The media is everywhere and takes up a great deal of people’s everyday lives. People depend on the media to provide them with information that would otherwise be hard to get. The people of society also use the media to communicate with friends, family, and people from all around the world. Also, the media serves as a means for entertainment. Businesses use the media as a way to advertise their products. The media affects society in many different ways; such as, businesses use the media to promote their products, the media effects communication, and the media affects body image and behavior of people in society.Businesses use the media to convince consumers to buy their products. Since the start of mass media, companies have used communication to broadcast to large numbers of people about their product . Companies spend a great amount of money to encourage people to buy their product, by winning them over. The media provides information, rates, and suggests new products and services such as movies, computers, restaurants, books, fashion items, and more . Back in the days where brands had to buy advertising or secure media placements are gone. Today it is becoming really hard to know the difference between the role of marketer and publisher. This gives the chance for companies to become satisfied conservators, making their own items on their websites for their businesses. More and more people are considering traditional advertisements as untrustworthy; in fact, 75% of people do not think traditional advertisements are true. Companies uses online advertisements to influence people to buy their product. People today are trying to make more informed buying choices, using all the information they can find online. A person’s online experience can influence them to shop at a particular store; in fact, 91% of people shop at stores because of reviews online. People spend a large amount of time researching products before they decide to buy them. 86% of people use search engines to research products. 62% of people who research products online buy products in the store. People who research services and products online are more likely to make a buying decision . 78% of people are influenced by post from companies on social media websites. 72% of people are trusting of online recommendations of products. Peneycad mentions,“This means 72% of people trust complete strangers just as [much] as people they know when it comes to making a purchase decision . Almost everyone has been on a social media website, and saw a post about something their friend bought and was influenced to go out and buy a that product. 81% of people are influenced to buy a product because of posts on social media websites by their friends . Companies also use methods of subliminal messaging to promote their product. Subliminal Perception is used to contact the subconscious mind without the viewer noticing to plant a message. In 1957, James Vicary claimed he could make people want a Coca- Cola and popcorn just by flashing the items across the screen for a short period of time that people watching were unaware of. Subliminal Perception was purposely developed by communications technicians so people will receive and respond to information without knowing.
Indeed the media is used in everyone’s day to day life to communicate with one another and to stay up to date on what is going on in society. In the past 50 years, the media has grown its influence significantly with the changes in new technology, starting with the telegraph all the way to today’s internet . The media is owned by five different companies; these companies are News Corp, Walt Disney, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal, and Time Warner. “Mass Media…” “Mass Media…” mentions, “Those 5 companies own 95% of all the media that people [receive] every day. They own the major entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programing, video, news, and sports entertainment” . These companies also own integrated telecommunication, gaming software, wireless phones, electronic media, the music industry, and many more . The media has the power to persuade large groups of people. Mass media is the utmost influential device used by the ruling elite to shape the masses In this society, people are dependent upon communication and information to continue traveling in the right direction also to do their daily activities like health care, entertainment, work, personal relationships, education, and everything else they may have to do. In this age, people feel disconnected if they do not have some form of media on at all times . People are so dependent on social media they are becoming more and more disconnected with the world around them. People are always on their phones or some other form of communication device; causing people to become disconnected with what is happening around them, and not live in the moment. People trust in the media to give them entertainment, education, and news. The mass media is a media form with the power to grasp the largest crowd possible . The media includes television, movies, radio, newspaper, magazines, books, records, video games, and the internet.
The media influence the way people look at themselves, and how people behave. It is no secret that advertisers use Photoshop to edit photos to make the person in it look more appealing. It can take years or even longer for people to come to the realization that the images they see are manipulated. Two advertisers received a penalty against their portrayal of an actress and a model, because of the excessive amount of false image work applied to their bodies in the summer of 2011
. Living in a society where most of the images people see may not be real is damaging . Women these days subject themselves to harmful tactics to achieve the perfect body; women who are overly determined to achieve the image they have as the perfect body can develop eating disorders from crash diets to anorexia. Disorders such as these are very complex and can be caused by many different factors. Advertising companies sexualize and objectify women, using them to sell products, thus teaching people women are just objects . Super skinny models, who have been dressed up and edited in their photos, are seen as what a woman should look like although most of the time, not even the women in the photos look like what is being portrayed . France’s parliament is considering a bill to outlaw media images that glamorize extremely skinny models as psychologist are discovering just how much these images really affect women.For many females, media advertisements may not play a huge role in their self- image, but for the women who are affected by the media, these advertisements can play a huge part in the development of eating disorders . Research psychologist found that being exposed to the media showing super skinny actresses and models greatly increases women’s concerns about their bodies. Although this information may seem obvious, Grabe, a researcher, believes many people do not think that media images can actually affect the way women view themselves. Though past experiments have found the same results, critics often discard them because they focused on women who are considered to have more issues with their bodies; such as college students, or they exposed women to racy pictures. No matter what the exposure is TV magazines, or ads on the computer, Grabe explains, if images are clearly focused on sending a particular message that women’s bodies are objects, then it will affect women. Concern Over... mentions, “The researchers’ analysis reveals that, on average, studies conducted in the 2000s show a larger influence of the media on women’s body image than do those from the 1990s, says Grabe”.Meaning aside from all the effort to teach women that not all media images of women are healthy, the media has a greater effect on how women view themselves . Celebrities who act out in the public spotlight can also have a negative effect on people. The media outlines and forms Opinions, attitudes and chooses what is ordinary and acceptable .Adolescents often imitate the celebrities they like the most without fully investigating their actions (Oak). Angry parents from across the U.S. are asking what exactly was Miley Cyrus thinking; her loyal fan base consists of people not old enough to drive. Wallace mentions, "It's a [darn] shame that Miley is doing this to herself, making a vulgar joke out of her talents and her beauty, but it's a much bigger shame that she's doing it to her young fans and other young people (who) see her in the media," said Heidi Cardenas, a mom of two teenage boys, in response to a request for comment on CNN's Facebook page” . It is basically the same things as going to a street corner in the U.S and selling herself. Larene Grady, Miley does not care about how her younger fans see her, or has not taking the time out to see what her actions are doing to her as a celebrity. The relevance of Hanna Montanna to the present day Miley Cyrus is a typewriter to a millenials . Miley chose to wear close to nothing and danced around on stage at the VMA. In Northern California a mom of three, believes that Mileys’ stage performance adds to the damaged picture as women as sex objects. It is extremely hard to have hope for women’s status to improve when some of the most spotlighted women around us display many of the worst stereotypes held by women. Because the influence of the media on teenagers, kids, and society is so great, they need to be informed on how the media actually works . Television is the most influential of all media, society is continually being bombarded by thousands of images of violence, sex, celebrities, and so much more; 40,000 is the number of ads a single child is exposed to each year . At a young age if exposed to violent gory movies, books with mature content, and news that have negative social practices can have a negative effect on adolescents. Oak mentions, “If children are bombarded with fight sequences, stunt work, sex and rape scenes, suicides and murders through books or movies, they are bound to leave a scar on these impressionable minds" . Adolescents are not the only ones who are negatively affected by the media; although adults are mature enough to separate what is good and what is bad when the media shows more bad than good it affects even adults, if only on a subconscious level. The media tends to shine light on the bad incidents that is happening and not on the good. Incidents that happen that would be otherwise considered as small, or no big deal are blown out of proportion, making people see these incidents in a different light . Adolescents are at a very vulnerable age, making them more easily influenced by what the media shows them when presented to them in a flashy way. Too often the media will highlight the negative incidents that happen while the positive goes unnoticed. The media can also influence people’s feelings negatively .
In conclusion, the media affect society in many different ways; such as, businesses use the media to promote their products, the media effects communication, and the media affects body image and the behavior of people in society. Businesses use the media to help promote and sell their products. People use the media in their everyday lives to communicate with one another, and to stay up to date on what is happening in the world. Without the media people would not be able to communicate with one another as quickly and easily as they can with it. The media can have negative effects on the way people view themselves and how people behave. The media have positive and negative effects on society.
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