t - New York Civil Liberties Union

289
Union-Endicott
,Advertisers
aim for your emotions.
The last thing they
want you to do is
think.'
But ads don't always announce themselves.
"When a character is in a kitchen
and there are Doritas on the counter, or
someane's in a mall and [passes] a Coca-
Cola sign, [those brands] don't just happen
to be there," says Bergsma. "Everything is
carefully placed-s-it's a constructed reality."
A Friendly Message?
Advertisers have many tools. To find out
what teens think about products, corporations
conduct focus gro.ups-small
groups of people studied as a-sample of .
public opinion. Now they've taken.things
one step further. Teens often look to their
peers to see what's in. So companies are
recruiting teens to sample new products
and then spread the word about them.
For example, a kid may get movie tickets
to a preview or a discount at a store in
exchange for talking up the movie or
telling friends to go to the shop.
"Marketers are finding new ... ways to
reach out. One is stealth marketingusing
one peer to approach another or
having a party around a product," says
Marilyn Cohen, director of. the Teen
Futures Media Network.
"Corporations are [also] studying teen
blogs," says Cohen. "They'll take the
blaggers and their parents out to dinner
and tell them some things they can mention
in their blogs-casually-about particular
products."
Many companies scan blogs to find out
what people are talking about. Then they
sell this research to marketers. Some
marketers are even looking to advertise in
the blogs themselves.
Advertisers are finding their way into
other types of new media as well. For
instance, they're trying to get their ads
into "podcasts"-audio broadcasts over
the Internet that can be downloaded to
MP3 players.
Cell phones-are-the-next frontier, It may
not be long before you're walking through a
mall and see an ad for a new ice cream place
in the food court right on your phone screen.
Five Questions to
Ask About Ads
So how do you cut through the buzz? Keep
your brain turned on. Analyze the media
messages you receive. The Center for Media
Literacy encourages asking five basic
questions about each message.
(!) Who created it?
® What techniques does it use to attract
my attention?
@ How might other people perceive this
message differently than I do?
@ Which values, lifestyles, and points of
view are represented, and which have
been left out?
® Why was this message sent?
You can be smart about the many messages
being thrown at you. You just need to
decide to stay aware of who's trying to get
into your wallet.
GlD
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