Youth / OPINION : Are You a Walking Advertisement? : ‘It’s ironic that just as teens are struggling to find our individuality, we are buying into an image produced for us by someone else--to make money.’
Have you seen some of the latest commercials? You’re probably wearing one. Commercials aren’t just on television, benches, billboards and magazines anymore. They’re on clothes, toys, movies, music videos--everywhere.
Does your shirt say “Nike Air” on the front? If so, then you’ve paid to wear a commercial.
Did you pay $7 to see a movie of commercials? You must have seen an actor in a movie go into a supermarket where the camera focuses more on the products on the shelf than on the actor. When young viewers see brand-name products enlarged on the big screen, they probably think, “I gotta stop by the market on the way home.”
Recently, Channel 11 News in Los Angeles investigated a story on brand-name products in movies. They found that companies like Domino’s Pizza pay large sums of money to have their product mentioned or featured. If these businesses don’t like how their products are used in the movies, they can suggest changes in the scripts.
You’ll never see a cigarette commercial on TV, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be seen anywhere else. Cigarette companies are now targeting teens, and not only through billboard and magazine ads, but movies, too. It is a fact that teen-agers go to more movies than any other age group in the country. For instance, “Superman II,” which was intended for younger audiences, featured several characters smoking Marlboro cigarettes. It was later found that “Superman II” producers were paid to have that specific brand of cigarettes featured in the movie.
Teen-agers wear more T-shirts than anyone else. As a result, some cigarette companies have had their logos imprinted on T-shirts, which they then give away to young people. When youths wear the shirts in public, they are automatically advertising for that brand of cigarettes.
Even certain toys like the Tyco electric car racing sets display certain cigarette labels on the sides of the toy cars. Battery-operated toys, which are specifically designed for younger kids, have cigarette or beer logos slapped on the side sometimes.
Advertising in this manner is often intended to enable children to imitate adults who really do drive racing cars. The young child who wants to be just like his idol may think it is acceptable to smoke since he sees his idol smoking.
This leads us to the smooth characters that children and teen-agers see in movies. The hero in a film is usually one of the first characters to smoke a cigarette. And these characters are the ones young children love to imitate, so cigarette companies manage to get their “message” out.
Music videos are basically made to promote music. Programs such as “Pump It Up,” “Friday Night Videos” and MTV are strictly there to increase the sales of CDs, and cassettes. When you watch a video and the people in it are dancing, partying and having fun, the next thing you’ll probably say is, “I gotta get that record.”
When you buy clothes or posters that bear some company’s insignia, that say “Nike” or “Chicago Bulls,” you’re falling prey to one of the slickest forms of commercial manipulation. It’s ironic that just as teens are struggling to find their own individuality, we are unknowingly buying into an image that has been produced for us by someone else, for the express purpose of making money.
