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