Marketing Essay Research Paper The media affects

Marketing Essay, Research Paper The media affects everyone in one way or another. Some affects are strong and some are weak, but it?s always there. Nobody can get away from the media, there are too many forms of it hidden in many different disguises. It can come in the the form of television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies, posters, billboards, and even books. There is no hiding from it, but it?s not always a bad thing that media is so accessible either. It does have a positive side; T.V. shows can help a person learn a language faster, newspapers inform people of what?s going on, radios and movies provide a lot of entertaintment. But, they also take up a lot of time-too much of anything isn?t good. That is not the only problem though, many of the ideas expressed in the informative forms of the media are probably going to be biased. These are only a few of the many issues dealing with the media. Filled with so many points and contradictions, there is no possible solution that will satisfy everyone. The affects of media is too wide a topic to discuss in one essay; they range from politics to stereo-types and soda to toys. The topic this essay will deal with is mass commercialism in the media. Mass commercialism or mass marketing is present everywhere. Businesses always find a way to make themselves shown to the unsuspecting public. If one way of advertising becomes too used and no longer has an affect, an alternative way is discovered. Commercials on T.V. are very annoying and people who are ?aware? aren?t much affected by them, although repitition of something can really make it stick in someone?s mind. Advertising to adults is a very big business and so, it is also obviously very effective. Children, on the other hand, are a completely different case. Most children are aware that when they watch a commercial they are really just watching a commercial, but they don?t have their defences up and probably think it has a sense of reality to it. If they see a kid eating something on T.V. that is sooo delicious, then it probably really does taste good, it looks really good anyway. And, of course childrens friends will of course have already tried the product, that plus the commercial make it seem like a very desirable thing. So, it?s not that all kids give in to commercials, but one friend will and envy is bound to come next. Marketing to children is something that is done almost constantly everywhere. There is a sub-culture for kids that is fed by and feeds this type of mass marketing. It?s a fact that children cann be influenced by television. The violent and aggressive programmes may trigger that sort of behaviour in them. The educational programmes can teach younger children to recognize numbers, letters, and words more easily. Different types of programmes can influence children, and while they are watching them, they are also watching many different advertisements directed at them. They don?t always realize the time and effort put into the commercials, but see ?real? kids having fun. A very good example to show how deeply markting can leave it?s mark is the all-famous Barbie. Almost every girl can recall having Barbie dolls as a child. How could one doll be so popular, so wanted and so adored by so many? She is a plastic mold with bright rayon hair. She is a replica of a adult female. Weird, not all adult females have bodies like that, do they? Okay, she is the ?standard? model, what they are supposed to look like. Enough sarcasim, Barbie gets her personality from her name, clothes, and commercials. little girls don?t see her as baby doll or stuffed animal that they can love and take care of in a motherly way, but they see her as a means to fantasize about their future-self. When they play they are living out a fantasy, they can act out what they?ll be like in the future, their life-style, carreer, personality, style,…maybe even looks. So what if a little girl?s hair isn?t as bright as Barbie?s and her eyes don?t shine so brightly when smiles (which would have to be all the time )? Is she not pretty enough then? Not all girls actually compare themselves with her, but she is made to look perfect of someone?s idea of perfect. People can easily believe that what Barbie looks like is beautiful or desirable because why else would so many dolls be made to look like that. If she wasn?t thought to be perfect, then she would have been perfected, it must be the ideal (that was all sarcastic, but it gives an idea on why young girls would believe that). The advertisements give her life, her clothes give her personality. Of course, a child can use their imagination to make her the way they want, but she?ll forever have that sparkly, smiling face and rayon hair. Barbie has been around for a while now, so most people find it natural for a little girl to whine over a new Barbie doll she wants, but what about these new pop groups aimed at pre-teens and younger kids? One of these groups is the Spice Girls.Whoever is trying to make to make them lokk good to young girls is only giving them a bad name to older people.There is so much ridiculous merchandise being sold. Young girls seem to love it, but it makes the group seem like a big, expensive commercial to most others. Spice Girls are everywhere, their name and their images can?t be missed. What makes them so popular with little girls? Well, one reason might be their tendency to show up everywhere. Whenever one walks into a store: Spice Girls! When the T.V. is turned on: Spice Girls! On the radio: Spice Girls! Flipping through the pages of a magazine: Spice Girls! When something is put out there so much and is so avalaible, it begins to grow on people who havn?t built up strong defences against it. Others just give up and go with the flow. As a singing group, the Spice Girls are fine, but when it comes to the stressing of their image (which doesn?t really live up to their motto ? Girl Power !?), their products, their personal lives and everything else other than their music, that?s when it get out of hand. If the Spice Girls are a singing group then why all these products that have nothing to do with singing? The shoes, the candy, the clothes, the make-up, the stickers, the dolls, and all sorts of other products that bear their name are obviously there for the sole purpose of making money. If Spice Girls fans looked at them critically, they would see what kind of a big advertisement this all really is. There are other, biggere influences of marketing reflected in children. Nike, Addidas, Fila, Reebok, are all good quality brand names. They are expensive, but trustworthy and dependable (most of the time anyway) and designed especially for athletes. So what are so many kids doing wearing these brand names? Surely they?re not all athletes?! No, they aren?t, but they are in style. Sport brand names are very popular, and because of that, a person is guaranteed to be wearing the ?right? thing when wearing them. Sports are obviously very popular, it is even a major business and promises a lot of money. Athletes are role models for many young children. They wear certain products and are also paid to advertise them. Accordingly, these products or name brands are going to be wanted by fans. Nothing is really wrong with this chain, it seems natural enough. People buy clothes they need and the company makes it?s profits. It is clear to see how the company can take advantage of this situation, it can make more desired products, raise prices, make more commercials, sponsor more athletes/role models, and continue with this cycle. Another problem is that younger and younger kids are beginning to become concerned with style and buying brand name clothing. They grow very fast and if parents are to buy stylish, expensive clothes for their kids so early on there is going to be some very heavy spending. It seems that younger kids are starting to experience more peer-pressure, from big issues like drugs, smoking, and extreme dieting to superficial things like clothing and appearance. The only ones that profit are multi-million (billion?) dollar enterprises encouraging this kind of behaviour by merchandising all kinds of products