The average American is exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements a day (Marshall). This can include emails, commercials, billboards, and many others. Advertising is a means of informing choice to its viewers, and it is vital to the success of any business. Although advertising is necessary, over the past fifteen years, advertising has had a negative effect on culture by encouraging conformity and having harmful effects on self-esteem as well as financial status.
Additionally, advertising in media entices conformity among all of America’s population, young to old. Corporate branding is used to reflect the culture of the organization and its product, creating a certain emotion, sense of belonging, and certain values. For example, many Hollister ads feature muscular, young men swarmed by attractive females with a look of desire and lust in their eyes. Hollister is known to have trusted, reliable, high quality clothing; however, the ads suggests wearing the clothing will reward a companion as well as a higher social status. Oftentimes people look to their peers for
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Oftentimes, people over indulge to own the newest cars, a home in an upscale neighborhood, or designer clothing in order to create a certain image of themselves to present to others. Consumer spending accounts for seventy percent of the United States economy (Davis). Are all these goods and services purchased necessary? Of course not. As a society, we allow advertising to influence our spending and we tend to spend more on luxuries than we do on necessities. Hedonic products give one pleasure or enjoyment, and among these products are symbolic products. Symbolic products are used to project a self image that reflect one’s emotions (Samson). People are more likely to rush out and buy expensive, high end products to feel as though they’ve achieved a higher societal