Being Aware of Advertisements

 In a world where consumerism continues to grow exponentially, we must be aware of the things we are consuming and the products, companies, and businesses we are giving our money to. When we think of the way we find said products, our minds immediately jump to the idea of marketing, specifically advertising. 

Ppcprotect.com reports that in the 1970s, when advertisements made their way to the mainstream and began to blow up, the average person viewed between 500 and 1600 advertisements in some form every single day. That number has skyrocketed. In the year 2021 alone, the average person consumes between 6,000 and 10,000 advertisements on a daily basis. The numbers alone explain the growth of consumerism in America. This growth is partly due to the number of areas in which we can see advertising.

The number of ways in which advertisements are presented is infinite! An ad can be a commercial, a print ad you see in magazines, a billboard on the side of the highway, a banner that pops up on whatever social media outlet, a pop up on a website, or even just an actress or actor in the movies holding a name brand item, the options are many. The way they are placed is strategic and purposeful. 

Have you ever looked something up on the internet out of curiosity and the next day ads for products similar to what you looked up are on every single technological source you get on? Scary isn't it? That is the idea of advertising. Companies try to place marketing in places where you as the customer will see them the most and be reminded almost to the point where you feel like you have to purchase the item.

The group that needs the most supervision is children under the age of 13. According to CommonSenseMedia.org, adolescents between the ages of 3 to 13 are the most vulnerable to fall victim to advertising schemes. When you think back on personal experience, we can all remember a time where we saw some little kid around the same age as us playing with a toy on the television with a huge grin on their face, and immediately we have the desire to get that product. This is because the advertisement was targeted at children. PR and marketing teams work day and night to get their client's products to the top of the sales chart even if that means manipulating the minds of children. 

Image by KeepSake.com

As time continues to pass, the forms in which advertisements are presented will continue to become more complex and formed to the consumer. Being aware of the way marketers place their ads and product in well-visited areas will help you in the long run. It can and will allow you to withhold yourself from that child-like mentality of needing to buy, sell, join, or desire something because it's right in front of your eyes.