Today, everywhere we look we see the effect consumerism has had on society. We open our phone and see advertisements. We go for a walk and see advertisements. We watch our favorite shows and in between are advertisements. These advertisements control consumerism and we all don’t even realize. Black Friday is coming up and it's one of the most advertised events of the holiday season. We may not realize it, but Christmas thrives off of consumerism and advertisements are a part of companies control over the gift giving holiday that we know and love.
Why is it everywhere?
Advertisements are a way of showcasing a product to the consumer. As society has progress, advertisements have slowly crept into different aspects of life. It has gotten to the point where we don’t even realize we’re seeing them so often. Yankelovich, a market research firm, has stated that those living in urban areas can see up to 5,000 ads a day compared to 2,000 per day thirty years ago. There are various types of advertisements and they all have a purpose when it comes to drawing in consumers and its placement. Companies can pay public service companies to place their advertisements on their vehicles like buses and taxis. This way, the advertisement doesn’t stay in place, instead it is constantly moving and being seen by people that live in multiple areas. These advertisements are also placed in places like subways, on billboards, and even gas pumps. The other day, I was pumping gas and while I was the screen on the gas pump played commercials. It really is everywhere!
Another way companies make advertisements are by having celebrities wear or endorse certain products. A while ago, these endorsements would be very direct and simply have the celebrity or official endorsing the product only within a commercial or ad. Now these endorsements are very subtle. For example, I saw within the NBA bubble that certain players were wearing face masks made by a specific brand. I later found out that a brand had sent these a face mask for every single player in the bubble to wear for free to gain exposure. This can also be seen in TV Shows with product placement. Companies will pay for their products to be featured as clothing or a prop in a TV show or movie. When Stranger Things Season 3 came out, Coke was just re-releasing their Coke Classic. Coke ended up paying to have their rendition of their old drink in the show to drive exposure and play on nostalgia to increase their sales.
Our lives are now centered around technology and this has opened a massive space for advertising. Our pictures, music, shopping habits, and the rest of our daily lives. Certain websites and apps will hold this information and store it. Certain apps like Instagram are free, however they are funded by companies that want advertisements on the app, not by its users. These advertisements don’t show up for everyone, they are directed towards users who show interest in certain products based on the data that places like Instagram hold. These advertisements are all over our phones and technology and are more expensive for companies to create as they use data to present them to targeted audiences, increasing interaction compared to advertisements to a more general demographic.
Although you may not agree with it, advertising is very powerful. Personally, I have never felt like I have bought anything solely because I saw the advertisement. However, advertisements drive consumerism as brands like Apple or Call of Duty will release a new product that makes the one from just twelve months ago seem obsolete. These advertisements control behavior and carry influence with them that spreads to consumers. Now with technology, advertisements are everywhere and is why our society is very consumer-base and materialistic.