Have you ever watched an advertisement that made you stop and take notice? Remarkably, some people, myself included, watch the Superbowl commercials every year, just to see what new advertisements companies are coming up with, which advertisements will push the envelope more, and which ones will make one laugh with reckless abandon. However, advertisements are not designed to entertain; they are, however, designed to sell you, the consumer, something that you probably do not want or need. Advertisements do not just affect, nor are they directed solely to adults. Many companies are now targeting youth: toddlers, young children, adolescents, and teenagers.
When an ad influences an adolescent to use a product, chances are that the adolescent will continue using the product throughout his or her life due to the enormous impressionability of the young mind. This is the marketing strategy that initiated restrictions on cigarette and alcohol advertising in the United States. The fact is, advertising works and works well to sell products and influence consumers of all ages. American Academy of Pediatrics (2010) states quite clearly, "The power of advertising to influence children and adolescents (and adults for that matter) is incontrovertible...Advertising works; otherwise, companies would not spend billions of dollars on it" (p. 3). That is to say, companies spend billions of dollars each year to manipulate consumers (you and your children) into buying, consuming, and using their products.
There are many ads that can be used to illustrate this, however for the purpose of this paper we will examine an ad for JC Penny that aired around June of 2008. The ad shows two young teenagers, a male and female, in their respective homes, in their respective rooms speed dressing repeatedly, in an attempt to get dressed as quickly as possible, the purpose of which will soon become clear (Helm, 2008). The male eventually changes the clothing he is going to wear until he could get completely dressed from his underwear out in 18 seconds (Helm, 2008). The ad then cuts to the young female's house, and the viewer sees her running to answer the front door (Helm, 2008). She and the young male share a smile; they then walk to the doorway of the living room where the girl's mother is sitting on the couch talking on the phone (Helm, 2008). The girl tells her mother that she and the boy are going down to the basement to watch television (Helm, 2008). As the girl and boy are walking to the basement door, the following statement flashes across the screen: "Today's the day to get away with it" (Helm, 2008). As the statement fades from the screen, the viewer sees the girl grab the boy's arm and pull him to what one assumes is the entrance to the basement (Helm, 2008). The picture fades to the JC Penny slogan: "Every day matters" (Helm, 2008).
This ad is clearly intended for a young audience, adolescent to teen viewers (age 13-17). It is directed to both male and female. The overt messages this advertisement convey is teenagers can get dressed in a very short amount of time, and "today" they can "get away with" sneaking to have sex under their parents' noses. The subliminal messages this ad conveys is that parents either are not very bright, are neglectful, or just do not care to closely monitor their teens; the male and female teenagers are going to have sex; and JC Penney clothes will decrease the time it takes to redress. Indeed, the boy and girl could be completely redressed and sitting down watching television as they said they were going to do before the girl's mother could even get from the couch in the living room to the basement door. Of particular interest is the young girl's aggression at the end of the ad, in pulling the boy toward the door as if she were impatient. To have this much of a plan requires sneakiness, deception, and the assumption that the parents are ignorant. Up to this point, the palpable messages discussed would be interpreted the same or similar in each gender. An additional message sent to female viewers is that it is ok to be aggressive and, perhaps, easy. The fact the teenagers appear comfortable with each other, enough to practice dressing and undressing, the explicitness and cunning involved in their plan sends the message that this is certainly not the first time either of them have had sex. Sadly, I do not think this ad is inaccurate in its portrayal of teenage body image.
I believe this ad and JC Penney clothing may be appealing to adolescents for the very reasons portrayed within the commercial. No longer just your grandmother's clothing, but clothing adolescents can also appreciate. Adolescents are constantly pushing the envelope to see how much they can get away with in their quest for increasing autonomy; the problem is adolescents are not yet mentally equipped to think critically about the consequences of their behaviors (Santrock, 2010). This ad, and perhaps the JC Penney clothing line, may be appealing to adolescents, for the very reasons demonstrated within the commercial. Marketers chose to use the content and imagery in this commercial to exploit this natural tendency of young adolescents as they search for ways to exert more control over their own environment and bodies. This type of advertising is the utmost in negligence, because it does nothing to warn adolescents of the dangers that are also associated with having sex. They may get away with it today, but pay for it the rest of their life, through unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
Parents play a vital in role in teaching their children to think critically, not only about the various messages they are bombarded with via television, internet, video games, magazines, and other media sources, but also the messages they receive from friends. Parents should take this commercial as a warning to be involved in their children's lives and to teach their children when the child is young, so that when he or she is older those teaching will remain with them (Proverbs 22:6, KJV). Children do not save for their parents, but parents save for their children, not just money, but also values, morals, and ethics; these are the things that parents should save and teach their children through words as well as actions (II Corinthians 12:14, KJV).
References
The Council on Communications and Media. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2010). Policy statement-Children, adolescents, substance abuse, and the media. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/126/4/791.
Helm, B. (2008). JC Penny debuts 'Teenage Sex'ad-Or someone else debuts it for them? Bloomsburg Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2008/06/jcpe....
Santrock, J. W. (2010). Adolescence, (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
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