Advertising blog
Advertising is something that is all around us. Products that are actually bad for us require a different form of advertising than what were used to seeeing. Those products would include cigarettes, alcohol, fast food, and the like. Cigarette companies try to sell their product through advertising by making it look cool to smoke, when in reality, anyone who smokes is really killing themselves. They show social situations where people are smoking cigarettes and give the allusion that smoking will make you popular or more liked by people. Cigarette ads appeal to people’s desire to be well-liked and “cool”. Alcohol companies use similiar methods in order to sell their products. We all know that alchohol has damaging effects on your liver and many other things, but including that in ads would be no way to sell a product. Instead they also show images of beautiful people drinking their alcohol in either social or nonsocial environments. The ads give the allusion that if you drink that particular alcohol, people will think that you’re classy, sophisticated, and more importantly, popular. Smirnoff once had a commercial that claimed when there was a test done to see how that product compares to the other top shelf vodkas. The commercial claimed that Smirnoff was liked much more than other vodkas such as Grey Goose and Kettle One. This method of advertising was useful to them because people saw that their vodka was good but didn’t have to hear about the damaging effects it can have on an individual. Another product that is not particularly good for you is fast food. The ads trying to sell fast food also appeal to people’s desire to be popular or cool. They show groups of people sitting around eating their fast food. Also, often times they will actually show the food on the ad, but make it look much better than you would actually get it if you were to go order it from that place. When people are hungry and they see an ad on tv or in a newspaper or billboard, they will be drawn to want to go there and get it.
By: Matthew Rosso
Who are you and what is your source?
~Jenna G.
What people seem to overlook is that many people don’t care if these things are harmful or damaging to their bodies. It’s the people that don’t do so that give it a bad name. Not everybody dies of lung cancer from smoking, just as not everybody dies from liver failure from drinking. Moderation is the key. Smoking, drinking, and fast food really are pleasurable to many people, and advertisers cater to this.
Mike Stoll
I agree with Mike on this one, it’s almost like we as a society are drawn toward masochism. For instance; alcohol is the most harmful substance to our bodies, it is a proven fact, and yet people pride themselves in what they drink, or the quantity of it.
–Justin Zajdel