We come across advertising at least once a day. It might be on TV, newspapers, magazines, websites, grocery stores, shopping malls or schools. Advertising is important not only for sellers but for buyers, because they keep us updated with new information and trends. However, I cannot help feeling that recent advertising tries to brainwash us by feeding us fake and exaggerated images.
The place I usually see shady advertising is TV. The most common advertising in the US media would be weight loss products. These range from exercise DVD, exercise machines to some low-calorie foods. They usually advertise that everyone can lose pounds in just a few days to few weeks without any eating restrictions. How could this happen? Be calm, and think about it. If we can lose weight this easily, there would not be any people who go to the gym regularly to lose or maintain weight. A person actually needs to burn 7,200 calories in order to lose 1kg/2 pounds. Even if you reduce 250 calories a day, it would take 1 month to lose 1kg/2 pounds. If you need to lose weight fast, what makes it possible is decreasing the calorie intake everyday or doing exercises excessively.
Another suspicious advertising field is cosmetics. They make a pitch that their cosmetics make acne, scars, or rough skin disappear; however, their products are categorized cosmetics. Many people who have serious skin problems would have seen a doctor and used a medication which dermatologists have recommended. If cosmetics are superior to medicines, nobody would need dermatologists.
Kitchen tool advertising is also popular. They could be knife, blender, or pan, and very delicious looking food is the results of these demonstrations. Kitchen tools might play an important role for the dish-quality, but I think cooking skills are much more important. Sometimes food in the advertising is colored artificially and they cannot be eaten because they are made from paints or clays.
These advertisements are wrong and must be regulated by the law so that consumers would not fall prey to false advertisement. In my opinion, if people have media literacy skills and calmness to judge advertising, nobody would be deceived by advertising.
The place I usually see shady advertising is TV. The most common advertising in the US media would be weight loss products. These range from exercise DVD, exercise machines to some low-calorie foods. They usually advertise that everyone can lose pounds in just a few days to few weeks without any eating restrictions. How could this happen? Be calm, and think about it. If we can lose weight this easily, there would not be any people who go to the gym regularly to lose or maintain weight. A person actually needs to burn 7,200 calories in order to lose 1kg/2 pounds. Even if you reduce 250 calories a day, it would take 1 month to lose 1kg/2 pounds. If you need to lose weight fast, what makes it possible is decreasing the calorie intake everyday or doing exercises excessively.
Another suspicious advertising field is cosmetics. They make a pitch that their cosmetics make acne, scars, or rough skin disappear; however, their products are categorized cosmetics. Many people who have serious skin problems would have seen a doctor and used a medication which dermatologists have recommended. If cosmetics are superior to medicines, nobody would need dermatologists.
Kitchen tool advertising is also popular. They could be knife, blender, or pan, and very delicious looking food is the results of these demonstrations. Kitchen tools might play an important role for the dish-quality, but I think cooking skills are much more important. Sometimes food in the advertising is colored artificially and they cannot be eaten because they are made from paints or clays.
These advertisements are wrong and must be regulated by the law so that consumers would not fall prey to false advertisement. In my opinion, if people have media literacy skills and calmness to judge advertising, nobody would be deceived by advertising.
2 comments:
I agree that if everyone was able to accurately assess advertisements no one would be duped by them and perhaps the marketing departments of companies would have to play a little fairer. However, not everyone has the education or the desire to do this. Many people watch television, for instance, to be entertained. And although advertisements send out deceptive signals, the general public of America just doesn’t care. I find that many people don’t question advertising slogans or why they are the way they are because it’s just too much work when all you really want to do is watch C.S.I. And I think advertisers count on this; they can say a lot of things because much of the public won’t question it.
America is a very interesting case when it come to advertising especially health and beaty products. The results shown on screen should always be ssumed to tbe the minority of users or considered trained actors. Adam has a good point that people in America simply dont care about the truthfulness of the advertising of these products. We are living in a society where it is ok to go to Mcdonalds everyday while the ads for Mcdonalds are full of thin beautiful odels, clearly not the people who appear at the store daily.
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