1

THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING

Prepared for
Ms. Janet Attman
Instructor, BCOM 2050

Prepared by
Stacy Schmidt

Submitted
April 27, 2010

CONTENTS
Executive Summary.3
Introduction.....4
Financial Impact of Advertisement to Targeted Groups..5
Companies Methods of Attack.....5
Targeted Group........5
The Message.....6
Risks of Advertisement to Theses Groups.......7
Companies Loss and Gain........7
The Companies Reputations.........8
Hurt of the Companies..........8
Analysis Ethical Consideration vs. Free Market..9
Economies Values.9
The Principals of Mutual Benefits9
Conclusion...10
Works Cited.....11

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report talks about how the advertisement industry can influence a teens way of thinking.
Businesses are trying to promote the sales by placing advertisement in magazines, billboards,
online, television, and much more. Advertisements are everywhere, and companies are giving
away free merchandise as in t-shirts with the companys logo just to make a sale. Companies will
try just about any tactic to lock in a customer with the product.
Advertisements are made mostly for young teens, because they dont have to deal with financial
burdens yet and have money to spend on themselves. Teens are vulnerable to the advertisement
they see from online and the television. But the big targets are teen girl because they are insecure
of how they look and will try anything to make the appearance look better.
The message that the advertising companies are trying to send out are not always positive, most
of the time the message is negative. The bad is outweighing the good. The bad messages could
be harmful to the teens and effect there heath.
The risk of advertisement is a loss and gain type of thing. With at less 40 thousand ads per year
half of them being alcohol and tobacco use. The businesses that push the product on the teens
could also be harmful to the teens health.
Companies get a reputation from the products they sell to the ads they place in magazines. The
bigger the advertisement is with a famous celebrity will increase the chances of getting a higher
reputation by the young viewers. Once the companies get the young consumer hooked on their
products, the companies feel like they will keep the customer for a life time.
With new laws going in effect this week, there will be no more smoking in public places such as
bars, restraints, and office building. There is only one place allowing cigarette smoking and that
is the casinos. With that law in effect some cigarette companies might be affected with the
outcome. They are also planning on raising the sales tax on alcohol and tobacco products, this
mean the consumer will be paying a much higher price on these items. Making the companies of
the product worried that they might start to loss their profits.

THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING

INTRODUCTION
The business world looks at people as a numbers with a dollar signs attached to them. They do
not pay attention on how over powering there advertising on a product can be to younger people.
Advertisements are just getting to out of hand and need to focuses more on the reality of things.
Businesses need to starts having restrictions on what they can and cannot put in an ad, with more
restrictions people wont get brain wash into buying a product they were not intending to
perches. The bad influence directed towards young adults is being over used and someone needs
to put a stop to the exploitation.
The purpose of this report is to explore the issue of ethics in business advertising. Specifically, it
examines the impact of unethical and manipulative advertising on vulnerable consumers
(preteens and teens). This report explains the financial impact and risks of advertisement to
targeted groups and analyses ethical considerations vs. the free market.
Secondary sources are from current online magazine articles and publications such as The New
York Times, Michigan eLibrary, and American Academy of Pediatrics. Additional information is
also gathered from a variety of educational, organizational, and commercial websites. The
primary method of research is a survey distributed to co-workers at The Animal Clinic of
Sterling Heights and students from Macomb Community College. The survey attempts to collect
the thoughts that people have on advertisements.
The report will begin with an overview of the financial impact of advertisement to targeted age
groups. Then going over the negative part on how the risks of advertisements could harm the
companies reputation. Followed by an analysis of the ethical consideration vs. the free market

and how it plays a role in advertisement. Finally, tying it all together and explaining the
conclusion of the paper.

Financial Impact of Advertisement to Targeted Groups:

Companies Methods of Attack
Companies been competing over the years to find the best way to show a product, threw some
type of advertisement. Even if it means putting the companys logo on a water bottle, more
people are willing to pay the higher price just
because it has the image of a certain style, coolness,
and fame on the item. Companies are so big on
spreading the word that they try to give free stuff
away with the companys logo on the product. Image
sun tanning salons actually give away t-shirts with
their logos on the front and the phone numbers of the places on the back, to promote sales. Some
people get mail-in rebates from purchasing alcohol bottles. Where other might receive coupons
in the mail for new store products. According to Susan Carneys article on Advertising, shows us
that society is moving more towards materialistic products then non-name brands. For example
people rather spend more money on Advil then the Meijer brand Advil which is cheaper and
work just as good. Advertisements are shown everywhere from movie theaters screens, to gas
stations monitors, from television commercials, to pop-up online. There is no way to not notices
them, they are all around us.
TARGETED GROUPS

Effected by Advertisment

5% 5%

Girls
Boys
Undecited

89%

Who
are these groups of people that the companies are trying to target with their ads? Companies are
trying to direct there advertisement towards teenagers because teens are vulnerable to whats out
there. They dont have to worry about financial burdens yet, so they have money to spend on
themselves. With advertisements playing on commercials during their favorite shows, teens
become more streets out with their body images and how people view them. To the point where
if they see ads for Levis skinny jeans, with Brooke Shields saying how the jeans make her feel
sexier; girls are more likely to want that same feeling. Into todays world advertisement are not
just pushing teenagers to buy their product, but are more focused on teen girls. The survey I
passed around, showed me that more girls buy products that are advertised with a famous person,
where a guy would just buy the item because he ether ran out of the product or just wanted to
perches it. The chart also proved that girls will perches more merchandise because, a successful
ad convinces the viewer that they have a problem that needs fixing, and then proposes to offer
the solution (Carney, 1).

THE MESSAGE
All advertisements have their own type of message that they are trying to send out to their
viewers. Most of the messages are the companys way of luring in the young teens. Chordas
Lori, who wrote an article on the State Farm auto insurance advertisement, with Disneys star
Selena Gomez, states that State Farm is influencing teenage to buy State Farm Insurance because
Selena Gomez showed a positive way of driving safe while on the insurance plan. The insurance
companies did a positive ad to get their message across to the teens. But there are also some
negative messages that are over lapping the positive massage which are ads for alcohol and
cigarettes. Just recently in the last couple mouths, The New York Times article talks about
researchers finding out that Camel No.9 cigarettes, and the ads featured a pink camel and a subbrand of cigarettes called Stiletto (New York Times, 1-2), where an eye catcher to attract young
teens girls. On top of the cigarettes, catching the young girls attention, they throw in a free girl
product with perching the cigarettes. Little does that consumer know it will probably impacts
there lifes in an unhealthy was.
RISKS OF ADVERTISEMENT TO THESE GROUPS:
LOSS & GAIN
Businesses are willing to sell just about anything to pick up a new customer because they do not
want their business to be shutting down. The companies do not really care about the
consequences at first, till it starts to become a really big problem and end up in the court room as
a lawsuit or in the media. They look at selling to teens as just a business not the harm it could
cause them or the companies. Businesses that try to push their advertisement on teens could
affect the teens future in many ways. With at least 40 thousand ads showing per year and half of

the ad being cigarette and alcohol ads, parents wonder where there teens
get there bad habits from. The chart on the left is showing how much a
business will spend on advertisement per year just to get the young
consumer to buy the product. The American Academy of Pediatrics, is
alarmed that such exposure may contribute significantly to obesity, poor
nutrition, cigarette and alcohol use in young teens (AAP, 1). When
confronting companies about the harm there advertisements are causing,
The New York Times states that companies just sit back and say it was
the peoples choose (Levis Courts The Young With a Hopeful Call, 2).
THE COMPANIES REPUTATION
Companies get a reputation from the products they sell to the ads they place in magazines. The
bigger the advertisement is with a famous celebrity will increase the chances of getting a higher
reputation by the young viewers. Once the companies get the young consumer hooked on their
products, the companies feel like they will keep the customer for a life time.
HURT OF THE COMPANIES
With new laws going in effect this week, there will be no more smoking in public places such as
bars, restraints, and office building. There is only one place allowing cigarette smoking and that
is the casinos. With that law in effect some cigarette companies might be affected with the
outcome. They are also planning on raising the sales tax on alcohol and tobacco products, this
mean the consumer will be paying a much higher price on these items. Making the companies of
the product worried that they might start to loss there profits.

ANALYSIS ETHICAL CONSIDERATION VS. FREE MARKET

ECONOMIES VALUES

THE PRINCIPALS OF MUTUAL BENEFITS

10

CONCLUSION
To sum it all up to stop the advertising effects on young adults, a solution might be to teach
adolescents to be a more critical media viewer to such advertising also known as being media
literate.

11

Works Cited
AAP Sounds Alarm on Advertisings Effects on Children. American Academy of Pediatrics
(2006): 1 Sat. 20 Mar. 2010
<http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/dec06advertising.htm>.
Alcohol Advertising and Youth. American Academy of Family Physicians (2010): 1-3. Sat. 20
Mar. 2010
<http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/policy/policies/a/alcoholadvertising.html>.
Alcohol Ads on Cable TV Reach Young Audiences. The New York Times (2009): 1-4. Mon. 5
Apr. 2010 <http://rpproxy.iii.com:9797/MuseSessionID=67d3f7646c....>.
Chordas, Lori Auto Insurance. Business & Company Resource Center (2009): 1. Mon. 5 Apr.
2010 <http://rpproxy.iii.com:9797/MuseSessionID=1af6b3304c....>.
Levis Courts the Young With A Hopeful Call. The New York Times (2009): 1-3. Mon. 5 Apr.
2010 <http://rpproxy.iii.com:9797/MuseSessionID=9dee7ae7293....>.
Carney, Susan Why and How Marketers Target Kids. Advertising to Teens (2007): 1-2 Sun. 25
Apr. 2010 <http://youthdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm>.
Teen Girls Say Pink Camel in Cigarette Ads Caught Their Eye. The New York Times (2010):
1-4. Mon. 5 Apr. 2010 <http://rppoxy.iii.com:9797/MuseSessionID=5d7f6ac....>.