The Problem Of Teenagers And Teenagers

Most advertisements aimed at teenagers are effective, but usually are not ethical. Most marketers have many ways of gathering information on teenagers spending habits and what is most important to teens. With this information they’re able to create advertisements that will appeal to most teens and create profit. Many people argue that some or most of these ads aren’t ethical because they will create a problem or insecurity and then give the solution to that problem in the form of their product.

Teenagers have a “... need for independence, rebellion, and personal control,” (Source F). Marketers can use this in many ways. They can use it to their economical advantage by manipulating teenagers into buying their goods. But, PSA’s can really show teenagers the facts and promote good morals. Recent studies look into how advertisements affect adolescents, “... these studies show that social marketing has successfully changed health behavior such as smoking, physical activity, and condom use, as well as behavioral mediators such as knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to these behaviors,” (Source F). While it's true that it's easy for teenagers to be manipulated by commercials, a lot of other commercials can be a strong influence in building better lives for them. If people could focus on the pros rather then the cons, then they could see the big picture of marketing to

Advertising to teens is nothing new to marketers they have been doing it for so long and they know that teens can be easily influenced by their desires such as merchandise, fashion, and music and they are also the impressionable consumers of tomorrow.

The first role that advertisers play in the lives of youth is that advertisers overwhelm youth with lots of ads so youth feel pressured to buy things. First of all in the article “$211 Billion and So Much to Buy: American Youths,the New Big Spenders” it states in paragraph five that, “Tweens… have more consistent available access to vast amount of information then their parents or grandparents could have imagined their youth.” And in the article “Thanks to Ads, Kids Won’t Take No,No,No.No,No For an Answer” it states in paragraph three that, “ As unprecedented levels of advertising and marketing aimed at children feel intense pressure to

Television has a very big impact on how people act. The movie, The Merchants of Cool, proved that people can be persuaded by what they see. Many advertisements are aimed to target the teenage market, since they are the driving force of sales and audiences. People know that teens will do whatever it takes to fit in with their friends. In order for one to appreciate the effects of marketing on teens, one could consider The Merchants of Cool as an example of the sociological factors at play, and the effects of such marketing on school culture and teen values.

The PBS video, Merchants of Cool is about the merchant and media outlets that target the teenage population with their estimated $150 billion annual spending power. The video looks at how these merchants, through both pop-culture and teen surveys (i.e. cool hunting), give the impressionable teenage market what they want and what today’s top five enormous companies push them to want. Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Universal Vivendi and AOL/Time Warner are responsible for selling nearly all of youth culture; they are the true “Merchants of Cool”.

Autonomy: This theory is interesting because there was a story about this in the media. I believe it was a few months ago where a young girl refuse chemo. The basics of this story was that a 17 year old teen had a treatable form of cancer but refused treatment. I didn’t look into her decision as to why she refuse chemotherapy but that what she had decided rather it based on her personal beliefs or religion maybe perhaps in some crazy way she doing it for someone else. However, superior court rule against this and I believe force the teen to get treatment. The court states the teen was not competent of making this decision based on her lack maturity. I actually am tore on this story to because I agree with one’s decision making but if I had cancer I would fight till the very end. Nevertheless, everyone has their own views and opinions on this.

A wise man once said, “Our own relentless search for novelty and social status locks us into an iron cage of consumerism.” This idea, that affluence has deceived us, can be seen particularly in today’s generations. The total U.S teen spending in the year 2014 was 258.7 billion dollars ("Teenage Consumer Spending Statistics"). This statistic is especially staggering because as of 2009, only about ⅓ of teens work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics. Today’s consumer driven society has exposed our youth to numerous corporations that are driven to capture the attention of teenagers. The vulnerability

After watching the documentary “Merchants of cool”, it became clear that trying to market to teenagers can be very difficult. Trends are always changing, therefore the advertiser’s ideas on how to market their products, must also keep changing. They use what is called “the giant feedback loop” to win over their audience. Companies study teenagers, most of whom are trend setters, and create an alluring image of their products that appeal other teenagers. The products take on the new trend, and as a result, the teenagers buy them. The teens want the products because what they are seeing is an image of what they strive to be. Eventually, the trend will be over, and the cycle repeats itself.

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Young children are targeted not just to sell products to, but to generate interest or hype in the product whereby, eventually capturing brand loyalty at a young age. This action is also important for adults too; however advertisers know that adults have already accepted their brand preference and purchasing habits.

Advertising is a way to inform and educate the masses about products and services. In the modern age, there are vast mediums that companies take advantage of. Advertising to children can be immoral and yet some companies still target adolescents. Companies take advantage and try to establish brand loyalty early on.

At the same time, two recent trends have increased advertisers’ interest in children (Calvert, 2008). One the one hand, the purchasing power of children has increased in recent years. One the other hand, while youth-directed television advertising continues to play a large role in marketing strategies, interactive technologies have helped create new methods of advertising to children. Increasing efforts to reach younger audiences will likely compound some of the preexisting negative effects of targeting children (Strasburger, 2006).

Advertiser have become masters at what they do. As a result advertisement is one of the most lucrative businesses! Advertisers have learned how to target specific groups to get there product sold. Advertisment had also become more apparent on social media as it has become a part of our everyday lives. Advertisers have become crafty and creative with where their ads are found. Being part of the younger generation, advertisers often target my generation and its easy to recognize when. Many times if a company wants its product targeted at youth they include a reference to current pop culture. This technique is meant to make what ever company is being advertised look “cool” and “up to date with the times.” Advertisers have a certain idea of what our identity is as youth people. There are

"Teens are such easy prey for big name companies who advertise using the pressure of popularity, looks and sex to force us to buy their product that, as it turns out, we never wanted or needed in the first place"( ). Teens lives are filled with stress.