Advertising: Set Us Free!
...pills pops up after her programming. She sees a woman with a firm stomach and a tight gluteus standing near a pool smiling and wearing a quite revealing bikini. Marlene walks to her mirror and wonders to herself why she doesn't look that way. Should she go on a diet? Many people are negatively affected by the advertising industry on a daily basis. The average person views about three thousand ads a day and about forty thousand ads a year from television, the Internet, magazines, and even in schools. Advertisers influence various consumer groups to purchase goods and services by as slipping in subliminal messages, taking advantage of ones hidden fears, and by getting the consumer's attention in unusual ways.
When one goes into a movie theatre they hope to sit back and relax; enjoy their movie. The lights dim and the advertisements come on. An unexpected flash of coca cola and a bag of popcorn fly across the screen for a quick three seconds. All of a sudden, that person has a craving for the buttery popcorn and the refreshing cold soft drink. They get up, along with a few others to race to the snack bar. "Subliminal Seduction," in Stay Free, by Carrie McLauren, Vance Packard refers to a New Jersey cinema that had ads like these, "(These) ads--exhortations to Eat Popcorn' and Drink Coca-Cola'--were invisible to the naked eye but supposedly influenced viewers subconsciously." (Vance Packard, Stay Free) As a result, "By the use of subliminal messages, movie theatres increase their popcorn sales by precisely 57.5 percent, and Coca-Cola sales by 18.1 percent" (McLauren). Not only are people given subliminal messages in movie theatre ads, they are also beginning to be embedded in television shows. In Lianna George's article, "Is Kiefer Sutherland Trying to Sell You Something?" found in Maclean's, she mentions how many corporations try to get deals with television...
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