Controversial Television Adversting

5 Pages 1327 Words

Controversial Television Advertising
Television advertisements promoting perfect body images encourage the constant struggle of women to achieve the perfect body. Has our nation been deceived by the media? Advertisements play a large part in our culture; however, the images that are used in most advertisements are more fantasy than reality. They portray beautiful, thin people having a good time with whatever product they are trying to sell. The media know that television and radio programs are simply fillers for the space between commercials (Kilbourne, 1999). They know that the programs that succeed are the ones that deliver the highest number of people to the advertisers.
From infancy on, we get a seductive and incessant message from ads – products are magical and can fulfill our dreams (Kilbourne, 1999). Advertising is designed to sell products. In the process, advertisements also sell aspirations and communicate concepts of acceptable behavior and gender roles. With the constant repetition and accessibility it is a powerful medium. By the time young girls reach adolescence, they have left children’s programming behind for more adult-oriented material. Although their media resources expand beyond television to include movies, music, and teen magazines, television advertising is the most prominent in their daily lives. With this comes increased exposure to media messages, including those sent through advertising. At an age where young girls begin to redefine themselves, the media often sends them messages that could limit their aspirations, undermine their self-worth and endanger their health. It is also important to consider the massive number of advertisements shown daily. If you watch television for one hour a day, you are bound to see the same commercial during every commercial break, or almost 6 times per hour. For people who watch television for more than one hour per day, that number goes up. In the average American home,...