In today’s society, we as consumers are exposed to media on a daily basis. Beginning the day with a glance at the daily newspaper and finishing the evening with a television program, the average person cannot escape the clutches of the media in its seemingly endless forms. Along with presenting objective information that includes local news, weather, and sports, a main function of modern media is advertising.
Two effective methods of catching the eyes of the consumer are the use of either sexual attraction or humor as a focal point of an advertisement. For the past few decades, sex has been a consistent means of selling products, while humor has just recently become a major advertising technique. The two popular phrases, “sex sells” and “the shortest distance between two people is a good laugh,” can definitely be used to characterize the majority of advertising in the 1990s. Despite the widespread success of using sex to sell products, there have been numerous negative repercussions as well, including diminished consumer self esteem, customer dissatisfaction with products, and slight community unrest due to racy situations depicted in certain ads. However, humor in advertising has not been met with these challenges yet. Until advertisers discontinue using human sexuality in ads, these problems will not cease. The ways in which human sexuality is used to promote products are fairly simple.
Sex in advertising attracts attention to products for an obvious reason–it is sex! Companies design advertisements according to what the audience desires to get the best possible response (Percy 26). Since the 1980’s sex has been overwhelmingly present in advertising (Martin…
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…mpletely, humor in advertising should be considered by companies in the future. It could alleviate present problems associated with sex and offer some perks to both advertisers and consumers. Let’s give it a try.
Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972: 129-54.
Bonvillian, John. “First Impressions.” Psychology 101. Class Lecture. Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. October 1999.
Martins, Maria Cristina da Silva. Humor and Eroticism in Advertising. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 1995.
Percy, Larry, and John R. Rossiter. Advertising Strategy. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1980.
Sutherland, Max. Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer. Sydney: Griffin, 1993.
Waldenmaier, George. “Animal Behavior.” Biology 122. Class Lecture. Classroom, Nandua High School, Onley. April 1999.
Weight-Loss and the Weight of the Media
Weight-Loss and the Weight of the Media
The media bombards us with advertisements and articles about weight-loss supplements. We cannot turn on the television or radio without seeing or hearing an advertisement for Dexatrim, and we cannot flip through a magazine without seeing an advertisement or article about Metabolife. The manner in which different media sources treat weight-loss supplements greatly influences the public’s perception of these products. This essay will examine a Newsweek article entitled “Mad about Metabolife,” an advertisement for Hydroxycut from Mademoiselle, and a radio advertisement for Carbolife Gold to illustrate the manner in which the media presents the use of dietary supplements to promote weight loss.
Would you rather exercise for an hour and a half five days a week and not see any signs of weight loss, or take a pill once a day and begin to see dramatic weight loss in the first week? If you are like most people who want to lose weight, you want to lose the weight as quickly and easily as possible, and therefore would choose the latter. Advertisers and columnists are aware of people’s desires to lose weight quickly, and indeed, all three media sources examined begin their advertisement or article by describing how weight-loss supplements promote fast and easy weight loss. In large, bold letters at the top of the advertisement for Hydroxycut is a quotation that says, “Losing 31 pounds was so easy with Hydroxycut!” (MuscleTech, 2001, p. 175). Then, in slightly smaller letters, the testimonial continues with, “I never dreamed I’d be able to lose 31 pounds so easily, but Hydroxycut made it happen” (MuscleTech, 2001, p. 175). Similarly, the radio advertisement for Carbolife Gold begi…
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…her hand, is selling knowledge about weight-loss supplements. The article provides the public with the information about weight-loss supplements that the advertisers attempt to withhold. In effect, the advertisements and the magazine article are trying to sell the public opposing information, and in this sense the advertisements and the article are two sides of the same coin. However, the greater preponderance of advertisements for weight-loss supplements as compared to media sources that address the risks of such supplements weights the coin in favor of the supplement manufactures, and such uneven odds may be dangerous to consumers.
Works Cited
Carbolife Gold (2001, Oct 7).KRTI 106.7.
Cowley, F., Reno, J.