When looking at today’s pop culture it’s easy to see how easily influenced we are by messages portrayed by the media. Even messages that make no sense like “I only ate chocolate for ten days and I still lost weight!” still have a profound impact on the way that we think and feel about certain products. Even statements like the one above convince people to buy this magazine, or special product that will help you lose weight no matter what you eat. Many advertising tricks are used to sells products that will make us thinner, happier, or even live longer, when in reality they aren't what they seem to be at all. Now, I’m not saying that all advertising is bad but we tend to believe what we want to think is true over what we actually know is true.
For example, something we see commercials for every day, it’s in our grocery stores, it’s on the web, and sometimes we actually use them ourselves, or know someone who has. Diet pills. Advertisements for diet pills are extremely misleading. They tell us that if we use them we can shed off 20 pounds in two weeks the “healthy, fast” way. Overall people know that losing weight that fast is not only unnatural and unhealthy but it can also be life threatening, yet we still see people everyday buying and taking them in hopes for a miracle. The advertisements for these products show skinny, sexy women and men in bathing suits, or looking good in that dress that used to be a little too tight to wear. What they don’t show you or tell you is the profound negative effects that these pills have on our bodies. They don’t want us to know that there are extremely harmful chemicals that could potentially kill us because then the product wouldn’t sell.
Another absurd advertising scheme is one of the biggest in the world. We see it everywhere every day. Alcohol. According to the media not only will alcohol make us sexy, fun and energetic, but it also gives us a great excuse for that really stupid thing we did last night. Any person in their right mind knows that drinking too much makes you sloppy, sick, and sometimes even violent or depressed, yet it still is one of the biggest money making businesses in the world. It’s not to say that 100% of people who drink are bad, and that drinking can’t be fun, but the negative effect of alcohol far outweigh the positive. People die every day as the result of alcohol. It’s one of the main causes of teen death, and car accidents.
Although there are so many organizations that put forth the dangers of things such as diet pills and drinking they are still portrayed in our media to be good for us. Organizations like DARE or the Live Above the Influence commercials put out the exact opposite messages that diet pills and alcohol do. They show us the dangers of drinking, and the show pictures that are meant to scare us, and make us think twice about the substances that we put into our bodies. They teach us from a very young age that drugs (even legal) and alcohol are things that we should stay away from. If these organizations spend millions of dollars a year to promote the dangers of drugs and alcohol then why do so many people still use them? It’s all because advertisement like ones for Hydroxycut or that great bottle of Patron are sending a message that we want to think is true so we accept them, but organizations like DARE and Live Above the Influence are sending a true message that we don’t want to believe is true so we don’t accept them.
When looking at today’s pop culture it’s easy to see how easily influenced we are by messages portrayed by the media. Even messages that make no sense like “I only ate chocolate for ten days and I still lost weight!” still have a profound impact on the way that we think and feel about certain products. Even statements like the one above convince people to buy this magazine, or special product that will help you lose weight no matter what you eat. Many advertising tricks are used to sells products that will make us thinner, happier, or even live longer, when in reality they aren't what they seem to be at all. Now, I’m not saying that all advertising is bad but we tend to believe what we want to think is true over what we actually know is true.
For example, something we see commercials for every day, it’s in our grocery stores, it’s on the web, and sometimes we actually use them ourselves, or know someone who has. Diet pills. Advertisements for diet pills are extremely misleading. They tell us that if we use them we can shed off 20 pounds in two weeks the “healthy, fast” way. Overall people know that losing weight that fast is not only unnatural and unhealthy but it can also be life threatening, yet we still see people everyday buying and taking them in hopes for a miracle. The advertisements for these products show skinny, sexy women and men in bathing suits, or looking good in that dress that used to be a little too tight to wear. What they don’t show you or tell you is the profound negative effects that these pills have on our bodies. They don’t want us to know that there are extremely harmful chemicals that could potentially kill us because then the product wouldn’t sell. 
Another absurd advertising scheme is one of the biggest in the world. We see it everywhere every day. Alcohol. According to the media not only will alcohol make us sexy, fun and energetic, but it also gives us a great excuse for that really stupid thing we did last night. Any person in their right mind knows that drinking too much makes you sloppy, sick, and sometimes even violent or depressed, yet it still is one of the biggest money making businesses in the world. It’s not to say that 100% of people who drink are bad, and that drinking can’t be fun, but the negative effect of alcohol far outweigh the positive. People die every day as the result of alcohol. It’s one of the main causes of teen death, and car accidents. 
Although there are so many organizations that put forth the dangers of things such as diet pills and drinking they are still portrayed in our media to be good for us. Organizations like DARE or the Live Above the Influence commercials put out the exact opposite messages that diet pills and alcohol do. They show us the dangers of drinking, and the show pictures that are meant to scare us, and make us think twice about the substances that we put into our bodies. They teach us from a very young age that drugs (even legal) and alcohol are things that we should stay away from. If these organizations spend millions of dollars a year to promote the dangers of drugs and alcohol then why do so many people still use them? It’s all because advertisement like ones for Hydroxycut or that great bottle of Patron are sending a message that we want to think is true so we accept them, but organizations like DARE and Live Above the Influence are sending a true message that we don’t want to believe is true so we don’t accept them. 
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