Media Influence on Society Essay Example

Media Influence on society Media writers have a strong influence on society. They influence us negatively and positively. All of this is to get a reaction to what they are trying to say. Negative influences are all around us. Beer commercials tell young boys that if you drink a certain kind of beer you will get all the good looking girls and maybe not be such a nerd. Hamburger restaurants have girls dressing up in near to nothing to sell a hamburger. McDonald’s the ultimate offender, uses a clown and his friends to encourage young children to buy happy meals and play at McDonalds. I’m not all negative here, media can be used positively too. In the 80’s there were some sitcoms on that influenced America and its family life immensely. “The Cosby Show” had a big impact on middle class families. We all got to see every week how Cliff and his wife went through the same struggles that all families go through. Through these struggle with teenagers, older parents, etc. we learned how to handle them, and that everything would come out okay. Another show that had a great influence on us is “The Walton’s”. The Walton’s showed us that you can always count on family, and that family is the most important thing in life. In both of these shows morals were taught. A teenager could see that lying was not good, that parents always found out. We also got to see how family’s relied on each other and needed each other. In the 80’s when more families had to have two working parents this was important to see. Another media influence in society would be the news media. News media can have a positive influence or negative influence also. News media influences us positively by showing us how we can come together to help other people who have been in catastrophes. Good examples of this are how the media covered the damage that occurred in Japan during the tsunami or the devastation from hurricane Katrina. We knew as a society we needed to help these people. We sent money and food