The Influence of Advertising

After watching a part of the movie thank you for smoking, it seemed like all that the producer cares about is that his product is sold no matter how unhealthy the product is. I think that advertising influences a lot of people. In fact, advertising does more than influence people’s taste, it controls our desires. People that watch a commercial, for example, want to look like that person in the advertisement; here is where advertising starts to influence people in a negative way. We usually see very thin models, for example, in most of the ads and commercials. This basically says that skinny is beautiful, or at least that is the message that it is sending to young girls, which is why we see so many girls with eating disorders today. It was all over the tabloids when Tyra Banks and Britney Spears didn’t look as thin as they were before. Basically those tabloids were saying that they are now ugly because they are not thin which makes young girls want to be thin. People, especially the young ones, are under a lot of pressure. They want to look “cool” and beautiful and I think that what they see in advertisement is what they sometimes want to become which is why they go out and buy that product. There is a proactive commercial where Jessica Simpson’s skin looks absolutely flawless. Girls that see that commercial want her skin so they go and buy proactive. I actually asked my cousin, she is a dermatologist and she said that it doesn’t work all the time, some people really like it some people hate it. Sometimes advertisers make false statements and hope that the people would not know better or wouldn’t want to find out and just go and buy the product. For example, the food pictures that we saw in class. In the ad they look very good but in reality they are not half as good. However, advertising could also have a positive influence on people. A commercial that talks about how bad smoking is for you, could influence people to stop smoking. Sometimes, even if people know what is good and bad for them, they don’t realize it until someone tells them what is good and what is bad. Whether you like it or not, at some point advertisements will influence you in a good or bad way, it is up to you to decide.

 

R.M.