In recent times, there has been an increase in advertising. The upsurge of advertising activities in the United States indicates the high need of companies to promote their products to consumers. This has also been necessitated by the increased disposable income by a majority of the Americans. On average, an American consumer is certain to view more than 30 television ads in a day. Furthermore, the radio waves are full of advertisements, and newspapers have numerous adverts about various types of products. All these advertisements are geared towards attracting and enticing the consumer to make a purchase. In most of the cases, the advertisements have enabled companies to increase their market share and profitability levels. One of the key type of advertisements that has significant effects on Americans is television advertising. In brief, television advertisements influences present-day life in the United States in many ways.
The main effect of advertising is the increase of consumption of particular products. Many promoters have perfected their art of marketing and persuading consumers to purchase a certain brand of products. They mostly employ the use of catchy titles to entice consumers into purchasing the advertised products (Cook 13). For example, coke is the most consumed product in the entire world. Despite competition from products such as Pepsi and Red Bull, Coca Cola Company has been able to maintain its market leadership position. This has been mainly attributed to great advertising efforts by its marketers. The management of the company has allocated a significant portion of its budget for promotion of its product via the television. It has established that more than 90% of Americans view television on a daily basis. Essentially, most of the Americans are known to watch movies (Tellis 9); hence, coca cola targets such people with their adverts. Television advertisements by Coca Cola Company have greatly increased consumption of its different products. This has been translated to increased profitability levels for the company. Clearly. Advertising increases consumption of coca cola products; hence, affect present-day life of most Americans.
Advertising also has an effect on the health of customers. Some of the advertisements request consumers to purchase junk food. This type of television advertisements are very common during TV shows, which are a favorite for many teenagers. Recent studies indicate that most teenagers spend most of their time watching TV shows and music shows (Gunter, Caroline and Mark 21).
This has encouraged companies to advertise their products during these shows in order to reach a wider market. Thus, when they promote junk food, many teenagers are enticed to believe it is the best food for them. For example, McDonald is known to place its TV adverts during movie shows. When watching favorite TV shows, no one would want to be bothered despite requiring something to eat or drink. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that one will order junk food to be delivered at his/her home. Some of the most common purchased junk food include chips, pastries and burgers. Basically, they are ready for consumption. Medical experts have established that eating of junk food has a significant effect on the health of individuals. When one consumes too much of junk food, he or she will mostly likely gain massive weight within a short period of time. Unfortunately, the television adverts that promote these junk food do not warn consumers of the adverse effect of consuming them. Consequently, they continue to affect the lives of many Americans.
Furthermore, advertisements have significant effects on the way people treat themselves. In the fashion industry, there are many advertisements that urge women to purchase certain products in order to enhance their image. Most of these adverts have a model lady who is supposed to portray a sex appeal (Durham 26).
In most of the cases, the model appearing on the advertisements has a thin and flawless body. This is meant to create the impression that in order for one to be beautiful, one has to have similar body structure. Besides, it implies that one should use the advertised product to look attractive. This has significant physiological effect on women who see these adverts (Fennis and Wolfgang 25).
They tend to see themselves as imperfect and not appealing. This will likely lower their morale; hence, they will feel inferior when compared to women of their age. It is highly likely that they will withdraw and avoid interacting with their friends and relatives. In addition, the images used may be a manipulation by the marketers. Essentially, there are various production and editing tools that can be used to manipulate an image to get an ideal image. If a woman compares herself to such an image, it will certainly demoralize her. The effect of such television adverts on the present-day life of women is quite evident.
Cigarette advertising on television has great effects on the daily life of many people in the United States. Tobacco-related adverts portray cigarette smoking as a ‘cool’ activity that has no adverse effects. This has led to an increase of adolescents who smoke cigarettes on a daily basis. Primarily, they have been lured to believe that tobacco has no effects on their health. The mass media has been on the forefront to legalize the sale of cigarettes to children under the age of 21 years. The increased number of cigarette smokers has translated to an increase in deaths associated with tobacco. Currently, there are more than 1,000 deaths reported in the United States that are closely associated with cigarette smoking. In addition, television adverts have made women believe that cigarette smoking gives them independence (Yssing 37).
This has led to many women in the United States to engage in cigarette smoking. Even though, they get the feeling that they are independent, this is far from the truth. Notably, tobacco does not give anyone independence, but it makes one an addict of cigarette smoking. These television adverts promoting cigarettes have led to many people to consume cigarettes at an alarming rate. For example, there are many people who cannot go a day without taking at least one puff of a cigarette smoke. This has definitely affected their life. In such a case, it is evident that television adverts have an effect on the daily life of cigarette smokers.
Also, there are beer related advertisements which entice consumers to purchase their favorite beer brands. Essentially, beer commercials imply that beers enhance the masculinity of men. This has lured many men to believe that in order to feel as ‘real men’, it is imperative for them to drink beer. According to many myths amongst American people, beer makes men become confident and able to face challenges in their life. For example, they are able to think soberly and approach the girl of their dreams. Consequently, beer-related television adverts have greatly took advantage of these myths to persuade consumers. Even though, some of these myths might be true, the final effect of them when coupled with television adverts cannot be overlooked. For example, vodka has been known to add charisma to consumers who drink it. In many parts of the world, it is regarded as a drink for a certain class of people. Essentially, it is not for every person, but the affluent in the society. Thus, when one drinks vodka, they are regarded as classy, and deserve to be treated with much respect as compared to other people. A clear review of television adverts that promote different brands of beer show that they manipulate the emotional feelings of the consumers. They do this in order to create an emotional connection between the consumer and the beer. This has an effect on the consumers in that they are convinced that beers would improve their lives (East 18). As a result, more consumers would purchase beers and make them part of their daily lives. This is a clear example of how advertisements can affect the present-day life of many Americans.
Lastly, television advertisements have a great effect on the present-day parent-child relationships. Currently, parents have a difficult time when advising their children on important issues regarding their lives. This is as a result of television adverts that have altered the minds of many children. For example, many children are not able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Whatever they see on the TV, they believe that it is real. This problem is mainly manifested by children who are under 12 years old. In order to educate their children, most parents try to convince them that the adverts are deceitful for marketing purposes. Nonetheless, the children do not believe these arguments, and maintain that the television adverts hold the honest truth. Consequently, they become victims of manipulation by television advertising. This strains the relationship between children and their parents. Primarily, they believe that their parents are trying to fool them instead of educating them. This is despite the fact that the parents are talking the honest truth. For example, when a child sees an advert of expensive toys being driven by fellow children, he urges his parents to purchase the same toys for them. However, his parents may not have the financial capacity to purchase such toys. This creates a conflict between the child and his parent. In this case, the child fails to understand that such advertisements are often targeted for wealthy people. The strained relationship between the child and the parent is clearly as a result of advertisements (Sheehan 42).
In conclusion, advertising has significant effects on the present-day life of many Americans. It has been widely accepted as a creative technique to influence the purchasing behavior of consumers. Primarily, television adverts have greatly improved the market share and profitability levels of most companies. Despite the ethical considerations that need to be addressed, it has been established that advertising has considerable effects on the present-day life of most Americans. Its effect on present-day life is evidenced by increased consumption of particular products such as tobacco and beer, decline of health of consumers, and strained parent-child relationship. Undoubtedly, advertisement has effects on the present-day life in the United States.
Work CitedTop of Form
Cook, Guy. The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge, 2001. Print. 8 – 17
Durham, Meenakshi G. The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2008. Print. 19 – 31
East, Robert. The Effect of Advertising and Display: Assessing the Evidence. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. Print. 11 - 27
Fennis, Bob M, and Wolfgang Stroebe. The Psychology of Advertising. Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press, 2010. Print. 21 - 29
Gunter, Barrie, Caroline Oates, and Mark Blades. Advertising to Children on Tv: Content, Impact, and Regulation. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. Print. 14 – 32
Sheehan, Kim. Controversies in Contemporary Advertising. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2004. Print. 29 – 51
Tellis, Gerard J. Effective Advertising: Understanding When, How, and Why Advertising Works. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2004. Print. 7 - 15Bottom of Form
Yssing, Hansen L. The Effect of Advertising. København, 2000. Print. 29 – 43
