Media Pitfalls

Jasmin Obadencio
October 12, 2011
FD2


Society is persuaded by a number of factors, particularly in the mass media. We are faced with the pros and cons of each, but these ads do more then just advertising. They also put pressure on our self-image and self esteem. Society was born with advertising and we rely on it for information. [THESIS] Yet, the extent of publicizing ads, has taken a grasp on the vast majority to change to fit media. Therefore, ads have a negative impact on consumers. [THESIS]


Tiffany Gushiken states “ Ads have become so integrated into our environment and culture that many people accept the messages without thinking.” In this quote, she brings out how easy it is for a person to be fooled. Also, how we are all not reading between the lines. Being a self-investigator however, helps you understand a lot what the advertisement ignored to tell you. We all judge a book by its cover that gets taken advantaged of, and we are often left disappointed. The error occurs when we go by our first instinct without consideration. Another quote stated by Carmen Lee, “ “ads often exaggerate in order to impress their viewers.” This expresses exactly what ads are doing. Enthusiastically, they want you to believe what you see. They arouse your interest and play at what makes people feel good. Commercials get to us all the time, its willpower that we need to not let it shape us.


Even though the good side of media has its benefits, the bad will inevitably always play a bigger role. One person might outsmart the media, but there are a million others who succumb to it. It’s definitely an effective way to promote, but it doesn’t outweigh the ads that consumers feed on. Last week, I came across a commercial on YouTube. It starts with a woman in a bathing suit running through the forest. Seconds later, more women in bathing suits are racing her. In the mean time, women are swimming across the ocean and others are climbing down the rocks. In the last fifteen seconds of the commercial, there’s a guy with just shorts on standing on the beach with axe in both hands spraying all over himself. Seeing the mass of women in bathing suits running to him from all angles, his eyes widen and a big smile forms on his face, continuing to spray himself with axe. Then closing his eyes, he puts his head up, arms opened wide. The commercial cuts off when the masses of women are closing down on him in the matter of seconds. Finally ends with a quote, “spray more, get more, the Axe effect.” The type of fallacy this ad demonstrates is Non Sequitor because women, particularly attractive, have nothing to do with axe. The method they used was to exaggerate the greatness of Axe. Promoting Axe in such a way only appeals to men in an unbehavioral manner. Of course consumers are going to get it, almost every one of their commercials have women being strongly attached to the scent. I like to say Axe commercials promote what every women wants on a man, which isn’t true. Also, the commercial is judgmental only because they used what would attract consumers, which are attractive women. Its all about being fit to look good and not disappoint viewers, as long as they get their share after investing so much to make the commercial itself.


Comparing the past with today, the media has tripled in their resources. Now you can be informed no matter where you are. Before, I remember advertisements were kept simple and they still got their message out without even adding the unnecessary details. As the years progressed, the media flourished unambiguously to more entertainment, informative, and humor, sometimes images consumers want to copycat. Don’t get me wrong, we all love entertainment and humor. However, the way it’s displayed, consumers feed on. It then becomes, “ I want this because it will make me look better like the woman in the commercial.” Nonetheless, what you see is not always the results you are expecting. Burger King commercials are a good example. In it, they display big juicy burgers that look mouth watering, but then when you go to buy it, the burger looks skimpy. Again, it’s not what you expected because you judged by the commercial that exaggerated a thick juicy burger. It’s the wants and needs the media concentrates on, and with no self-control there’s flaws.


Wherever we are, there are advertisements from billboards, commercials, radio, newspapers and numerous other mediums. Most of it is gossip, some recalling tragic events, and a big one we all are suckered in, ads promoting the unthinkable. But, we need to step back and realize these ads have special effects added to them, and those models that are skinny with flawless skin are paid to impose a picture perfect advertisement. Ads can also be unhealthy. Between home and my workplace, I drive past five fast food restaurants in a 5-minute time span. Just recently, my friend mentioned that her cigarettes are now ten dollars each. Those that promote “tobacco is unhealthy” are not going to solve the problem by raising the cost of tobacco even higher. Same with alcohol. It’s an addiction, once hooked on it’s difficult to quit. Anti-smoking ads can help some, but not the vast majority. With undeveloped maturity, children are oblivious to the realm of technology. Not only the adults are obese, children are getting obese and sucked in video games as early as five years old. Adults perceive things on a higher level of understanding, and children have no way of knowing right from wrong. With parenting and support, it can help guide them, but they still will approach numbers of advertisements no matter where they go. If parents can keep up the advising with their children, then they can be smart for themselves too. However, the media is so huge, that children would need to live in a box in order to not come across the bad influences of the media. With consideration, we all need to be our own investigator in perceiving right from wrong. The nation won’t stop, but we can be smarter then that.


Altogether, the media through advertisements and commercials will continue to put “ad-pressure” on consumers. It doesn’t make us a better person, but instead a naïve individual. Pulling yourself back from all that and doing research, prospers your awareness for certain aspects of every ad heard and seen. Advertisements and commercials are a bad influence on society, no doubt whatsoever.



Gushiken, Tiffany. “ 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.

Lee, Carmen. “Ads Pros and Cons.” Online Posting Sept 2011. Laulima Discussion
https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.XLSENG215js.201210/page/70638c63-3d48-4275-828a-7e37acace01e.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tWZB7OUSU. “The Axe Effect-Women-Billions.” You Tube. 3 Oct 2006. Web. 29 Sept. 2011

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
_L__ Sep. 26- Complete readings for paper #2.
_x__ Sep. 30- Laulima Discussion: Logical Fallacies Exercise
_x__ 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.