The Harmful Effects of Advertising on Society

In today’s society many people see advertising as harmful in many different ways. With today’s society image is everything, and advertising uses this to their advantage. Advertising uses this as a way to make insecure people buy products they do not need. Many advertisements that are seen today on television, billboards, newspaper, and magazines are indeed harmful to our eyes and brain. Many of them make people feel like crap, that you don't have this car or that house or that body. Advertising is harmful to society because of its limitations on women, it’s fostering of insecurity, and its promotion of materialism/consumerism. Advertisement is harmful to society because it limits women. Women in today’s society are under a lot of pressure, if it’s the way they look or what they are able to do. Advertising takes advantage of women making them buying items they do not need. Jean Kilbourne noticed an argument in advertising “that advertising often make, many of them insulting to women’s intelligence and self-esteem” (Kilbourne 457). This meaning that advertising on purpose make women feel pressured to do more because of what is advertised. Gloria Steinem agrees with Kilbourne when saying “ad agencies are on the phone all the time pushing you to get their product in” (Steinem 150). This meaning that the power of having an advertisement in a women’s magazine is very important to push the reader to that product. Overall advertising is just trying to sell their product in any way shape or form no matter what lines are crossed. Advertising is bad for society because it miss leads people. Inside of most advertisements there will be an attractive women or a male with a hard six pack showing off the product. This could make people insecure and gives them this urge to buy the product that are not necessary for an everyday life. As Kilbourne states that some advertising “dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women” (Kilbourne 459). This means that with sexually

Cited: Calfee, John E. "How Advertising Informs to Our Benefits." Common Culture: Reading and Writing about American Popular Culture. Eds. Michael Petracca, Madeleine Sorapure. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2004. 97-109. Print.