Thinking About Advertising

I’ve thinking a lot about advertising lately. This is because not only do I have my own business but because of my English 201 class. This class was a very writing intensive class. Everything that we wrote about had something to do with the advertising industry and the many aspects surrounding it. So, lately, I’ve been thinking about all the very subtle ways that advertising has been impacting how we live today.

I’m talking about the items you see every day on television and the products you buy. Next time you buy something, anything, take a really careful look at the packaging. Look at that bag, box, jug, or container and the graphic material and text on it. Now, also take a good look at what surrounded the item on the store shelf. All of it is geared to keep it in your mind and all of it is geared to keep you coming back and buying the item again. There is a lot of advertising going on on that package holding the item in your hands. It does not stop there.

You buy it and go home. Wait! Now look at what you get inside the container a lot of the time. That’s right, more advertising in the form of leaflets, pamphlets, and sheets still trying to get you to buy this product after you already bought it. Not only that, but some of these enclosures include information on more products by the same company. What they are aiming at here is to make a repeat buyer of their products. This says to me, in a subtle way, what they really want is me to be a loyal consumer of their company products and thereby get as much of my disposable income as possible.

What got me was, one day, while at school I bought a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup package from one of the vending machines. When I got it, I opened up the package to delightfully consume the contents inside. The supportive stiff paper insert was still there but this time it was different. Instead of the usual blank white paper, the stiffener had advertising on it trying to get me to buy their product that I just bought. This is not something that would get me to buy their product again. What brings me back time and time again to Reese’s is the quality and taste of their peanut butter cups. I love the combination of the two substances together.

Watch any TV show, movie on TV or movie in the theater. Look closely at the background images. There are sometimes recognizable logos and icons hidden there is plain sight. Look at the shoes and clothes the actors are wearing. Don't stop there look at accessories too. Now look at what you might see in any kitchen scenes or whenever the characters are holding bottles. Look closely and you will probably see very definite recognizable bottles and labels even though you may not be able to the name on the label. This is a very subtle way that advertisers advertise. I don't think advertisers we even notice.

Look around and chances are you will notice other subtle ways that advertise try to appeal to us. The varieties of ways include just about every imaginable electronic device and way that people communicate electronically. Let's not forget the old visual stand-by's from the past. Yep, that's right. I'm talkin' 'bout billboards and ads on bus sides and benches. Oh, and I almost forgot. Pre-electronic era, say about 5-10 years ago, some stores had ads on their shopping carts. It's now been updated. Sometimes you see electronic devices attached store shelves with looped ads. Some stores even have electronic devices on their shopping carts.

And today my English teacher and I got to talking about those sneaky polls that you run into on the Internet. Some of them are disguised as opinion polls or other types of polls. Be careful while filling these out. There are what are called "push polls". What happens with these is advertisers convey messages and information to consumers via the questions. This seems a very questionable tactic to me and like advertisers once again attempting to mold us into good little consumers and follow their leads. Don't buy into it.

Get the picture? Look around and think about it. Lay a comment on me and let me know what you've noticed lately.