elevision - In Living Color
Everything people eat, wear, or use is pushed at the public through
commercial advertising. Whether it is the fertilizer that the farmer
chooses to put on the vegetables he grows, the clothing that is chosen at
the department store, or the pen to write a report, it has been advertised.
Advertising occurs even in the packaging of a product. From the colors the
manufacturer chooses to use on the wrapping, to the multi-million dollar
expense of television, everyone is influenced by advertising. One of the
most powerful forms of advertising is in the advent of television. Since
its inception, advertisers have viewed television as their most powerful
tool. Television provides an excellent avenue for companies to sell and
promote their products. There are fewer and fewer people living today who
were around when television was not. Today's generation was raised
entirely on television! Since the 1940's, television has been an important
part of American life. Television is able to sell products like no other
medium can. This incredible power of television comes from three specific
areas: an inordinate amount of time spent in front of the television,
it's ability to target a specific audience, and it's ability to attack the
viewer on both the auditory and visual field.
The time spent in front of a television continues to grow with each
generation. The number of hours a child spends in front of a television
is rapidly overtaking even the number of hours that they will spend in
school. Included in their weekly television viewing are an extraordinary
amount of commercial mess ...