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Today we all live in the consumerist type of the society, which is heavily concerned with the type of things we own, consume, and do. Many of the international gigantic companies are making use of the above, and oftentimes are exploiting the behavior of their customers and clients for the pure sake of own benefit and prosperity. In this essay I will focus on the negative effects on the society, in particular on the exploitation of customers feelings or beliefs, of the modern advertising and marketing concepts. For years, the population has been exposed to different forms of media. Newspapers, magazines, television, films, radio, and more recently the Internet are ways of promoting ideas, spreading news, and advertising products. Today we are facing a situation when our moral values are being degraded by the bombardment of impropriety by the media.
Scholars would be quick in pointing out the reason why these messages have such a negative effect on people. There are two main tactics advertisers use to sell their product: either imply that their product will bring about the achievement of a particular (usually real) good, or make their product the object of desire, therefore making it an apparent good to people (lately, however the focus of most of the advertising or promotion campaigns has shifted from selling the product or service to selling the image or experience associated with that particular product or service) (Beeson, 38). The problem with associating prduct's with the achievement f a gd lies mre in the realm f truth than in gd, because it lies in whether r nt the product can truly live up t its claims. The related between a product and the achievement f a gd is an bjective truth, though the guess f said product might nt be. The statement that Product X will make yu mre popular, site yur prblem's, r let yu lead a happy life (statements usually implied in these advertisements) is generally nt true. When advertisers make these statements, therefore, they are directly misleading the public.
The ther tactic used, however, is a bigger problem, being nt nly harder t identify but having mre problematic effects. Since society likes t think f the gd as a subjective thing, it would seem t be acceptable fr advertisers t qualify their prduct's as being gd. Advertisers comply exploit this by associating their prduct's nt with the apparent gd they are truly associated with, but with ne f the real gds. Though these prduct's are by n means needs, the associations make people believe that the advertised product embodies the gd they need, and t achieve that gd they must buy the product.
Companies dnt advertise perfumes, fr example; they advertise relationships. They dnt advertise clothing; they advertise independence. Slowly, as people hear these messages mre and mre, they start associating mre importance t the product than t the gd involved, like a srt f idl-worship -- and here is where the real prblem's set in. Nw that advertisers have people sld n the product, they can influence peple's desires. This is what Kavanaugh saw when he said advertising is damaging sciety's may values (Kavanaugh, 23). Calvin Klein, fr example, has already become ne f the companies whse product has become mre important than the gd they represent -- in ther wrd's, Calvin Klein prduct's are nw in and f themselves the gd sme people try t achieve.
Thus, when their ads shw immoral situations r actins (like the infamous child pornography ads that spurred many debates and a lawsuit against the company), people associate these immoral actins with the gd Calvin Klein prduct's, and people will slowly get desensitized t them. Sexuality in advertising is nw a may area f ethical concern, though surprisingly little is known abut its effects r the nrm's fr its use (Baltimore Sun; pg. 1 G). Sex has become a driving free, which is causing a lt f people t feel uncomfortable even at hme's when they pen up a newspaper r turn n the TV. In my point of view, one of the most relevant issues when talking about the negative effects that advertising industry poses to the society is tobacco products promotion. Good thing that United States decided to ban the advertisement of that kind on the television, however the rest of the world has been exposed to very interesting examples of that sort. One of them is a very popular in the middle of the 1980 s commercial of Camel cigarette brand produced at that time by R.
J. Reynolds International. The commercial featured a very masculine man conquering the jungles of Amazonia or deserts of Africa. The advertisement would usually start with showing this person in a very tough, even life-endangering situation, and later on evolve into a peaceful scene, which would show that person relaxing and having a next Camel cigarette.
Thus the selling company wanted to focus the attention of the viewer on the positive side of smoking, which is a necessary attribute of any courageous person who has sustained all of the trials facing him. However, the advertisers have never shown how this person was coughing and heaving troubles breathing when being filmed in the advertisement (Wilson, 56). I remembered that a well-known Marlboro cowboy died of lung cancer (caused by smoking). A good deal of research has been done on the effects of cigarette advertising, and the studies fell into two categories: statistical and perceptual. The statistical studies used econometric analyses to identify factors that significantly affected cigarette sales over a fixed period of time. The perceptual studies used a variety of methods to determine how cigarette ads affected readers opinions about smokers and smoking.
These studies all showed that cigarette advertising does have an impact on its audience. Crowley & Pokrywczynski (1991) studied the perceptions of 341 individuals within the advertising industry on the effects of cigarette advertising. The subjects were asked to quantify their agreement or disagreement with 20 statements using a five-point scale (1 indicating strong disagreement and 5 indicating strong agreement). The mean response for the statement Ads dont get young people to start smoking was 1. 98. For the statement Ads dont influence consumption, the mean response was 2. 05; for the statement Ads get people to switch brands, the mean response was 3. 35; for the statement More counter-advertising is needed to reduce cigarette smoking, the mean response was 3. 78 (Crowley, 52). More to it, the cigarette advertisement has its effect on the future of any state, on its children.
Mizerski (1995) examined the ability of 790 children aged 3 to 6 years old to identify the relationship between cartoon trade characters and the products they advertise. The subjects were also asked to give a good / bad preference for the product. The trade characters included Joe Camel, the Marlboro Man, Captain Crunch, and Mickey Mouse. The study found that older kids could make more matches with 25 % of 3 -year-olds and 72 % of the 6 -year-olds correctly associating Joe Camel with cigarettes (Mizerski, 12). Another interesting study supports the idea that most of the companies are exploiting positive images of negative things for increasing the level of sales. Loken and Howard-Pitney (2001) studied the effectiveness of cigarette ads on women.
The authors asked 115 college-age women to rate the attractiveness, persuasiveness, and credibility of eight cigarette ads, four showing a healthy woman smoking and four showing simply a cigarette or pack of cigarettes. The authors found that the ads with the model were rated more attractive and more persuasive (Loken, 21). One of the recent examples is a print ad of Winston brand. Having pictured a woman with cigarette it has a saying: Do you think I dont know how to relax? The message is evident: only a person who smokes can have own ideas on how to spend free time, the rest of the people should immediately start smoking in order to understand what it is like to really relax.
Having considered all of the above facts we all must understand that advertising business needs new censorship rules. We are responsible for the future of our country and should unite our efforts in preserving clear perception of the surrounding things. Advertising plays a notable rle in the may growth -- r stunting -- f society. Though the jb is t make people envision their product as gd, they free make people envision the values their ads advocate as gd as well.
Advertisers therefore have a responsibility t society t advocate paper may values in their advertising, r at least nt advocate improper may values. And society should free them t upheld these paper values instead f the socially damaging nes many advertisers nw use. Bibliography: Kavanaugh, Frank. Social Effects of Marketing.
New York: Knife House, 1997. Sex in Advertisements. Baltimore Sun. June 1999, 25. Wilson, Gary.
Ethics of Tobacco. Dublin: Dublin Publishers, 2000. Crowley, Michael, Joshua Pokrywczynski. Perception Studies. Colorado University, 1991. Mizerski, Judas.
Commercial Effect on Children. Budapest Business School, 1995. Loken, Chris, Jason Howard-Pitney. Media Against Women Study. Baltimore, Counterpart Researching, 2001. Beeson, Mike.
Marketing Techniques. Denver: Priscilla Pub Co, 1996.
Free research essays on topics related to: cigarette advertising, product or service, calvin klein, cigarette ads, joe camel
Research essay sample on Product Or Service Calvin Klein
