mass media: the influence of advertising

One of the most major influences on the mass media is advertising. Commercial institutions are driven by the desire to generate profits. Advertising is one way of doing so. Print media, like newspapers and magazines, get most of their funding from advertisers. Most mainstream magazines, like Cosmopolitan or Maxim for example, always have an advertisement on the back cover. Obviously, the ad will depend on the particular target market of the magazine. It is the same idea with newspapers. Even years ago, when newspapers first began to appear, certain advertisements were placed in specific sections of the paper, like ads for household items in the sections designed for female readers (although we should note here that when newspapers first started, there were no "fashion" or "lifestyle" type of sections, since these news publications were primarily targeted at men, only supposedly "male" subjects filled the pages, like " business" for instance).

Television commercials are made up of different advertisements, and again, this will depend on the channel and program that is being featured. For example, a music channel will likely have ads for music stores and various recording artist's new albums, whereas cooking shows will probably consist of ads for household items and related food products.

Today, most TV shows and major motion pictures will have advertisements embedded within them; this is known as product placement. For instance, when one sees Lindsay Lohan drinking a Diet Pepsi to cool down, or Colin Farrel using a Gilette Mach 3 for his morning shave, they are likely to make a mental note of these products, although this is often subconsciously done. There are far less subtle examples, like the Sex and the City episode where one of the characters will do just about anything to get her hands on a Hermes bag. This creates the illusion that owning and consuming certain products will provide you with power and prestige.

Celebrities are often paid in "real life" to wear certain brands or to drive specific cars in order to advertise for these companies. This is extremely effective because people look up to famous Hollywood starlets and want to know "how can I be like them?" Well, buy the same stuff they buy of course! Then there are celebrities who are paid to endorse products in print ads and television commercials, like Jennifer Aniston and the Smart Water campaign or Mishca Barton being the face of Neutrogena. It is important to mention that there are celebrities who do advertisements for alternative media as well, like Dominique Swain for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), or other notably worthy causes, like Gap's RED Campaign which raises money to fight AIDS.