Advertising's Influence on Teenagers: A Comprehensive Analysis

This essay examines the multifaceted influence of advertising on teenagers in the modern world. It begins by highlighting the pervasive role of technology and social media in advertising, emphasizing its ability to reach a wide audience. The essay then delves into both the positive and negative impacts of advertising on young people. Positive influences include medically related advertisements promoting health awareness, advertisements about internship and job opportunities, career development information, healthy lifestyle promotions, and support from charity organizations. Conversely, the essay explores negative effects such as exposure to pornographic content, alcohol and tobacco advertisements, gender role stereotypes, and unhealthy food promotions. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of educating teenagers about media literacy and advocating for parental and educational guidance to help young people navigate the complex world of advertising.

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Advertising influences on Teens
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Advertising influences on Teens
The world today relies heavily on technological advancement in almost all field be it
engineering, medicine, communication, business and so much more. In the field of marketing,
advertising does also rely heavily on mass communication due to the ease of passing
information, the geographical coverage is large and more so, there are easier accesses to the
targeted market group. Advertising mostly happens in social media such as on television, the
internets through the company website or even pop up advertisement and the radio. The
entrepreneur carries out advertisements in social media with an aim of creating awareness and
knowledge and thus increasing the volume of sales of the products and services. Advertisements
carried out on social media have both positive and negative influence on teenagers as discussed
below.
There are a number of positive outcomes arising from advertisements carried out on social
media. Firstly is medically related advertisements. From statistics, teenagers spend a huge
percentage of their free time on social media. The medical field has taken advantage of this by
educating them through pop up advertisement on the various diseases that they can get,
particularly the sexually transmitted diseases. Teens are considered to be very sexually active
and advertisement on the use of condoms during sex, having a single sex partner and carrying
out regular HIV test is a productive advertisement carried out on social media (Felman, 1979, pp.
2517-2518). Secondly, advertisement on opportunities such as internship position has helped
teens with relevant skills get jobs and earn their own cash thus boosting their financial standards.
The advertisement made by learning institutions on career choices and development has helped
teenagers find relevant information on particular areas of study that they might be interested in
and would want to make a career out of it. Advertisements made on healthy lifestyles with a

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special focus on eating habits is also useful to teenagers are they get information on the type of
foods that are safe to their bodies and to avoid junk diet that may be a leading cause of obesity.
Charity organizations have also targeted the youth on social media, where they are encouraged to
participate in charity activities such as visiting childrens’ home and lending a hand not only
through financial aid, bus also offer moral support to the disadvantaged in the community.
Lastly, advertisements on social media on how to keep the body fit have proven useful as
teenagers are able to maintain a healthy body that they are proud of.
Despite the positive attributes associated with advertisements, there have been a number
of drawbacks that teenagers get from advertising. One of them is the pornographic content
advertisement that has left some teenagers addicted to musterbation and sex. This particularly
happens in the web, where companies in the pornographic industries advertise through pop ups
on the screen on their pornographic contents. Since teenagers are very sexually active, these
companies are able to catch their interest with a blink of an eye, and when they follow these
advertisements, teenagers not only lose valuable and productive time but also become addicted to
pornography. Alcohol and tobacco advertisements on televisions affect teenagers negatively.
These advertisements are carried out in a way that attracts teenagers to try out smoking and
drinking promising them a feeling like none other and before they know it some teenagers get
addicted (Grenard, Dent, & Stacy, 2013). There is an increased exposure to unhealthy lifestyle
on gender roles when teenagers are exposed to magazines, televisions, the internet, and movies.
Teenage girls for examples are made to believe that they should be sexy and that involve
exposing almost your entire naked body for the world to see and they want to be like that sexy
female presenter on television. This comparison with television stars has left most teenagers
insecure and with a low self-esteem thus reducing their imagination and productivity (Luff, &

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Gray, 2009). Some food advertisement made on social media encourage a teen to engage in
unhealthy eating habits and these may lead to obesity and related heart problems.
Positive advertisement on social media such as matters related to health, internship
opportunities, career development advertisements, keeping fit and better-eating habits can
influence a teenager a better life in the future. However, negative advertisement such as
pornographic contents, gender biased advertising especially to teenage girls, tobacco, and alcohol
consumption advertisements and improper food advertisement may influence teenagers in
negative directions. Parents and teachers are encouraged to teach children on social media
advertisements so that they can be specific on contents to access and those not to access on social
media. A recommendation by the American Psychological Association encourages parents and
teachers to explain to their teenagers why certain companies carry out these negative
advertisements. They also encourage teenagers to stay at home doing productive work or
exercise away from media advertisements that surrounds them.

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References
Felman, Y. M. (1979). A plea for the condom, especially for teenagers. JAMA, 241(23), 2517-
2518.
Grenard, J. L., Dent, C. W., & Stacy, A. W. (2013). Exposure to alcohol advertisements and
teenage alcohol-related problems. Pediatrics, peds-2012.
Luff, G. M., & Gray, J. J. (2009). Complex messages regarding a thin ideal appearing in teenage
girls’ magazines from 1956 to 2005. Body Image, 6(2), 133-136.