How does advertising reflect and shape the values of our society?

Name:
Institution:
Instructor:
Course Title:
Date:
How does advertising reflect and shape the values of our society?
Introduction
Advertisement plays a key role in reflecting as well as shaping our mass society's values. The media representations, and ideologies have a strong influence on the society's purchase intentions and consumption behavior. As such, many people view the media advertising as the predictor of almost all the aspects of the society. Contrary to the popular belief that the society is influenced by direct advertisement, indirect advertisement is also central to what people consider necessary or unnecessary. For instance, people tend to mimic the dressing styles of the celebrities as they are portrayed in the social media especially in the Hollywood movies. In a similar manner, some people often strive to have fancy cars and wear makeup just like the characters they see on their screens. To this end, one can conclude that indirect advertising is as important as direct advertising in terms of influencing and shaping the mass society's values. However, the advertisement portrayals do not necessarily reflect the values of the society, but rather reinforces of what is expected of an ideal society. Particularly, the advertisements focused on body image have created two schools of thought with one claiming that the ads are centered on conformity while others claiming that they are centered on the distinction. Although Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter assert that “consumption is not about conformity, it is about the distinction,” Raynolds (84) and Stinson (14) point out that a number of advertisements promote healthy eating habits. This paper supports the argument that body image advertisements encourage people to go out of their way in order to conform to social norms by losing weight, conforming to the standards set in the society in addition to encouraging nonconformist consumption, a sense of superiority, and ways of achieving happy lives.
Supporting arguments:
An examination of television advertisements on body image, one can find out that it encourages people to conform to the consumption behavior deemed acceptable by the society. For instance, the media is focused on encouraging people to eat less calorie foodstuffs in order to prevent excessive weight gain and obesity. According to Raynolds (84), various advertisements are focused on promoting healthy eating habits. In this regard, such health eating habits refer to eating less-sugary and low fat products that promote weight loss. This conforms to the society's set standards against excessive weight gain and obesity. The media advertisements bombard us with information on healthy foodstuffs. The food producing companies are also increasingly targeting the ever increasing health-conscious consumers. Additionally, in an attempt to promote weight loss, “control and restraint are common themes, particularly in ads for diet foods or aids” (Stinson, 14). This statement reinforces our earlier arguments that the advertisement is also focused on encouraging people to conform to the body weights that are deemed acceptable in the society, particularly in the western culture. However, it is note...