Advertisements are the weapons of consumerism. Today, you see ads everywhere urging you to buy any one of the gazillion products out there. A good ad is a cool thing to see, unfortunately, most ads are dirt-poor in quality and tend to dissuade a potential customer from purchasing a product instead of buying it. A good ad depicts the genius of the marketing team of that product. Bad ads are all too common, unfortunately, most people are more gullible than I am and get hooked. Their own faults, everyone's got to make money somehow. If you're smart enough to convince someone to buy a product without lying, kudos to you. Business is business.

Ads aim at the minds of the consumer. Ever flip through Maxim or Playboy and see those alcohol ads? What do they have? Two choices here.

  • A semi-nubile woman.
  • A pack of young, well-groomed, nicely dressed guys hanging out having a drink.

    It's infallible. The audience here is male, aged 18-49, and this is exactly what they want. Beautiful isn't it? I'm not surprised corporations spend billions on ads, because it takes research into psychology, the subconscious and conscious thought process, sampling of the population, and God knows how many other things before they can conclude at just what the customer wants exactly, then put it in an appealing way to convince the sucker to buy your stuff.

    Here's another one. Watch any ad aimed at teens. Flip through Y&M or Seventeen, or watch MTV. What do you see?

  • Beautiful young vapid people. It's a must. I love those clearasil ads, how the people didn't even have pimples in the ads. I love it.

  • Anti-authority, be it parents or teachers, doesn't matter. Here's an example. There was a series of tampon ads I saw on MTV a while back that declared "Would you rather stay home with your parents or go out in a swimsuit wearing a tampon instead of a pad?" These ads appeal to frustrated adolescents who think they're mature but aren't. Really, as if wearing that brand of tampon will give them freedom from their parents, but oh well, it worked on gullible 13 year-old teeny boppers, so who cares?

  • They must be doing something cool. I don't know, like hanging out, or dancing, or something. Ever see the "Mellow Yellow" Gap ad? They're all stoned out of their heads (or they look to be), and that appeals to high schoolers

    Ka-ching! Cash registers go crazy. The Gap corporation has probably exploited the MTV generation with ads the most successfully out of all the companies out there, and made crazy profits doing it. Their marketing people know their stuff and execute beautifully.

    Ah, the joys of capitalism. If you're smart, you make a killing. Wonderful, isn't it?

  • Advertisement is a euphemism , a nice word, a polite way of saying "chew on this, it won't bite!". Adverts are made up of little peoples thoughts, jumping around together acting in unison to unleash their symbols, logos, slogons, and any other semantic tools upon consumers. They are everywhere; your bathroom, your workplace, your schools, and even your dreams. Nothing can stop them now, not even themselves, for they are a force that cannot be stopped.

    Adverts are members of the ideological union and unlike most unions adverts never go on strike, they are ceaseless in their pursuit of imprinting symbols (with meaning) onto the brains fragile consciousness.

    Adverts can play tricks. They frequently make a person buy a product they never wanted to have, for this is their power. Even though product x might not be of any use to you, you still want it because advert x made you buy it.

    Adverts create values which others follow. The ideological role of the media (according to adverts) influences the way in which people decode advertisements. This means the media is a powerful player in the determination of our thoughts, up to the point where they can get to control our thoughts, and similarly our lives.

    Ad*ver"tise*ment [F.avertisement, formerly also spelled advertissement, a warning, giving notice, fr. avertir.]

    1.

    The act of informing or notifying; notification.

    [Archaic]

    An advertisement of danger. Bp. Burnet.

    2.

    Admonition; advice; warning.

    [Obs.]

    Therefore give me no counsel: My griefs cry louder than advertisement. Shak.

    3.

    A public notice, especially a paid notice in some public print; anything that advertises; as, a newspaper containing many advertisement.

     

    © Webster 1913.

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