Khadeja Jafar
Reaction Paper ~ The Documentary Affluenza 1997
The documentary Affluenza has influenced my views about spending money in multiple ways; for example, the documentary has introduced me to the marketing behind all these products and how advertisements have become a serious influence on everyday people. With this knowledge and understanding I have become more aware of the tricks these companies advertise to promote their products, with this knowledge kept in mind, I’ll be able to comprehend whether a product is truly necessary or if it’s just the marketing behind it makes me believe it’s truly necessary even if it’s not.
The problem is that advertisement tries “to meet none material things through material ends”. For example, advertisements show that the only way to be happy is to buy a specific product; such as if you truly care for a person you buy them a diamond ring or a diamond necklace or something to show that you care about them instead of telling them. Advertisements shows that a product can buy happiness when it truly cannot and marketing techniques have convinced many people that spending money on material things is the correct way to live life. And by doing this they are turning regular citizens into consumers. As time goes by this problem gets more and more deeply rooted since it has now started to influence younger people and as time passes its effect has started to allow children to develop habits that increase the chance of children becoming consumers an earlier age. The documentary raised my awareness of how regular everyday things are contributing to this effect. For example, games such as monopoly are increasing the chances of children becoming consumers at an early age, in these games the only way to win is to spend as much money as you possibly can which are training these young minds to consume the products advertised. The consumer market now consists of many children and young adults because they value materialistic things, another way these young minds are trained to consume …show more content…
Marketing has completely changed adolescence’s views about themselves because as they get older they seek esteem in clothes, shoes, accessories, bags and other products that are advertised so they can fit in and they believe that the world owes them these things.
Adolescents aren’t mature enough to fully comprehend how these big brands market specifically their age group because they understand that children at that age are very vulnerable and they believe that dressing in the “trendy“ clothes will get them more friends and helps them raise their self-esteem. Which isn’t completely a bad thing because having a high self-esteem is good however it is affecting these teens in a negative way because they are starting to grow accustomed to spending whatever money they have or their parents have on fitting in and buying the latest clothes and shoes so they don’t feel left out. And if they can’t afford it, they believe that they aren’t good enough which will negatively influence them for the rest of their life. And when something is used once or twice teens and adults just throw it away as soon as the next new thing comes out. For example, teens and adults upgrade as soon as the new phone, clothes, cars, etc. come
Reaction Paper ~ The Documentary Affluenza 1997
The documentary Affluenza has influenced my views about spending money in multiple ways; for example, the documentary has introduced me to the marketing behind all these products and how advertisements have become a serious influence on everyday people. With this knowledge and understanding I have become more aware of the tricks these companies advertise to promote their products, with this knowledge kept in mind, I’ll be able to comprehend whether a product is truly necessary or if it’s just the marketing behind it makes me believe it’s truly necessary even if it’s not.
The problem is that advertisement tries “to meet none material things through material ends”. For example, advertisements show that the only way to be happy is to buy a specific product; such as if you truly care for a person you buy them a diamond ring or a diamond necklace or something to show that you care about them instead of telling them. Advertisements shows that a product can buy happiness when it truly cannot and marketing techniques have convinced many people that spending money on material things is the correct way to live life. And by doing this they are turning regular citizens into consumers. As time goes by this problem gets more and more deeply rooted since it has now started to influence younger people and as time passes its effect has started to allow children to develop habits that increase the chance of children becoming consumers an earlier age. The documentary raised my awareness of how regular everyday things are contributing to this effect. For example, games such as monopoly are increasing the chances of children becoming consumers at an early age, in these games the only way to win is to spend as much money as you possibly can which are training these young minds to consume the products advertised. The consumer market now consists of many children and young adults because they value materialistic things, another way these young minds are trained to consume …show more content…
Marketing has completely changed adolescence’s views about themselves because as they get older they seek esteem in clothes, shoes, accessories, bags and other products that are advertised so they can fit in and they believe that the world owes them these things.
Adolescents aren’t mature enough to fully comprehend how these big brands market specifically their age group because they understand that children at that age are very vulnerable and they believe that dressing in the “trendy“ clothes will get them more friends and helps them raise their self-esteem. Which isn’t completely a bad thing because having a high self-esteem is good however it is affecting these teens in a negative way because they are starting to grow accustomed to spending whatever money they have or their parents have on fitting in and buying the latest clothes and shoes so they don’t feel left out. And if they can’t afford it, they believe that they aren’t good enough which will negatively influence them for the rest of their life. And when something is used once or twice teens and adults just throw it away as soon as the next new thing comes out. For example, teens and adults upgrade as soon as the new phone, clothes, cars, etc. come