Ethics in Advertising

Advertising is everywhere, especially for teenagers who are immersed in the digital world, and advertising geared toward teens has been blamed for many things over the years: eating disorders, addiction, poor self-esteem, etc.  Whether or not ads can really be blamed for all of these problems, it seems obvious that today’s marketing tactics exploit teenagers and can contribute to many of the issues we see in today’s teen culture.  And, as more concerns with advertising come to light, it is becoming more evident that the ethics of teen ads need to be addressed.

As I’ve said before, advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry, and teens are one of the most targeted demographics.  What’s perhaps most concerning about the industry, however, is that “research on the effects of marketing to teens [is] an area where little empirical work has been done,” yet the industry itself is driven by the work of psychologists who are constantly working to find new ways to appeal to teens and generate consumer loyalty (“Driving teen egos–and buying–through ‘branding'”).  This seems like a problem to me.  Research on the effects of advertising for teens should at least equal – if not surpass – the research on how to effectively market to them.  After all, if advertising does cause eating disorders, addictions, or the like, then shouldn’t we be aware of that fact?

Despite the lack of research, there does seem to be some evidence pointing to the effectiveness of certain campaigns towards adolescent consumers.  Take, for instance, the controversy over Camel’s iconic representative, Joe Camel, in the late 1990’s.  Criticized for being easily recognized by kids as young as six, Joe Camel sparked an outrage over the tobacco industry’s pursuit of teenagers’ dollars.  Joe Camel was born in 1988 as an attempt to boost Camel’s wilting sales, and he proved to be just what the business needed.  Before his debut, four percent of adults and three percent of teenagers claimed to prefer Camel cigarettes.  “Five years later, the percentage of adult smokers favoring Camels remained the same, but among smokers ages 12 to 18, Camel’s market share had more than tripled to 13 percent, prompting outrage among public health professionals and tobacco critics who [said] Joe Camel [was] proof the industry target[ed] young people with its ads” (Stolberg).

Further evidence slamming Joe Camel came from the fact that as “more and more evidence… accumulated linking smoking to disease, the number of adult Americans who smoke… steadily declined,” yet the total amount of smokers didn’t as teens “stepp[ed] in to fill the gap” (Stolberg).  As more and more attacks came against the popularity of Joe Camel among young consumers, the Camel company put the debonair dromedary to rest in 1997.  The tobacco industry continues to be scrutinized for its ad campaigns, but the Camel case symbolized the profound amount of influence advertising can have amongst the younger generation.

So, if marketing has so much sway in the world of adolescents, how can we monitor the kinds of messages that they receive?  As it now stands, the majority of messages teenagers receive tell them they need products to complete them and that they can “‘solve all of life’s problems by purchasing the right products.'”  What ads don’t tell them is that “what is important is ‘how [they] think, what [they] like…and who [they] are'” (“Driving teen egos”).

To be completely honest, I’m not sure what the most effective way to fight this kind of advertising is, but it seems to me that advertisements shouldn’t be able to set unrealistic standards for how we should look, what our lives should be like, or what is really right and wrong.  An industry that is driven by money will do whatever brings in the most profit, whether it’s right or not.  Now, you can’t sell a product very well by broadcasting negativity, and I understand that, so it makes sense that marketers use ideals to sell their products.  However, I think there are plenty of positives to real life that advertisers could use – without being completely unrealistic.  Besides that, our lack of research on this subject has kept us in the dark and allows advertisers to brush off the responsibility of promoting positivity.  In the end, I think the advertising industry – especially the part that targets teenagers – contributes to unhealthy lifestyles, and undoubtedly, something needs to change.

 

Sources

“Driving teen egos–and buying– through ‘branding.'”  American Psychological Association.  June 2004, n.p.  Web.  13 Apr. 2014.

Stolberg, Sheryl.  “Joe Camel’s success with the young is a smoking gun, critics say.”  The Baltimore Sun.  22 August 1995.  Web.  13 Apr. 2014.

Appealing to Teen Tastes

This week our assignment is to talk about public relations in our area of media.  Since my blog is not medium-specific but rather focuses on how media is geared toward/affects teenagers, I’m going to talk about how companies can model their public image into one that teenagers will like.  According to Merriam-Webster, public relations is “the activity or job of providing information about a particular person or organization to the public so that people will regard that person or organization in a favorable way.”  In order for a company to be viewed favorably by teens they have to utilize certain tactics.

First off, for a company or organization to appeal to teens they have to appeal to the broader ideals of the generation.  This new generation of teenagers (Generation Z) is incredibly unique.  According to an article by 4imprint, Inc., the following traits are characteristic of Generation Z:

• Well networked, “virtually” present, and more tolerant of diversity
• Comfortable with, and even dependent on, technology
• Materially satisfied, yet financially conservative (having older parents yet smaller families, and having experienced the effects of the recent economic slowdown)
• Well-educated and environmentally conscious
• Savvy and well-informed when it comes to advertising
• More apt to be influenced by friends than television commercials
• And more connected with their parents than previous generations

Therefore, a company trying to attract adolescent consumers would have to cater to these characteristics.  In order to do that, they would have to be technologically engaged – meaning they would need to take advantage of social media sites, such as Facebook or Twitter, or have some sort of other online presence.  They would also need to display or support diversity and understand the influence of peer pressure.

Secondly, companies would need to create a “hip” profile of their company.  Successful companies have their own unique brands.  Iconic logos, such as Google’s or Facebook’s, can help users identify their company, and thus, they can create loyal followers.  Raised in the digital era, teenagers often gravitate towards logos or brands that make the most of distinct graphic design styles.  Whether clean-cut and geometric, distressed yet readable, or colorful but not overwhelming, a variety of different flavors of graphic design can appeal to teens.  Personally, I believe that one company that has done this exceptionally well is Starbucks.  Starbucks’s style is very clean and uses modern designs that appeal to consumers.  Plus, their logo is easily identifiable.  (Starbucks has also done a great job of appealing to youth in that they openly claim to be a “green” company and employ technology such as email, their website, and mobile apps to reach their customers.)

Lastly (and perhaps most obviously), a company would have to offer products that appeal to teen consumers.  Technological products clearly appeal to the majority of teenagers.  Accessories for such products – such as colored cases – are also extremely popular, giving teens the chance to express their individuality and personality.  Other industries also gear themselves toward teen tastes or have specific branches that focus on teens, particularly the clothing, movie/television, music industries, etc.  (We’ve previously established that teens are one of the most targeted demographics, so it stands that nearly every industry attempts to appeal to them.)  On the other hand, products that simply would not appeal to most teens would be products like LifeAlert, life insurance, and bath tubs, or companies like Sears, Buick, or Walgreens.  So, it seems to go without saying that in order to properly appeal to teens you must offer a product that they’re interested in.

Overall, gearing public relations toward teens is a complex process.  It requires understanding the motives of the generation and what they believe in the most, pulling on their visual preferences, and recognizing what they like and then combining that information with your product or company and making it into a pretty package.  Some companies are already quite adept at doing this, such as the aforementioned Starbucks, and others are still refining the process, i.e. the previously noted Sears.  Companies wishing to create a teen-friendly image will need to do some research and put in hard work, but if they do, they will likely reap great rewards.

 

Sources

“Marketing to today’s youth.”  4imprint, Inc.  2011, 3-4.  Web.  7 Apr. 2014.

“Public Relations.”  Merriam-Webster.com.  Merriam-Webster, n.d.  Web.  7 Apr. 2014.

Targeting Teens

Teenagers are one of the most sought-after group of consumers in America today.  They are considered the most financially viable target, as many of them have money to spend on “luxury items, like clothing, electronics, and music” (Carney).  But how do advertisers reach teenagers, and what tactics do they use to draw them in?

Well, it’s quite simple really.  For the most part, advertisers play on typical adolescent insecurities.  Think about it.  Teens are often concerned about their body image, popularity, fitting in, etc.  So, advertisers take those insecurities and use their ads to tell teens that their product will help them.  They use every venue imaginable – magazines, televisions, cell phones, billboards, shopping mall windows, etc. – and shout, “Look at us!  We’ll make you cool; we’ll get you attention; everyone will LOVE you, but only if you buy our product now!”  Take this image for example:

TAG, a body spray, claims here that the use of its product may result in “girl-on-girl-on-girl-on-girl-on-girl-on-girl-on-guy action” and shows a picture of a whole squad of young, attractive cheerleaders tackling a young man. (Obviously he’s wearing TAG body spray!).  His clothes are apparently beginning to be ripped off, and he appears to be having fun, playfully trying to escape the girls who so clearly want him.  Now, we all know that this is unrealistic, but nonetheless, it gets the message across:  Wearing TAG will make people love you.  And this is just one ad.  One tactic.  We’ve all seen ads that utilize other tactics, such as the ones that capitalize on young girls’ insecurities about their bodies and the ones that promise popularity.  But these tactics have become quiet controversial, questioned for their messages and their influence.

It is apparently popular opinion that most advertisements geared towards teens promote unhealthy lifestyles.  Oftentimes, corporations use unrealistic beauty (or even unrealistic manliness) and sex to sell their products to teens.  Take a look:

PINK, the Victoria’s Secret line made primarily for teens, advertises their clothing using stereotypical VS models – super skinny, sexy, and perfect.

This sexy ad features two young lovers who are obviously wearing A&F clothing.. Well, jeans… ehem.

This clothing ad featuring Liam Hemsworth makes it appear that he is master over the King of the Jungle. Apparently, real men make even lions submissive.

Evidently, the advertising industry has created unrealistic expectations through their advertising techniques.  And their techniques are effective.  Many teenage girls today are incredibly self-conscious and feel as though they are not pretty enough and never will be good enough.  They spend their money on the newest makeup, fashionable clothing, and magazines in an effort to feel accepted.  Likewise, young men feel the need to prove that they’re manly; if they don’t, they’ll likely be made fun of or insulted, so they buy fitness products, guns, video games, or sports gear.  Advertisers have mastered the art of manipulation, convincing teens that their products will complete them.  Also, their use of sex in ads makes it seem like it’s normal for teens to be sexually active – perhaps even expected.  In reality, less than half of teens aged 17 or younger are sexually active, but you’d never know that based off of ads geared towards adolescents (“In Brief: Fact Sheet”).

Advertising has become a major influence in the lives of today’s teenagers.  Thankfully not all ads are negative; many anti-drug ads (such as the famous anti-meth “Not even once” ads) are now posted in the halls of high schools and on roadsides in hopes of keeping kids from getting addicted to harmful drugs.  Nevertheless, it’s important for all of us – teens or not – to pay attention the kind of advertisements that we see and hear and to think about the messages they are truly sending us.  Then, it’s up to us to decide whether or not we agree with what those ads are really saying, and in the end, we all have to realize that products will never complete us or bring us true happiness.

Sources

Carney, Susan.  “Target Teens Tutorial.”  Sophia Learning.  23 Feb. 2007, n.p.  Web.  1 April 2014.

“In Brief: Fact Sheet.”  Guttmacher Institute.  June 2013.  Web.  2 April 2014.

 

Teens.Dating.Danger.

Undoubtedly the Internet has revolutionized the world, quickly becoming a part of our everyday lives and one of the primary ways we communicate.  Yet, the Internet has also become a source of great controversy, and perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of this Web-olution is online dating.  By 2013, online dating had become an industry that was worth at least $2 billion a year.  Today as many as 1/3 of relationships start online, so the industry is obviously seeing success; however, online encounters raise a lot of concerns as shady characters have just as much access to these sites as the rest of us (“Online Dating”).  Yet adults aren’t the only ones utilizing these sites anymore.

Most online dating sites are for adults only, allowing only those 18 and older to create profiles, but that hasn’t stopped the industry from reaching teens.  Teen-specific sites, such as the free site MyLOL.com, attract users as young as 13.  In fact, MyLOL is the most popular teen dating site and claims it attracts 300,000 members around the world.  They have sites for the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada.  Originally founded by an Australian 18-year-old, the site has gathered a lot of negative media, especially in the UK.  The site claims to be for teens, and contends it allows users aged 13 to 20 to sign up; however, an investigation in the UK revealed men in their mid-twenties and older were using the site under the guise of younger men.  In fact, a British man was arrested last year for using the site to sexually abuse two teen girls.

Benjamin Spratt was a 28-year-old cab driver from Essex.  He used MyLOL to meet a 14-year-old girl and afterward met her at her home in Sutton to sexually abuse her.  But she wasn’t the only teen girl he communicated with on the site, and he also managed convince a 15-year-old to engage in sexual activity online.  Spratt was arrested and investigated, revealing his communications with numerous girls through MyLOL.  He pleaded guilty to “four counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of sexual activity with a child and two other sexual offences” and was sentenced on April 25, 2013 (“Paedophile jailed”).  So obviously, despite the site’s claims that users over 20 will be banned, men over 20 are still creating and maintaining profiles and using them to contact teenage girls.

After reading articles about the site claiming that it was not well-regulated and that older men were using it, I decided to create my own account and do my own research.  When signing up, only the years 1994-2001 were available for selection.  You were required to create a username and password, put in your birth date, and provide an email; however, there was no email verification process, and the profile was readily accessible from the get-go.  Once I had created my profile I discovered that I could search for both males and females as old as 25, though I found profiles of men openly claiming to be as old as 26, and based off of their profile pictures, some of them were obviously much older than that.  When flipping through the girls’ profiles, I noticed that many of the pictures were of girls wearing only bikinis or shorts and sports bras, and sadly many of the photos cut off the girls’ faces, leaving only their torsos visible.  Clearly, not all of the terms listed on the site are enforced.  But what’s worse, when I started scrolling through a tab called “Shouts,” a 14-year-old boy wrote a post that simply said, “Nudes anyone?”  Many of the other “shouts” asked for FaceTime chats, and some coarsely talked about genitalia.  Now, I read through the Terms & Conditions listed (which is completely separate from the sign-up process, by the way), and all of these things were listed as prohibited, yet that doesn’t seem to be stopping them.

My MyLOL adventure mostly left me… Well, disturbed.  I’ll admit that I lied about my own age to make a profile (although I wouldn’t have had to), and I easily created and could have maintained my profile for quite some time.  But what was most disturbing was the things that some of these teens were saying and the fact that men openly claimed to be older than twenty but were still on the site.  It seems clear that anyone could use this site, whether they’re in the stated age range or not.  What’s even less comforting is the fact that MyLOL’s creator basically said there’s no way for them to discover pedophiles and that there’s nothing they can do.  Thankfully, it seems like the site has made improvements on their security in the past few years, but it is evidently still lacking.

MyLOL raises a lot of questions about teens and online dating.  Is it safe?  Is it smart?  Is it necessary?  Personally, my answer to all of these questions would be a resounding no.  Dating sites can be good, for adults.  Teens don’t need dating sites and shouldn’t be so worried about dating.  The teen years should be spent focusing on personal growth, education, and life goals, not on relationships, their rating, or how many matches they can get with total strangers.  Plus, teens are less discerning about who to trust than adults are.  So, in the end, online dating and teens seems like a dangerous combination.

Sources

“Online Dating Statistics & Facts.”  eSilverStrike Consulting Inc.  N.d., n.p.  Web.  17 March 2014.

Owen, Pamela and Bethany Wells.  “Teen dating website MyLOL.com – a ‘playground for paedophiles’ visited by more than 300,000 a month.”  Mirror News.  1 Feb. 2014, n.p.  Web.  17 March 2014.

“Paedophile jailed for nine years after abuse of girls in Sutton and Bromley.”  Newshopper.co.uk.  29 April 2013, n.p.  Web.  18 March 2014.

Mylol.com was also used in research.

Virtual

This week, I want to take some time to focus on the boys.  With so much attention being directed towards how women are affected by media, it can be easy to forget that men are also targeted and manipulated, and one of the biggest ways in which they are targeted is through video games.  (And don’t get me wrong, I know that there are plenty of girl gamers out there, but for today I just want to focus on the boys.)

My best friend and I were talking yesterday about Skyrim, and he was expressing concern about his younger brother playing it.  Skyrim, a fantasy game which can take several hundred hours of game play to complete (literally!), has now become one of the top 20 bestselling games of all time with over 20 million copies sold since 2011 (Peckham).  Since I’m not a gamer myself, I’ve never played it, but I still remember when it came out.  They played commercials for it on TV – commercials with graphics so lifelike that at first I thought I was watching a trailer for a movie.  It’s the only video game I’ve seen ads for that I can still remember and associate with the game three years later.  Essentially, it’s just a popular game with great graphics that you could play for as long as you like.  So what’s to be concerned about?  Well, my friend’s concern with this game in particular is that the game practically never ends, and his brother plays a lot.  (So much, in fact, that sometimes he skips meals to keep playing his games.)  But there are concerns that come from more than just Skyrim.

Now, before we get too much farther into this I do want to say that my goal is not to bash video games.  While I personally am not much of a gamer, I don’t believe that video games are inherently bad; however, I do believe that, like many other things, they have the potential to be.  That being said, let’s take a deeper look at them.

Video games today can be accessed in a variety of different ways.  You can use gaming consoles like the Xbox or PlayStation, handheld gaming devices like the portable PlayStation, your computer, your iPad, or even your phone.  Obviously, video games are easily accessible, but video games also make us accessible as they are increasingly connected to the Internet.  While being connected online makes it easy for gamers to interact with each other and creates a social network, it also allows “gaming companies [to] research and analyze how… young gamers play and what choices they make” (Videogames).  This then allows those companies to shape a gamer’s experience.  And their spending.

Late last year, an NPR interview of three boys (aged 10-13) and their mothers revealed some real causes for concern.  One of the boys said that his iPad was totally “loaded up” with games, and one mother stated that her son could “play Xbox for 12 straight hours” (Videogames).  With the gaming industry so in tune to what boys are doing, this abundance of gaming could be quite costly.  See, game developers are discovering that they can design games in a way that brings in even more money than before, charging for virtual goods such as weapons, forts, etc.  And, what many of us probably don’t realize is that developers run tests on gamers, introducing changes that will teach them how to get people to play longer, spend more money, and have more fun.  But, the more fun games get and the longer they can be played, the more parents worry.

The mothers in the NPR interview discussed how much they hated video games.  It bothers them that video games are made to penalize you if you stop, making their sons reluctant to turn them off.  It’s disquieting that their sons spend so much time playing video games and that they can even be reduced to tears when the console gets shut down.  And many parents are becoming concerned with the amount of money their children are spending on games.  Apple even “recently settled a class-action lawsuit about kids making in-app purchases… without their parents’ permission,” and the European Union is brainstorming new rules for games (Videogames).

It seems pretty obvious that game developers are mastering the art of manipulation.  And teens, who are quickly becoming a larger percentage of the gamer population, need to be aware that they are being targeted.  NPR’s advice?  They say that both parents and teens need to be aware that “when kids sit down with a videogame today, they’re not just zoning out in there, all alone. There are very smart people on the other side of that screen…  A few may have an agenda. Most just want to make a great game, but they’re all paying close attention to how kids play and doing their best to make it very hard to stop” (Videogames).

Sources

How Videogames are Getting Inside Your Head – and Wallet. Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio, 2013. ProQuest. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Peckham, Matt. “At 20 Million Copies Sold, Skyrim Is in the Top 20 Bestselling Games of All Time.”  TIME.  WordPress.  27 Jan. 2014, n.p.  Web.  11 Mar. 2014.

Connected and Depressed?

Most of us have one.  That oh-so-wonderful account that keeps us connected to our friends and family and gives us a look into the lives of those closest to us – and sometimes of those not so close to us.  You probably know what I’m talking about: the shining social media site named Facebook.

Facebook does many wonderful things.  It allows us to conveniently keep in touch with family or friends who are far away.  We can share our photos, update our statuses, and chat with our friends all we want.  We can even “Facebook stalk” people to get more information about them, providing their security settings allow us to.  Yes, Facebook obviously has mass appeal with its one billion (and climbing) users.  But is Facebook really all its cracked out to be?  Sure, it has plenty of benefits, but not everything Facebook can do is good for you.

I’m sure this comes as no shock to you.  After all, I think many of us agree that Facebook – and social media in general – is not always beneficial, but now research is beginning to reveal even more of the dangers of social media.  Within the past two years, studies have begun to suggest that Facebook can actually cause depression in teens.  Researchers have even coined the term “Facebook depression” as a result of their studies, which suggests that maybe it’s a bigger issue than we realize (Sloviter).

There’s a lot of debate on the issue still.  After all, with so many different factors affecting depression, it can be hard to determine what causes it and what doesn’t.  Nevertheless, more and more people are becoming convinced that Facebook does in fact contribute to depression.  But why?

Well, the answer is quite simple really:  Facebook often provides a skewed view of reality.  For the most part, Facebook users post only the best things.  A picture of good times with friends here, an inspiring post about family there…  You know the drill.  Very few of us are interested in airing our dirty laundry on the site, so we avoid posting those things that may not be as pretty.  So, all of our Facebook friends get this idea that our life is good, maybe even that it’s always good.  Add those “in-your-face friends’ tallies,” and it’s easy to see how someone could start feeling bad about their own imperfect reality (Tanner).

Now, if you’re a Facebook user and you’re beginning to feel concerned, it may not be time for you to delete your account just yet.  Most studies pointing to Facebook depression have found that it’s most common in teenagers who are “obsessed” with the site, and that the majority of these teens already had bad self-esteem before joining.  For a teen who already feels bad about themselves, seeing friends’ status updates and cheery photos can “be more painful than sitting alone in a crowded school cafeteria or other real-life encounters” (Tanner).

So what does this mean, then?  Should teens stop using Facebook?  Should those with low self-esteem be restricted in their Facebook usage?  Not necessarily.  However, it is important for all of us to understand that “the way [we] feel about what [we] see on social media is based on how [we] feel about [our]selves” and for us to be aware of the feelings we have prior to and when using social media (Wiedemann).  Parents of teens should be aware of Facebook and all its benefits and dangers.  And, perhaps most importantly, every one of us – teen or not – should realize that it’s okay to “unplug” from social media.  If you find you’re getting upset or starting to feel bad about your life, it might be time to log off the Internet and enjoy your own life, with all of its beauty and all of its imperfections.

Sources

Sloviter, Vikki.  “Diagnosis: Social Media Syndrome.”  Pediatrics for Parents 27.5 (2011): 30-1. ProQuest. Web. 4 March 2014.

Tanner, Lindsey.  “Docs warn about teens and ‘Facebook depression.'”  The Associated Press.  NBC News.  29 March 2011, n.p.  Web.  3 March 2014.

Wiedemann, Katie.  “New Study Suggests Link Between Facebook and Depression.”  KCRG.com.  Cedar Rapids Television Company.  7. Nov, 2013, n.p.  Web.  4 March 2014.

Convergence in Advertising

When faced with this week’s assignment, I found myself at a little bit of a loss.  After all, my blog focuses mostly on how media affects teenagers instead of on one specific mass medium.  How was I supposed to talk about convergence if my blog is not medium-specific?  After pondering this dilemma for awhile, it hit me:  One thing that teenagers can’t avoid in this day and age is advertising.  Advertisers spend billions of dollars a year on ads targeting teenagers, and they use multiple media channels to get their ads out there.  That’s convergence right there!  Therefore, today’s blog will focus on convergence in advertising geared toward teens.

In the “Zits” comic above, teenager Jeremy finds himself choked, barraged, bludgeoned, and harassed by advertisements; and these advertisements come from his computer, his phone, his television, and his music player.  Perhaps this seems absurd to you, but when I first saw this comic in the Longmont Times Call in January, I was struck by the accuracy of what this comic is portraying.  A teenager myself, I find I’m surrounded by ads.  It seems that no matter where I turn, some corporation is trying to get my attention, and marketers are beginning to infiltrate seemingly every channel of media.

Some channels of advertising aren’t new.  Television, for instance, has been a major channel for many years, with its first advertisement airing in 1941 (“History of TV Ads”).  Other channels, however, are virtually unmarked territory.  The invention of the Internet, apps, and the rising popularity of smart phones have introduced a new frontier for ads, and advertisers are gladly pioneering these new, lucrative channels.

Ads are seen (or heard) everywhere now.  Television, radio, magazines, billboards, Google searches, Facebook, gaming apps, etc.  They even work their way into movies and TV shows.  This kind of convergence makes advertising absolutely unavoidable for everyone, but especially for teens who spend the majority of their time using mass media.

On average, teens spend seven and a half hours a day using media – that’s about half of their waking hours!  And more and more of their time is spent on their phones (Ahuja).  With the rise of smart phones, which have access to practically every channel of advertising mentioned in the previous paragraph, one can only imagine how many advertisements the average teen sees in one day.

Advertising, then, paints a perfect picture of this type of convergence, making it obvious that an industry can use all of the mass media channels to its advantage.  The other type of convergence, however, doesn’t seem to be prevalent in advertising.  Either there isn’t much information about the biggest names in advertising or there aren’t many names that totally overpower the rest of the industry.  (Or I just couldn’t find the information.)  Nonetheless, every company today is concerned with advertising.  If you have something to sell, you need to know how to market it.  Perhaps it is for this reason that I could not find any larger-than-life names in the advertising industry.

You can find plenty of big names that use advertising – Disney, Prada, Audi, T-mobile, Budweiser, ______ (insert company name here).  I’m sure nearly every company, big or small, has a hand in advertising.  Yet, there doesn’t seem to be one, or even a few, advertising companies that have risen to the top and dominated.

Thus, the advertising industry has mastered convergence in one respect, but seems to be nearly nonexistent in the other.  But perhaps there are advertisers out there who dominate the industry, and they just remain unnamed – the silent machines that bring companies their greatest success.  Either way, it is undeniable that advertisers are a force to be reckoned with.  They have clearly marked their territory, and they bombard teens aggressively every day.  So maybe that “Zits” comic is ridiculous and comical.  Or maybe it’s not so silly after all.

Sources

Ahuja, Masuma.  “Teens are spending more time consuming media, on mobile devices.”  The Washington Post.  13 March 2013, n.p.  Web.  25 February 2014.

“History of TV Ads.”  Quality Logo Products, Inc.  N.d., n.p.  Web.  25 February 2014.

Comic taken from:  http://zitscomics.com/comics/january-20-2014/

Seventeen

If you’ve ever stood in line at a grocery store then you’ve seen them – magazines’ bold claims that could make any woman reach for her wallet.

“Get fit fast!”

“Ten steps to a new you!”

“Lose five pounds in a week!”

And the list goes on.  But what’s so bad about these claims?  After all, we should be fit and healthy, right?  And there’s nothing wrong with self-improvement!  So what’s the issue?

Well, take a look at this cover of Seventeen published in February of this year:

Seventeen, a magazine geared toward 12-19 year old girls, reaches 3,908,000 teens (“Readers”).  It often makes promises of chances to win expensive shopping sprees and gives teen girls hope for popularity.  This magazine in particular apparently gives tips on how to look “hot” and will help teens take “selfies” that are guaranteed to get them “likes.”  It is magazines like these that make you question what messages we’re sending our teenage girls.

At the same time that this magazine shares the story of one actress’s conquering of an eating disorder, it shouts (in much larger letters, of course) “get an insane body!”  Some might find this more than slightly ironic.  Seeing Seventeen and other magazines like it, it becomes obvious that being hot and having the best wardrobe is essential to life if you’re a teen girl.  As is getting “likes” on Facebook, because after all, you’re only as liked as your likes say you are.

See, the problem is that this magazine and the industry it represents tell millions of teenage girls that they aren’t good enough.  It tells them that they need all the best makeup and the most stylish clothing in order to be the best.  They’re not pretty enough, and they never will be until they embrace the products and conform to the ideas being offered.  And our teen girls eat it up because they want to be the best, and they want to feel accepted, and they want to be beautiful.  But they never will be.  Not if the image that they shoot for is the same image that is painted so prettily on the cover of teen magazines.

Interestingly, the ideal woman’s body that we see in advertising is “possessed naturally by only 5% of American females” (“Eating Disorder Statistics”). It’s no mystery, then, why so many teenage girls starve themselves or why girls suffer from the same eating disorders as this famous woman displayed on the cover of February’s Seventeen.  The ideal is unreachable, but it’s not because teenage girls are inadequate.  It’s because perfection has been made into a Photoshopped picture of pretty; it simply defies reality.

Thankfully, this is a problem that people are taking note of, and there are some who are taking a stand by creating advertisements where the images aren’t modified so extremely.  Perhaps, if more players in this industry would follow this pattern, our young girls could come to know that they are beautiful, and no magazine rack could tell them otherwise.

Sources

“Eating Disorders Statistics.”  National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.  N.d., n.p.  Web.  17 Feb. 2014.

“Readers.”  Hearst Corporation.  N.d., n.p.  Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Image Source:

“Troian Bellisario Covers February 2014 Issue of Seventeen Magazine.” Shopping Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.