t - New York Civil Liberties Union

286
Union-Endicott
YOUR
CHOICES
Advertisers spend big bucks getting you
to buy what they sell. Here's how to think
your way through an ad attack.
By Julie Mehta
ere it is! The next big thing!
Try this, and you'll have
more friends than you can
count. Good times. All
you have to do is use this shampoo ... wear
this shoe ... buy this kind of gum.
If all advertisements were this obvious,
you'd just ignore them. "If I'm an advertiser,
I don't want you to think I'm an advertiser,
so I'll make ads look like news or make
them so appealing and fun you forget it's
advertising," says David Walsh, president of
the National Institute on Media and the
Family. "Advertisers aim for your emotions.
The last thing they want you to do is think."
Maybe you mute the TV when ads come
on. But did you realize companies place
their products in your favorite TV shows?
Did you know that corporations comb
through blogs, looking for what's hot?
Have you heard that ads can go directly to
your cell phone or MP3 player?
Welcome to "teen world." Companies
are working harder than ever to attract your
dollars. And if you want to stay above it all,
you need to know this: You have choices.
Cool Cash
At 33 million strong, to day's student generation
is the biggest ever. Last year, teens
spent more than $100 billion and influenced
their parents to spend another $50
billion. That's why every day you have to
deal with an ever-growing number of media
messages.
Advertisers prey on the desire to be cool.
"Teens ... have a need to belong to a peer
group and be popular, so many ads will give
the impression that if you [do this or that],
you'll have friends," says Lynda Bergsma,
president of the Alliance for a Media
Literate America.
Experts say the typical American teen sees
3,00.0 ads a day. Many of those messages
A
:ë
~
.~
.3
t
22 January 2006 Current Health 1