters of sexual acts and violence. (Petrison, 19-23)

There is no doubt that existing research shows that advertisement violence is linked to youth violence and experts agree that to argue against it is meaningless. Even though many Americans have enjoyed unparalleled material prosperity and personal freedom during the past several years they have also felt a growing and nagging uneasiness. Yes, we live longer, healthier lives. For all these achievements most Americans sense that we are suffering from a sinister decay in our moral structure. Few Americans would be shocked to learn that we lead the industrialized world in rates of murder, rape, sexual assault, violent crime, juvenile crime, imprisonment, and number of teen suicide.

Problem statement

Deb, however, is more data oriented in this context. He states that society has become increasingly concerned about violence committed by people in their twenties. It has been found that far too many of the young population are killing and hurting others. At times it almost seems to be an epidemic. (Deb, 16, 2) Deb believes that one of the major causes of youth violence is advertisement violence or hidden violence in advertisements. Law enforcement agencies arrested approximately 2.8 million juveniles in 1997 in the United States. Of that number 2,500 were arrested for murder and 121,000 for other violent crimes. People in their twenties accounted for 19% of all arrests, 14% of murder arrests, and 17% of all violent crimes. Existing studies have shown that media violence is a major cause of youth violence. (Deb, 18, 4) He argues that eighty-seven percent of American households have more than one television, and almost 50% of youth have a television in their rooms. Thus television advertisements are the most important instrument in this criminal instigation. Deb believes that “we aren’t only teaching kids to kill; we are teaching them to like it.” (Deb, 17, 3)

Argument

The horrifying epidemic of school shootings in the late 1990s has transformed the uneasiness into an almost desperate alarm. Behind the façade of our material comfort we found a national tragedy: our children were killing each other.

Actually, we are in the era where you would need a whole new phrase ‘ad for ad sake’. If this looks too morbid to ad filmmakers then it would be better to click on the television and have a look at the product ads of Pepsi, Red lobster or Hummer. As a part of the ad trends of the 90’s these advertisements rarely show any interest in revealing the usefulness of the product. They are more concerned with the sub-alter experience of the product users. Today’s ad filmmakers try to create a utopian flavor to the product where the product rules supreme and all the characters are quite happy to be under the regime. This is the utopia of the world of advertisement and in a way it is replacing Karl Marx’s opium. Take few examples.

Hummer

A High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) with supreme off-road ability, and a major league attention getter. You can go from being an outcast to a winner with this non-environmental friendly vehicle. This ad attempts to describe a driver’s utopia, an advertising promise. When in reality, the Hummer as many other vehicles, pollute the environment, destroy the landscape and may be responsible for injury or death. Could the Hummer in many ways be a secret war on humanity? This ad gives the idea that the Hummer is the ultimate off-road warrior.

However, it drives poorly on the street, and there is no room for such a big vehicle with low power at such a high price. It needs are roads with dirt or mud, preferably with rain or snow. If you live on a farm, a ranch or in the desert, it is one unstoppable and indestructible vehicle but if you live in the city where most of us live, the Hummer is only useful for getting you around the city. The utopia in this ad does identify with the fantasy, idealization and an image of impossible perfection. However, it is evidence that the Hummer is another utopia that has gone sour.

Budweiser

Because Budweiser, the nation’s most widely consumer alcohol beverage has lost ground recently to liquor and wine, the brewing company seeks a more stylish image for its beer. These ads display new and unusual packing, and are placed in bars and restaurant to create a sense of utopia which Sam Adam as managed to successfully convey. As mentioned, everyone in the ad is having a great time in such happy togetherness. Negatives of alcoholism, fighting, hangovers and discrimination are absent. The ads do exclude the unattractive, elderly and obese and only contain those who are attractive. But hoping to make its existing products seem more distinctive and without changing the content of the ads, Budweiser new ads are chic and the colorful aluminum bottles give the product a funky post-modern look. The ads give the product a hip, retro-chic appearance. How impressive? Though alcohol is harmful to health, through advertising, the brewer has achieved utopia with its more sophisticated, upscale image.

Red Lobster

Great service, good seafood where a family can share a plate of crab legs and discuss the topic of the day. Girlfriends can meet to gossip while dipping lobster tails in butter and keeping track of who is doing what. Without the use of people in their commercials, Red Lobster’s ads make this connection possible. You are absolutely correct in your observation: endless quantity, no consequences for eating, no people in the commercial, and the relationship with food is significant. (Nair, 134-6)

But these ads show an extraordinary sense of utopia. In my experience at Red Lobster, the food was delicious and this ad was excellent in delivering my experience. The commercial revealed clues as to where quality and quantity reside. It was a remembered utopian experience.

To sum it up-it would be very relevant to state that in our all utilitarian materialistic market economy driven needs of urban life the advertisements play a vital role. In this whole world of ‘earn to burn’ philosophy it is all but evident that we should be living in a virtual make believe world of utopia more like Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’. Down the ages of history all the human clans ever came to existence created utopia in accordance to their own culture and taste. This is our culture and our taste is creating today’s utopia- better call it “Adtopia”. (Hoek, 234)

But it should be mentioned that had these advertisement would have been fine if they had stayed in their ‘all feel good’ place. But they are not confining themselves to that part only. They are asking the viewers to become a ‘go getter’ and they are asking the viewers to become aggressive. No wonder the children are becoming influenced by this and getting aggressive all the time as they feel it is the best thing to be. This change in attitude is the fundamental aspect of violent actions and this influence comes directly from advertisements. Sexual assaults are also related to these activities that generate from violent attitude.

According to this view, the more often children practice fantasy acts of violence, the more likely they are to carry out real-world acts of violence. Another troubling aspect of modern advertising is that the violence they contain is often presented in a glamorized light, even in the context of advertisement of computer games. Typical games cast players in the role of a shooter, with points scored for each “kill.” Advertisements for such games often hype the violence as a selling point – the more graphic and extreme, the better.

Proposal for solution

The Juvenile Justice Act implements a comprehensive plan aimed at addressing the problem of juvenile violence. The legislation devotes substantial resources to state and local governments for the continued development and implementation of groundbreaking and effective accountability and prevention programs. The legislation also targets the growing national problem of criminal street gangs, which frequently lure juveniles into illegal activity, and it works to keep firearms and explosives out of the hands of child. Also important is the fact that the act begins to confront what experts consider a principal cause of juvenile violence: depictions of violence in the media. The Juvenile Justice Act has the added advantage of emphatically respecting our First Amendment traditions. The aim is to facilitate the free expression of corporate responsibility and simple decency.

The legislation calls for the voluntary cooperation of the entertainment industries to develop, implement and enforce voluntary programming guidelines to remove damaging influences on children. The legislation enables pertinent industries to hold joint discussions and enter into agreements to develop voluntary guidelines and guarantee retail compliance with existing ratings and labeling systems. The legislation also provides for further studies concerning media violence and establishes a national commission that would, with the help of parents and children, identify the cause of youth violence. (Hoek, 114-5)

Conclusion

Much more needs to be done to reduce advertisement violence. The parents are the most interested parties. This is because it is the futures of their children that are at stake. Parents are responsible for the environment in which their children are raised. However, only after systematic and complete research it would be possible to indicate whether if violence in the media influences children to commit violent acts in school.

Works Cited

Deb, V. Public Perception of Perceptions: An Approach towards Media Management. : Auckland: IBL & Alliance Ltd, 2006.

Hoek, J. Ethical and practical implications of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising. London: Frankson, 2000.

Nair, B. Marketing Communication. Sydney: Intl Specialized Book Service Inc, 2005.

Petrison, LA. Database marketing: Past, present, and future. London: Frankson, 2004.