The Impact of Marketing and Media on Teens, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Teenagers spend averagely seven hours in various media sources. Majority of them have access to computers, video-game console, cell phones, social networking sites and televisions at the comfort of their bedrooms (Strasburger, Wilson, & Jordan, 2009). The media sources have an impact on the health concern that parents and practitioners have about teenagers which include substance abuse, eating disorders, aggressive behavior and dangerous sexual behavior. Different forms of media affect teenagers in different ways. According to studies in the U.S. teenagers with access to television in their bedrooms have low scores, small vocabularies and do not read. The media has also been linked to increased obesity in the United States. Teenagers who watch television for 2 hours daily have a higher chance of being obese as they do not exercise.

Some of the impacts of advertising and the media in the United States include:

Sex

Researchers in America have established significant facts about the effects of accessing sexual content on early sexual practices and teenagers’ sexual beliefs. The sample showed that nearly half of users 0f the internet aged between 10 to 17 years had been exposed to pornographic content. This exposure to sexually explicit content has led to increased oral sex, sexual harassment, permissive sexual norms and engagement in sexual intercourse while still in school (Strasburger, Wilson & Jordan, 2009). Studies have also shown that the media’s sexual content streaming has led to increased sexual activity, increased risk of unplanned pregnancies, sexual transmitted diseases and early coital behavior. The media has been instrumental in providing sexual information to teenagers in America and influence their beliefs on romantic relationships. Television shows and series targeting youths have more sexual content than adult shows. Unfortunately, these shows do not emphasize on the importance of responsibility and contraception. Birth control advertisements are also made available in various US television networks while advertisements for contraception are never aired. Online connection of teenagers with strangers has also been a major issue of concern. Cases of internet sexual activity by adults on teenagers have been on the rise. The other trend that has significantly risen is the online sexual solicitation by minors on other minors. Facebook, twitter and Myspace are some of the social networking sites that have easily allowed teenagers to present themselves in sexually suggestive manners which have increased cases of rape. Online sexual predators have now turned to “sexting” using mobile phones to target their victims.

Substance Abuse

America is among the countries in the world where drugs are highly advertised. Over $20 billion is used in advertising and marketing drugs such as alcohol, tobacco and other prescription drugs. These advertisements have significant effects on teenagers’ use of drugs. On-line videos also reveal drug and alcohol content that is seen by adolescents. Recent studies on social networking platforms have revealed that 40% of the profiles referenced substance abuse. Tobacco use has also been common in movies. Over 70% of the movies written in the U.S. contain scenes of smoking tobacco and even marijuana. Smoking leads to negative health effects such as cancer and other lung infections (Lapointe 2008). Studies have shown exposure to movies with smoking scenes lead to initiation of smoking between two to 8 years later. The smoking initiation is as a result of identifying with the characters and storyline of the movie.

Eating Disorders and obesity

Longitudinal studies and other American researchers have revealed that the media and marketing are playing a crucial role in the current obesity epidemic, in the world. Food marketing is one of the major causes of obesity in the world (McGinnis, 2006). Teenagers and children see 4000-7500 advertisements every year on fast food and junk food on television. Exposure to junk food has an effect on teenager’s preferences and food beliefs. The food related content on various media sources has increased teenagers reliance and dependence on food messages. Apart from the influences caused by advertising, eating while at the same time watching, especially television, leads to increased food consumption. Heavy viewing of television causes the displacement of physical activities and sleep especially during the nighttime (McGinnis, 2006). The media has also been instrumental in creating body dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectations. This is especially common with young female readers of beauty and fashion magazines. These readers to suffer from distorted body images as they try to emulate various slim lead characters in various television shows, in America. The internet contains sites that give advice on purging, exercise and reduction of caloric intake in order to be slim.

Physical health and development concerns

Viewing television for 2-3 hours every day has been linked to attention-deficit disorder (ADD) during their early years in school according to reports in the United States (Brown, 2006). Games that have flashing images may have epileptic seizures. Problems with sleep have also been associated with television viewing patterns. Sleep problems are likely to be caused by having access to television in the bedroom, watching television before bedtime and heavy viewing for most parts of the day. Teenagers using electronic games and computers are also likely to develop awkward postures associated with musculoskeletal disorders (Kamalipour, 2001). The physical demands of various media sources may to adverse effects such as neurological, physical and visual changes. Heavy television viewing causes hormonal imbalance and short-sightedness. It also leads to the risk of premature puberty and the risk of cancer. The use of media also reduces the rates of metabolism in the body that causes type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Learning and school performance disorders

There is a connection between ADD or other various learning disabilities and television viewing. Viewing television. Heavy viewing of television leads to the impairment of cognitive processes especially to teenagers with television sets in their bedrooms. The media also has an impact on academic performance. Students who spend most of their time watching television usually have poor grades in their tests. However, reports show that teenagers who use computers score quality grades in their tests.

Violence

In the United States, reports show that by the age of 18, teenagers usually have seen over 16000 cases of simulated murders and over 200,000 acts of violence on television. Such teenagers conceive certain beliefs which include: Violence is inevitable, violence is the best way of conflict resolution, and the world is violent hence self-protective behaviors, mistrust and anxiety. Teenagers who watch violent scenes are likely to conceive aggressive thoughts, unfriendly feelings and aggressive behaviors. Teenagers who view high risk-taking content are likely to copy the behaviors that can lead to serious injuries.

Other health effects

Heavy use of various media is associated with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, mood disorders, psychological distress, depression and asthma prevalence.

Despite the negative implications of the media and advertisements, the media also has positive impacts on teenagers. Teenagers use the media to get away from reality. Besides the entertainment, the media has also become an educational tool. Teenagers use the media to become informed about news and events around the world. Media sources such as documentaries, films and magazines about social matters provide social awareness to teenagers on what is happening around them. Apart from television, print media such as magazines and newspapers enable teenagers to read various stories and articles than enhance their knowledge and vocabulary. Television talk shows and movies relating to real life can also educate teenagers on the best ways to handle certain situations. However, parents should ensure that viewing of televisions supervised by parents.

Social networking allows teenagers to freely interact with friends and other in a risk-free environment. Studies have also revealed that teenagers with access to computers especially in their bedrooms had better academic performance. The reason behind this was the internet which kept them interested in homework, projects and assignments.

The media has also had a positive impact through the introduction of educational video games. The games have allowed children to have fun while at the same time thinking logically and simultaneously. The media has been blamed for having negative effects on the bodies of women. However, it can also be inspirational if they see another woman competing against men and with a respectable job. This gives teenage girls hope that they are capable of achieving anything.

This potential has not been fully realized. Some of the possible solutions to these problems include:

Parents

Various welfare organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics have suggested that parents:

• Keep screen media away from teenagers’ bedrooms.
• Co-view media with their children and later discuss it.
• Limiting time spent watching by teenagers.

Parents should also avoid exposing their children to R-rated and PG movies because of their sexual and violent content (Kamalipour, 2001). Parents should also ensure they take into consideration their media use as they play a crucial role in determining children’s media use.

Practitioners

Practitioner should also recommend limiting time spent watching television and learn more about the impacts of the media and marketing on their patients. Practitioners should also offer counselling to teenagers as this would result in the adherence of the AAP guidelines (Carey, 2009).

Schools

Most schools in the United States have not been up to date with drug prevention, sex education and violence prevention. The increasing sexual suggestiveness displayed in various media sources should compel schools to start offering a comprehensive sex education programs for adolescents and children. Some of the topics of discussion include the issue of contraceptives and how sexuality and sex are portrayed in the media….Drug education should also be developed beyond the scare tactics in order to integrate the principles of media education and education teenagers on the way of deconstructing tobacco and alcohol advertisements and be more resilient. Media education can be helpful in mitigating the harmful effects of the media. Reports have indicated that teenagers can respond positively to messages regarding the dangers of posting sexual references on their profiles on social networking platforms.

Entertainment industry

The entertainment industry should provide important and accurate health information. The United States is one of the countries with the highest cases of teenage pregnancy. Unfortunately, this trend has been increasing rather than decreasing. Therefore, the entertainment industry should increase advertisement on contraceptives and responsible sexual content in the media. Studios should also adopt anti-smoking advertisements before featuring their films on DVDs. Movie producers, such a Disney, should also not allow for smoking in their movies. Movie producers should also come up with a universal rating system instead of the current rating system that separates video games, movies and television.

Government

The government should rigorously enforce The Children Television Act of 1990 which allows stipulates that television networks should broadcast informational or educational programs for three hours every week. The increased use of digital media should compel Congress to revisit the children’s media policy with the federal communications commission and the Federal Trade Commission. The U.S. government should also distribute the funds needed to research on emerging media such as interactive digital television and social networking. The U.S. government through the National Institutes of Mental should provide an omnibus report on the current effects on adolescents and children by the media.

Researchers

Many researchers focus on dangerous behavior among teenagers including eating disorders and eating disorders and ignore the impacts of the media. Therefore, researchers should consolidate the measures guiding the use of media into their research on teenage and child behavior. These studies on teenagers and children are needed to have a better understanding on the effects of the media on distinct subpopulations of teenagers and children.

Advertising industry

The United States has one of the most active advertisement industry spending over $250 billion every year in advertisements only. The products that are mostly advertised are fast foods and junk foods while healthy products such as contraceptives and healthy foods are poorly advertised. Appropriate advertisement ethics should be established to regulate the products that can and cannot be advertised to certain age groups. Due to the growing epidemic of obesity, various authorities should limit the advertisement of fast and junk foods to teenagers and small children. Companies should also engage in the advertisement of healthy foods to teenagers and children in order to develop positive attitudes towards healthy food and increase the willingness of children to consider healthy food as snacks.

Conclusion

Over the last two decades, the media has been powerful in teaching teenagers and children various things that impact on their health. However, not much has been done by schools, parents, healthcare practitioners and the government to safeguard children and teenagers from harmful effects of the media. There needs to increased research in order for action to be taken to curb this problem.

References

Brown, T. E. (2006). Attention deficit disorder: The unfocused mind in children and adults. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.

Carey, W. B. (2009). Developmental-behavioral pediatrics. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders/Elsevier.

Kamalipour, Y. R. (2001). Media, sex, violence, and drugs in the global village. Lanham [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lapointe, M. M. (2008). Adolescent smoking and health research. New York: Nova Biomedical Books.

McGinnis, J. M. (2006). Food marketing to children and youth: Threat or opportunity?. Washington, DC: National Acad. Press.

Strasburger, V. C., Wilson, B. J., & Jordan, A. B. (2009). Children, adolescents, and the media. Los Angeles: Sage.