The Inevitable Impact Of Media

Feels like the advancement of our communication is always ahead of what we think. Thanks to technology, each year it gets easier to convey a message to another person. With this convenience comes not just communication of basic needs but also more and more advertising for everything else. Media is everywhere. It influences people in nearly every decision they make. Some say that this is not true and that people decide for themselves. It may all depend on the point of view.

First of all, let it be said that media is everywhere, newspapers, magazines, television, billboards, telemarketing, and the Internet. Let us say, a person leads a fairly normal life. Each morning he reads the paper to begin the day. The newspaper is filled with ads and also opinions. Each article may seem to be from an objective point of view but some personal views may come through. He may or may not choose to be affected by it. Either way, it is still there and he may be subconsciously influenced. There is no way to avoid it. Even in TV programs or movies there is a hidden advertising. A carefully angled shot shows the hero is drinking Coke and has been planned to catch the consumer's eye. Companies will use innumerous ways to coerce the customer to consume their product. Association is a major one. Matching a song with a product can influence a consumer after the commercial is long over. Every time they hear the song, they will think of that product. Even colors in decorating can be planned to produce a response. Fast food places such as Burger King use warm colors like orange and brown. Coincidently, looking at those colors tends to increase appetite.

People are influenced. The Children's Television took a limiting the amount of commercialization in children's TV programming (including cable) and requiring operators to carry at least some programming designed to meet children's educational and informational needs. This Act was put into effect because children were being influenced. A recent MTV series, called "The Andy Milonakis" a good rated show on the music network, is showing a teenager doing all the non-sense act and disrespectful to elderly people, a non educational program. In response, MTV agrees to run the show in a later time spot.

Now others argue that people can use the