I understand that some people consider themselves people who can ignore advertisements and all their effects. But in truth the more I have studied advertising, the more I am convinced that no one can really go unaffected by advertisements. This is because advertisements understand how to appeal to one’s desires, something that we as people cannot always control. By appealing to our wants and desires, advertisements have the unique ability to help shape what we want in life. This is a scary control advertising has over its consumers. I think that as an individual, you must be aware of what you are seeing, because there is a bigger story behind that ad if you pay close attention.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Blog Post Four: Advertisers
I have always been incredibly interested in advertising. I find advertisers' ability to manipulate, persuade, and encourage consumers to buy or behave in certain ways incredibly fascinating. Little do we understand as a society just how big an impact advertising really has on our lives and thoughts. Ads and media play are gigantic part in gender roles. For example if a strong, good-looking man is posed with some type of soap or wearing some particular hat, from that moment on other males will admire those products because they might be fooled into believing that using that soap or wearing that hat makes them more of a man.
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You point out the significant impact of advertisements on our daily life. In this era of contextual and behavioral display advertising, advertisers have more strategies to catch viewers' eye and persuade them to buy their products. So it is wise to think twice before we are attracted to buy some goods that have little use or aren't really suitable for us.
ReplyDeleteYour point of how advertisements appeal to our desires is very important I think. Ads sell fantasy as a persuasion method to draw in consumers. I find the fact that knowing our desires is more important than product itself very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you are absolutely right that people should look deeper into the advertisement story before actually buying the "dream image." Many times people cannot even afford that lifestyle they desire and often see in commercials. So ads just making them go into debt to get the brand things which are linked to the common idea of success in the society. But the fashion clothes or particular car do not always make people happy that's why it is important to think twice before buying them. People could spend those money on travelling or education to broaden their world outlook, which in the end would bring them much more satisfaction than just following their consumer hunger.
ReplyDeleteI read a really interesting book called "Unspun" by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson that you would find interesting. They look into the way media and advertisement manipulate their audiences to believe information that isn't really true. They target our desires and insecurities, like you point out here.
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