Social Effects of Marketing
There have been several complaints filed too many companies about their marketing strategies and how they have affected the teenagers more than their required target. For instance, there has been a technological innovation in making electronic cigarettes by several companies in the United States. For example, JUUL Labs previously received a couple of complaints on how it had promoted smoking and the use of JUUL among teenagers. The company’s primary target was adult smokers, and they aimed at the reduction of the harmful effects caused by smoking the traditional paper-cigarettes. The public complained that its use of models in the adverts and socializing teenagers promoted JUUL among under-aged teenagers. Instead of helping reduce addictive smoking in adult smokers, it led to a developed JUUL smoking habit among teenagers to make it trendy.
The fashion industry plays a significant role in every society. The internet and social media have become an effective platform for both gaining inspirations of fashion designs and marketing different fashion outfits (Ryan &Jones, 2012). Furthermore, there has been an increase in the number of mobile applications that give people accessibility to fashion platforms where they can order their clothes. However, most fashion industries market their clothes using young models that can easily attract their market. Most children have demanded more from their parents to looks trendy in school. It has made learning in schools different because teenagers have found a way of ridiculing each other in terms of their body and their dressing code. Most teenagers have become bulimic and anorexic to be able to have the body image depicted by models. The use of such models has made a physical appearance more important than inner goodness in teenagers and thus leading to high rates of crime. For instance, some teenagers end up becoming thieves to get money to purchase the clothes they want, and some commit suicide due to low self-esteem caused by constant ridicule.
Marketers are partly responsible for kids getting older younger with additional influence from other factors. Most companies advertise their products by making it appealing to children because of their ability to convince their parents to buy something for them. Children have found technological gadgets and other inventories more important than spending time with family and playing with friends (Mody-Kamdar, 2018). Possession of an advertised product has become a competitive advantage among children. Children have become self-centred, and their playfulness has been replaced by solitude and digital indulgence. These children grow up to become attention deficit and disloyal without even understanding their behaviour. Children can watch the television all day or videos on their gadgets with adverts of drugs, fashion, and sex in between their cartoon episodes. They have learned vulgar language and terms that are profane for their age. They have used the fighting tactics in their cartoons and video games to beat up other children in school, thus putting bullying in motion.
Children have developed habits that are depicted in adverts and request social gatherings such as parties to gain popularity among their peers. Furthermore, children do not understand that companies make their advertisements appealing to attract customers; therefore, they believe that an attractive advertisement is a good product. Most food and beverage manufacturing companies advertise attractive food products. Children feel the need to eat such foods without consideration of the number of calories in the food and the ingredients used. However, some companies have become aware of the immature ageing of children and have majorly focused their advertisement to parents more than children. This practice has enabled parents to have the upper hand on the products to buy for their children rather than children having the upper hand. More so, some food and beverage companies have added the product description in their advertisement to ensure that parents and children both come to informed decisions on the product’s suitability.
In conclusion, children and teenagers have gained almost similar exposure through advertisements and thus making parenting even more challenging. It is, therefore, vital for companies to reevaluate their marketing strategies from the public’s point of view. They should market their products in a way that upholds virtue in society as well as attract more customers.
References
Mody-Kamdar, R. (2018, April 23). 8 is the new 13! Kids growing older younger and the marketing disaster that we’re heading towards. LinkedIn.
Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2012). Understanding digital marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.