The Ethics of Teenage Advertising It is undeniable that nowadays, we live in a society ruled by consumerism. Businesses are offering more products, and people are increasingly enticed by their advertisements. At the same time, concerns have been raised regarding the effects that advertising - one of those being the effect that ads in the digital environment have on teenagers. Many have argued that some advertising techniques that target that demographic are questionable, and might be even unethical. In this paper, I will argue that advertising targeting teenagers is not, in fact, unethical. First, referring to Tibor Machan’s essay on advertising, I will argue that ads have no responsibility to constantly disclose the full truth. Then, I will …show more content…
Crisp claims that some advertising techniques undermine our autonomy for they use immoral methods invoke desires in consumers. (Crisp, p. 599) He maintains that some ads take advantage and rely on our subconscious desires, (e.g power, sex) and that many times, we are not even aware we are being influenced by ads (Crisp, p. 601). All of this, in turn, suggests that advertisements interfere with our free choice because we are being manipulated into adhering to …show more content…
Arrington defends that although some advertisements are manipulative, they do not undermine our autonomy. That is because although ads might induce desires, insofar as we accept them, they are no different than autonomous desires. (Arrington, p. 609) This can be depicted in the fact that we as consumers many times return to purchase a product many times. The only logical explanation for this is that we actually appreciate the product. (Arrington, p. 610) Considering that, it can be concluded that although an ad might incentivize us to buy a product for the first time, the reason we continue to buy them is an autonomous decision. Moreover, Arrington argues that in most cases, advertisements do not invoke a completely diverse desire, but instead, they appeal to independent desires we already have. (Arrington, 613) So, an ad that maintains that whoever consume such product will turn irresistible to the opposite sex, is only appealing to the consumer’s already existing desire for sex. Arrington ultimately concludes that by playing only with our pre-existing desires, advertisements do not, in fact, “brainwash” us as some would
It is obvious that media plays a significant role in our society. It affects every aspect of our lives - political, social, and cultural. In the various works including articles, lectures and films, Jean Kilbourne presents an insightful and critical analysis of advertising and its profound negative effect on all of us. She states that, “Advertisement creates a worldview that is based upon cynicism, dissatisfaction and craving” (p. 75). She discusses the issue in a very objective and impartial manner, “The advertisers aren’t evil.
In Eric Schlosser‘s essays, the author shows how the social media are targeting children by their ads and advertisements. He exposes the negative side of advertising especially when children are implicated. The author explores children’s cooperation with these companies whether consciously or unconsciously through their behavior and ways of convincing their parents to get them what they want. He mentions how these same parents by lack of spending enough time with kids pamper them and don’t refuse their desires. Schlosser gives more explanations by introducing several examples of these companies such as Disney, McDonald, clothes, oil, and phone companies, too without openly blaming neither of them.
How Advertising is Leading Kids to Make Poor Choices Currently, the average American child today is exposed to an estimated 40,000 television commercials a year, over 100 a day. Advertisers try to expose children and teens to as much advertising as possible, this is to get children and teens to want to buy their products. Another factor is that advertisers use different techniques to get kids to buy their products, these techniques include bandwagon, transfer, avant-garde, facts and figures, and testimonials. Yet, children don’t realize they are being subjected to these techniques and with all the advertisements that kids are being exposed to today, these advertisements are leading kids to make poor choices. “Television, radio, cable, and
The presence of Ads in today’s society is overwhelming. Every direction that one turns one is faced with Ads coming from audio, video, or newspapers. Even though ads seem to be beneficial, or promote a cause. product, etc, when it comes down to it, ads are merely a form of mild propaganda by companies which lead people to invest money into the advertised product. With Super Bowl ads, creators spend a great deal of time and money to find the perfect ad to appeal to one’s needs.
Miller argues that advertisements have a manipulative nature where they make viewers feel that by purchasing a product, they will have immediate gratification and feel extremely powerful and “indestructible”. In Miller’s lesson five: “You’re Ugly”, he uses a specific example
How does advertisements relate to the underage consumption of alcohol? In “Effects of Alcohol Advertising Exposure on Drinking Among Youth”, Leslie Snyder writes about the danger of alcohol advertising and how it affects teens who are exposed to it. To get the claim across, Snyder uses ethics, emotion, and reason to argue against some alcohol advertisements’ methods. To prove the hypothesis that advertisements affects youth drinking, Snyder makes telephone surveys and incorporates the data into the article.
These advertisements that appear in the media have a really significant influence over people 's lives; we all look to those advertisements for a sense of direction or guidance on how to perceive the world. Advertising in the media potentially plays a major role in shaping public attitudes and perceptions because most audiences (including myself) are passive; we accept whatever we are shown and that influences our opinions on what we
Can advertisements really cause violence in people’s lives? Jean Kilbourne’s “Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” talks about how advertising and violence against women can cause women to be seen as objects. The author discusses how pornography has developed and is now part of social media, which glorifies its violence that permeates society encourages men to act towards women without respect. Kilbourne uses logical and emotional appeals as well as ethical arguments to effectively convince readers to ignore specific advertising techniques. Jean Kilbourne author has spent most of her professional life teaching and lecturing about the world of advertising.
Teens & Advertising Advertising is a form of marketing in which the author uses writing strategies to capture the attention of an audience to persuade them into purchasing what is being promoted. The success of an ad relies on the products ability to reason with readers and appeal based on emotions. Individuals can be distinguished by their proneness to social influence; teenagers in particular differ in regards to their level of susceptibility to advertising. Though teenagers do not typically have as much money as older adults, there are many products that teenagers are still willing to spend their restricted funds on. These advertising agencies who target teens utilize strategies that are meant to make their services and/or products attractive
Advertising has been around for decades and has been the center point for buyers by different subjects peaking different audience’s interests. Advertisers make attempts to strengthen the implied and unequivocal messages in trying to manipulate consumers’ decisions. Jib Fowles wrote an article called “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” explaining where he got his ideas about the appeals, from studying interviews by Henry A. Murray. Fowles gives details and examples on how each appeal is used and how advertisements can “form people’s deep-lying desires, and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for” (552). The minds of human beings can be influenced by many basic needs for example, the need for sex, affiliation, nurture,
Do companies create consumer demand or simply try to meet customers’ needs? I believe advertising shapes as well as mirrors society. A case in point, advertisements can shape society's perception of ‘beauty." For instance, in magazines and movies, quite often young girls strive to look-like and emulate the digitally enhanced images of women in magazines. As such, some critics argue that advertising abuses its influence on children and teenagers in particular, amongst others.
“Advertising contributes to people’s attitudes about gender, sex, and violence,” states Jean Kilbourne in her article, Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt With advertising agencies standing by the notion that “Sex Sells” it isn’t uncommon to find sex tied into a number of advertisements seen everywhere on a daily basis. “Sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women …” (Kilbourne, 271). The objectification of women in our society is more prevalent than many would like to believe. Women being portrayed as passive, easy, innocent, needy, submissive and dependent beings create an understanding that women are less human than men.
The answer is that first, sexual advertisement can adequately draw people’s attention even though those sexual images have little importance to their products. Advertisements are the means of popularizing the products, to promote the products advertisements have to persuade the consumer to buy the goods, sexual objectification occurs when ads use women as decorative or attention getting objects with little or no relevance to the product category . Advertisement plays upon emotions, creating a scenario that heightens the consumer’s emotional state. They build a fantasy in which the consumer’s life is better because of the product.
Advertising is a form of propaganda that plays a huge role in society and is readily apparent to anyone who watches television, listens to the radio, reads newspapers, uses the internet, or looks at a billboard on the streets and buses. The effects of advertising begin the moment a child asks for a new toy seen on TV or a middle aged man decides he needs that new car. It is negatively impacting our society. To begin, the companies which make advertisements know who to aim their ads at and how to emotionally connect their product with a viewer. For example, “Studies conducted for Seventeen magazine have shown that 29 percent of adult women still buy the brand of coffee they preferred as a teenager, and 41 percent buy the same brand of mascara”
Have You Been Brain Washed? Have you ever looked at an advertisement and pictured yourself using the product that was being advertised, to than actually being interested in purchasing that product? Well that was their goal, advertisers have mastered the market industry by being aware of the fact that us humans are very concerned with our image. Advertisers know that we have a greater chance of buying a product if we can picture ourselves how we would like to be portrayed of course with the help of their product. In ads, companies want to provide an image that can be relatable to the viewers and what would want to appeal to them.