Topic > How Advertising Shapes the Perception of American Society

An advertisement is said to be the process of promoting the product to make sales through the application of impersonal media. It is one of the most important aspects of the social phenomenon throughout America as it stimulates economic activities, orientation to values ​​and certain lifestyles. Therefore, an advertisement is not only believed to shape the personal values ​​of society, but can completely distort them until society moves away from its principles. Because of advertising, an individual can be manipulated into purchasing a product even when he or she did not intend to have it. This is due to advertising's ability to shape that individual's perception of a particular product. In the United States, advertising is relied upon mainly whenever it is necessary to shape residents' perception on a certain topic. “The men and women of advertising still fight an uphill battle to assert their professional status and gain ethical respect.” Although advertising is objectively designed to enhance marketing strategies in purchasing goods, services and ideas, it is always criticized as it distorts and manipulates the mindset of those who are exposed and subjected to it. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Consumers are heavily confronted with outlets and substantial doses of daily advertising messages through available media content since an advertisement does not select the target indented segmentation. This is why Pope argues that “repetitive advertisements for familiar products often aim to short-circuit conscious consideration of purchase decisions.” Based on the continuous bombardment of marketing media, most researchers argue that society's perceptions, as well as individualism, are completely affected. The minds of potential consumers targeted by this advertising are changed and their opinions shaped. Unfortunately, the attitude towards a business purchase does not change immediately, but rather takes longer for the manipulation to reach its considerable effect. Commercial advertising usually targets potential audiences or consumers through presenting products in special ways. The purpose of this is to appeal to consumers' desires to present and create desire for the product. According to Schudson, "brands and advertising names remind potential customers that they are facing unavoidable things in their lives (most often reflecting societal desires which can serve as a way to manipulate perceptions within society). Furthermore, advertising philosophy regarding what effective advertising entails has changed over time. Perceptions of philosophy according to the interests and needs of the target audience have also changed. Furthermore, according to many researchers, advertising is currently said to be primarily designed to convey information by evoking. and provoking all the feelings of. Furthermore, it somehow associates their desires and expectations (both psychological and material) with the underlying product. When it comes to society's perception and the big picture, advertising is generally not good enough to be considered one of the attributes of harmful influence and be regulated accordingly. Therefore, consumers can be influenced to buy or not buy a product whether the product's advertising persuaded them or not, as Schudson reiterates. Advertising has an impact on the values ​​of society and many scholars and researcherssuggest that it is harmful to society. Since advertising spaces reflect society on some level, they also have the supposed effect of normalizing behavior and values. Across America, Americans are exposed to an average of five hundred to one thousand commercial messages. This is why Hayko argues that “There is no doubt that the media has become a very present force in the American way of life because of media freedom.” This indicates that advertising largely promotes extrinsic values ​​(values ​​that are based on the admiration and opinions of others) over intrinsic values ​​(values ​​that are based on a sense of belonging to family and personal development) as Hayko cements. Attaching greater importance to extrinsic values ​​worries society. Furthermore, extrinsic advertising is associated with higher levels of prejudice, lower concern for the environment, and weaker concern for human rights. Individuals who place greater importance on extrinsic values ​​usually report lower levels of personal well-being. According to Williams, “advertising sometimes has a negative impact on society; while it reflects society to some extent, it also has the effect of “normalizing” values ​​or behaviors (para. 4). He highlights a report indicating that “advertising can encourage society to save less, borrow more, work more, and consume greater quantities of material goods” (para. 4). Furthermore, inappropriate exposure of women through advertising has a negative impact on society's perception. There are numerous and endless debates against some forms of advertising. Advertising plays with the emotions of the general public and at the same time encouraging them to see the purchase and exhaustion of life's only activities. Materialism is highly emphasized through advertising which leads to dangerous consequences within society. Overall, society ignores social issues due to the underlying obsession in the process of satisfying new needs created by the media. Advertisements are perceived as cultural indicators, but in a distorted way, as they suggest both the aspirations and ambitions of the individuals involved. Advertisements that stereotype images of men are significantly influencing the gender attitudes expressed by men as soon as they are exposed to these images. Men always see ads in magazines with different male images based on how traditionally masculine they looked versus how androgynous they were. Men who were initially considered less traditional indicated extra traditional attitudes as this can be compared to any other group of exposure to traditionally male role models, even if they still represented non-traditional views. In turn, this forces men to come to distorted conclusions that men's non-traditional views of gender role are quite susceptible and unstable to existing momentary manipulations such as those seen within advertising contexts. Some authors, such as Pope, have pointed out that “regardless of whether advertising is good or bad for American society as a whole, most individuals will ultimately be influenced by advertisements since segmentation in advertising is rarely followed.” This is because individuals are stimulated on a subliminal level making them think and perceive in a way that is almost under the control of the media. Furthermore, a regulatory agency such as the Federal Trade Commission has argued that most advertisements target and exploit the young population or children to make easy money. However, the polemical debate has increased.