Me Against the Media

In today’s market driven society children can’t escape ads and their marketers, even their schools are filled with the advertiser’s products distracting the youth from learning.

A college education is valuable and its quality is of the highest importance to most Americans. In his essay, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students,” Mark Edmundson utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos to effectively deliver his argument that the current educational system, especially in college, revolves around consumerism which in turn has negatively impacted students, teachers, and universities in general. However, although Edmundson presents an overall logically sound argument, there are few instances throughout the article that may hinder the reliability of his claims to the audience.

What these companies are trying to do by planting the seed, that is their brand name, in these young children’s minds can almost be compared to the methods of cigarette companies marketing their product as fun and cool to a young audience in the 1960’s until recent. (Routledge) Who better than to pick on than those who don’t know any better? McDonald’s distributes more toys in a year than

Every day, companies present the people with advertisements everywhere they go. Advertisements have become very prevalent in today’s society nowadays focusing in on a negative connotation. Advertisement has become an effective way for producers to display their new products. In present day, they come in forms of billboards, flyers, e-mails, and even text messages. It is widely known that companies create advertisements to persuade people to buy specific products or goods; however, it is not widely known that advertisements can make a negative impact on today’s society. The companies manipulate people’s mind and emotions, swaying people by new promotions and therefore generating a strong desire to fit into the society, that causes them to make inessential expenditures. Advertisements pose a critical impact on the American culture.

For the longest time now, advertising has played a huge role in how we identify ourselves in the United States with the American culture, and how others identify themselves with all the cultures of the rest of the world as well. It guides us in making everyday decisions, such as what items we definitely need to invest our money on, how to dress in-vogue, and what mindset we should have to prosper the most. Although advertising does help make life easier for most, at the same time it has negative affects on the people of society as well. Advertisement discreetly manipulates the beliefs, morals, and values of our culture, and it does so in a way that most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happened. In order to reach our main goal of

In the article kid kustomer by Eric Schlosser published in “2011” in the United States of America, the author argument shows that advertising companies in 20th century have changed throughout the years. Today companies direct marketing towards children, because children will then be drawn to a product and ask their parents for it, which often times can lead to nagging. It is evident that Schlosser’s purpose is “to change the way you eat and the way you spend money, as well as the way you think. Eric Schlosser graduated from two universities, he graduated from, Princeton University and Oxford University. Schlosser was born in Manhattan, New York; he spent his childhood there and in Los Angeles, California. His parents are Judith (née Gassner)

In the article, Every nook & nanny: the dangerous spread of commercialized culture, written by Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor, the authors argue how corporations have had great influence on schools, television, movies, internet and other forms of media culture through advertising. Prior to 1989, advertising was not accepted in schools. Chris Whittle convinced schools to accept adverting by offering to loan TV sets providing children to view 10 minutes a day of news, banter and at least two minutes of advertisements through Channel One. Food and beverage companies soon entered the schools with ‘sponsored educational materials’ fed in their TV advertisements to the mass audience. Companies began ‘Ad creep’ because

Almost everyone in high school has a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Vine and large companies are taking advantage of that. “Another element of rhetoric that can be taken advantage of through social media is pathos. For example, many charitable campaigns are started through Facebook using emotional persuasion to gather more support. These campaigns draw on personal experiences with the cause, sympathy, and empathy to influence Facebook users to join the campaign and spread awareness through status updates.” (Peterson par 4) If students are shown how to recognize rhetorical strategies then they can know not to fall for the persuasion. Kids can stop being so influenced by the media and start thinking for themselves. If the new generation can learn to analyze commercials and advertisements then they can understand marketing ploys and the companies end

In today’s mass media, it is quiet common for advertisers to assimilate class into their commercials. These advertisements portray a certain level of elegance because of the sophisticated choice to use classical background music and thick European accents. On the contrary, other advertisers take the common-folk approach by structure these commercials around the western concept. Both of these advertising tactics supports an American paradox. As argued in Jack Solomon’s “Master of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising”, the contradiction lies in the desire to strive above the crowd and the quest for social equality.

In the short essay, Lies My Children’s Books Taught Me, it primarily focuses on The Pleasant Company and the ways they advertise, market, and sell their American girl merchandise. Lies My Children 's Books Taught Me, is written by Daniel Hade, who is a professor of language and literacy at Penn State College. In Eric Schlosser’s essay, Kid Kustomers, he explains the injustice of marketing, and the idea of “cradle to grave” advertizing. This idea of advertizing is basically to get a kid so attached or devoted to a brand/toy that they don 't just buy it for themselves but for their kids in the future. Kid Kustomers helps us to better understand the book Lies My Children’s Books

From IPhones to new cars to discounted food, advertisements and the desire for the newest or cheapest items surround humans every day. Socially we are held responsible to not only “keep up with the Joneses” anymore, but also the Kardashians, Gates, and Walton families. Today’s society has proven that the desire to have the newest items for the most affordable prices stands more important than our true happiness. Joseph Turow provides in his article, The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry Is Defining Your Identity and Worth, which the advertising industry has greatly affected your consumption habits and the prices you look for. James A. Roberts grows on that idea, in that with the help of these advertising firms, you continue to run

This, effectively, turns a school environment from one of education to one mimicking the slick advertisements that we see daily plastered on everything from cars to public bathrooms and everything in between. In a rebuttal to writer Sean McCollum as it pertains to the pros and cons of corporate sponsorship in public schools, writer Joanna Blythman details one effect that corporate sponsorship can have:

Marketing styles is not the only element Ray Kroc and Walt Disney can be linked through. Both of these entrepreneurs changed American culture through their businesses and set building blocks for the industry. Although they were influential, marketing to kids can be turned into a form of brainwashing. Thousands of children get hooked on fast food and other products that are unhealthy. Once hooked at a young age, these children grow up never changing their habits. This leads to dangerous lifestyles and the amount of obesity that is in our society. But is taste and familiarity the only factors kids are hooked on fast food? Have you ever noticed that McDonald’s is the only carrier of Disney products as toys in the Happy Meal? Kroc and Disney grew up together and had similar ambitions, which led to their empires helping one another out. (Schlosser 184). Staying friendly with

Many people remember their high school years and how crazy they truly were. As a student there are many activities that interfere with their studies. The last thing a student needs are more interruptions and confusion in a school or classroom. Schools should not allow corporations to advertise their products to students while in school because it is a huge distraction and very overwhelming.

Food advertisements, if focused at the right people and in the right places, are a complete success. These features, some of which are commercials, seduce society into buying food that we necessarily do not need. Many advertisement companies, especially those about food, are directed to children because they know that if you grab the kids you have their parents. While brands are using fun cartoons like “Trix Rabbit” and “Toucan Sam” (Green, 2007, p. 49) supermarkets are taking these items and placing them right in front of the children, at their level, advertising the “Fun foods” (Elliot, 2008, p. 259-273). They do this so the kids will use their, “pester power” (Scholsser, n.d., p. 2) to get what they want. A series of studies have been performed on children and television advertisements. An article states, “These studies have generally linked children's television viewing to negative health effects” (Korr, 2008, p. 451). Amongst these negative effects is a higher level of childhood obesity (p. 451). Similarly, in another study performed by a group of researchers, kids were asked to explain the television commercials that they remembered the best. The answers given were then compared with their diets. Interestingly, the items those children remembered best, chips, sweets, and sodas were a huge part of what they ate (Hitching & Moynihan, 1998, p. 511-517). However, some authors argue that television producer’s, even though their