Advertisements Manipulate People
Emad Bin Mohammed Hassan
BRAC University
Advertisements Manipulate People
“An entire generation pumping gas and waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so that we can buy things we don’t need.” (Tyler Durden, Fight Club Movie). At present advertisers use some techniques which have proven to be harmful to the physical and psychological well being of the viewers. Children are the most vulnerable as they are unfamiliar to the concept of advertising. Adolescents are also in danger as they are often self conscious and insecure during their transition into adulthood. Advertisers work on a cradle to grave system, influencing as many people as possible so doesn’t the question arise, “Are we really safe?” Contrary to the advertisers’ claims of providing useful information; time and again advertisements have proven to manipulate people into buying things that are not only useless but often harmful to both the mental and physical state of the people; they conduct psychological analyses on people; they promote materialism thus hampering our lives and last but not the least, they commodify women, portraying them without any respect whatsoever only to be used for the purpose of boosting the billion dollar advertising business.
The advertising business is worth billions of dollars globally (MagnaGlobal, 2011). This means that advertisements most certainly are imposing a great impact on the economy. But they are imposing this impact mostly by manipulating people into buying things they don’t need. They do so by making people think they have to buy all products advertised in order to live a perfect life. One strong suit about advertising is its ability to transform seemingly mundane objects into highly desirable products (Trampe, Stapel and Siero, 2010). Man is curious by nature and our health and our lives undergo constant change. But on what basis do we change our lives...