Advertising Body Perception

As a high school teacher who spends a lot of time with teenagers I see an inherent problem with some advertising and its affect on body perception and its contribution to our materialistic culture. Are these issues created from advertising alone? No, there are other factors. However, the media (including advertising) can have a bigger affect on people than I think most people realize. On the other the hand I am a marketing professional that believes marketing helps consumers fulfill needs in order to live the lifestyle they makes them happy and fulfilled. The first advertisement I chose is for a McDonald 's Chicken McNugget happy meal for kids. The scene in the magazine advertisement is a happy meal box (decorated with a smiling, cute cartoon …show more content…
In the ad, there is a middle aged woman with her hair up and back off her face smiling in a very confident manner. Her skin looks perfect with no wrinkles or imperfections. The tagline of the advertisement is; "I Will Never Let A Dark Spot Steal My Spotlight". The copy in the advertisement ,reads that these products; "renew surface cells to even skin tone and reduces the appearance of dark spots". It also reads that you will see "bright, pearlescent healthy-looking skin in just 2 weeks". That is quite a promise and claim. The message is that if you use this product line your skin will look better in two weeks and may even look like the model in the advertisement (who 's photo has probably been perfected by a computer program). I am not a dermatologist or skin expert, but I do know that once your skin has damage, such as wrinkles, spots from the sun damage or age, there is no way to reverse the affects. Especially not with an over the counter skin care line in the price range of Oil of Olay products. I believe this ad makes big promises that will not come true, however, it is not unethical since worst case scenario will be consumers that are disappointed that they spent money on a product line that they thought would improve their skin when it does …show more content…
The left side of the advertisement shows a woman (I predict she is about seventy years of age) working as a server in a restaurant counting money which appears to be her tips. It looks like a diner by the counter she is leaning on and by the old fashion 'waitress ' uniform dress and hat she is wearing. The slogan of the advertisement is "Helping Patients Move Beyond Pain". It is a prescription drug that helps manage pain associated with 'osteoarthritis ' or in a more simple term, arthritis. The message of this ad is that arthritis can have a big affect on how you live your life since it can be very painful; this drug will help manage that pain so you 'move beyond ' it. One line in the copy states; "you shouldn 't have to miss out on the important things". It claims that by taking Celebrex you will not have to miss out on any of life 's events or activities if you take this medication. Again, that is a big claim. As far the truthfulness of this claim, that it can manage pain so that an individual can participate in day-today activities, I am not sure but it does not seem that farfetched to me. It is a pharmaceutical advertisement so of course there is copy (about a third of the copy) about the risks of the drug and side affects to be aware of. I think it is making a reasonable claim which makes it a perfectly ethical advertisement. If consumers use the drug and it does not improve their pain; besides the risks