Lisa Rodrigues
October 26, 2011
RFD2
The Drawbacks of Advertising
Advertisements are everywhere, you can’t escape it. You see it on the television, hear it on the radio, see them in the newspaper and while browsing the internet, you may even have the dreaded pop up. Some ads can be very entertaining, making us laugh, some are somber. Whatever impressions ads leave on us, do ads or commercials ultimately have a negative impact on our lives? [THESIS] Yes, ads or commercials have a negative impact on our lives.[THESIS]
On one of my day’s off, I watched my ten year old niece. She loves to watch Nickelodeon. That particular station has many commercials geared to kids. The commercial I am about to describe clearly screamed bandwagon. The commercial starts off with children singing “Wuggle Pets” with clips of the pets, monkey, raccoon, dragon, bunny, puppy etc being made by a little machine that comes with the kit. You put the stuffing in the machine, turn the crank and watch the pet get filled with stuffing. You can even put into the pet some “magic dust” (glitter stars), and or a voice recording of a special message you make. All the while, the children singing in the back ground, a lady speaking of what is included in the kit and clips of the pets being made or shown hanging from backpacks (they have clips attached to the pets). The kit also comes with a birth certificate. One kit is nineteen ninety five plus shipping. You can have a parent call to inquire of party kits too. My niece loved going to Build a Bear and now that it’s gone this was the answer to what’s missing. She nagged me for over an hour to order the product for her. Commercials create a “want” in us to order things that we really do not need. Did she really need to have this kit? No, she has many bears from her many visits to Build A Bear. However, since that store has closed, she now needed this item to fill a void.
Several years ago a new product came out on the market for men. Axe body spray, Clix scent. The commercial features Nick Lachey walking about town when he comes across a woman who sticks her finger into the foam of her coffee then sticks her finger in her mouth. He clicks, his clicker. His next stop at a store nets a flirtaous look from a woman, he clicks. Dry cleaning place, woman flirts, he clicks. Music store, two women flirt, double clicks on his clicker. Shoe store, woman flirts, he clicks, doorman flirts? Puzzled look, he clicks. Standing on the street a bus full of college women stops, they flirt and he clicks away. In the restaurant, women flirt, he clicks away. Then he’s shown walking into an elevator with a delivery guy in it. He shows the delivery guy his clicker with the number of women that flirted with him that day, the guy shows his (it has more) the commercial ends showing us the delivery guy spraying Axe on himself before he leaves for work. This commercial is faulty use of authority and bandwagon. That is just one of many Axe commercials. Tag is a competitive brand but has the same concept. The product draw is that if you use their product you will attract women. After seeing those commercials, my son who wasn’t even a teen wanted me to buy him some. This is a bad thing as it makes the guy look out to be a ladies man, he may actually think the scent will attract women. Maybe my son thought if he wore that spray that the girls would like him. I did buy it for him to promote good hygiene. However, in my opinion the smell was unattractive.
Let’s not forget McDonald’s commercials. Those ever popular Happy Meals. They advertise the meal, hamburger, cheeseburger or a four piece chicken nugget with french fries and a small soft drink. Or these days, you can get a mighty kids meal which is a happy meal but super-sized for kids. So a hamburger would be a double hamburger or a cheeseburger would be a double cheeseburger or instead of a four piece chicken nugget, they can get a six piece chicken nugget with small fries and a medium sized drink. Meals appeal to the children as it comes with a toy. McDonalds has used Beanie babies, Barbie, Hot Rods, etc to lure children into buying their product. In fact, during the Beanie Babies promotion, McDonalds also attracted adults. I must admit, I was one of them. I even had the option to buy the Beanie baby without the meal. But what good is that? McDonalds advertising followed the bandwagon. Something that every kid felt they had to have. Did it really make them happy? I don’t think so, well maybe just for the moment. It did cause children to want to eat unhealthy greasy food with a sugary drink by giving them a free toy. San Francisco has recognized this type of advertising to be a problem as they “forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar, and fat.”(Bernstein, par.2) “From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low income neighborhoods, at an alarming rate.”(Bernstein, par.4).
Fellow classmate Carmen Lee agrees “while most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing what they have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading. Ads exaggerate in order to impress their viewers. It is common to see an ad that makes you think it is too good to be true. “
Yes, ads and or commercials show us other options to similar products. Yes, they help stimulate the economy. However ads and or commercials can have a negative effect as we have a tendency to jump on the bandwagon. Companies use celebrities to as a way to encourage or entice us to buy their product. We spend money foolishly on things that we really do no need with money that we really don’t have.
Bernstein, Sharon “San Francisco Bans Happy Meals” Los Angeles Times 02 November 2010. 02 October 2011 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/02/business/la-fi-happy-meals-20101103
Lee, Carmen. “Ads Pros and Cons” Online posting 23 Sept 2011. Laulima Discussion https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201210/page/70638c63-3d48-4275-828a-7e37acace01e
Log of Completed Activities
_X__ Sep. 19- Intro to Paper #2. Read the Guidelines for Paper #2.
_X__ Sep. 23- Laulima Discussion: Ad Pros and Cons
___ Sep. 26- Complete readings for paper #2.
_X__ Sep. 30- Laulima Discussion: Logical Fallacies Exercise
_L__ Oct. 3- Submit RD2 [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.
_X__ Oct. 7- Submit three RD2 evaluations [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.
_X__ Oct. 12- Submit FD2 [125 pts]. Review the guidelines.
_X__ Sep. 19- Intro to Paper #2. Read the Guidelines for Paper #2.
_X__ Sep. 23- Laulima Discussion: Ad Pros and Cons
___ Sep. 26- Complete readings for paper #2.
_X__ Sep. 30- Laulima Discussion: Logical Fallacies Exercise
_L__ Oct. 3- Submit RD2 [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.
_X__ Oct. 7- Submit three RD2 evaluations [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.
_X__ Oct. 12- Submit FD2 [125 pts]. Review the guidelines.
