In Living Color

Everything people eat, wear, or use is pushed at the public through commercial advertising.  Whether it is the fertilizer that the farmer chooses to put on the vegetables he grows,  the clothing that is chosen at the department store, or the pen to write a report, it has been advertised.  Advertising occurs even in the packaging of a product.  From the colors the manufacturer chooses to use on the wrapping, to the multi-million dollar expense of television, everyone is influenced by advertising.  One of the most powerful forms of advertising is in the advent of television. Since its inception, advertisers have viewed television as their most powerful tool. Television provides an excellent avenue for companies to sell and promote their products.

There are fewer and fewer people living today who were around when television was not.  Today's generation was raised entirely on television!  Since the 1940's, television has been an important part of American life.  Television is able to sell products like no other medium can.  This incredible power of television comes from three specific areas:  an inordinate amount of time spent in front of the television,  it's ability to target a specific audience, and it's ability to attack the viewer on both the auditory and visual field.

The time spent in front of a television continues to grow with each generation.   The number of hours a child spends in front of a television is rapidly overtaking even the number of hours that they will spend in school.  Included in their weekly television viewing are an extraordinary amount of commercial messages.  Before entering school, young children will have formed many of their beliefs of what is good by the commercials they have viewed.  Due to the number of hours spent watching television, advertisers use the concept of repetition to "promote goods, services, ideas, images, issues, people, and indeed anything that the advertiser wants to publicize or foster" (Pride & Ferrell 1).  Even in politics, advertising sells its candidate.  In the past presidential election it was impossible to watch TV on any given evening without seeing Bill Clinton or his ideas numerous times.  Brand names for many well known products have been adopted as the name used for all brands of the same product.  People request a Kleenex rather than asking for a tissue or might ask to use the Xerox machine rather than the copy machine.  This ability to bombard a consumer greatly increases the chances the consumer will buy their brand because of the recognition they have with it.   

Television  has the advantage of airing an advertisement at a particular time of the day or during a specific program to gain the attention of a specific target audience.  For instance, a morning cartoon show will break for commercials advertising toys, games, and certain breakfast cereals targeted at children, while a daytime soap opera will target women with advertisements of household cleaners, hair products, and other beauty supplies designed to "help" (Wrighter1) them look and feel more beautiful.  "Mc Donald's success can be traced to [this] precision of advertising" (Solomon 334).   Instead of a standard advertisement for everyone, they have different ads for "different age groups, different classes, even different races" (Solomon 334).  They have Ronald McDonald and his friends advertisements for children, "hip and happy adolescents singing dancing and cavorting together" (Solomon 334), for the teenage ads and for the older audience, there is the "Mac Tonight" ads or the new "Arch Deluxe" hamburger that is being advertised as the "adult" hamburger.  Airing advertisements at specific times enables the promoter to match the ad to the viewer.  Even though attempts are made to match the ad with the audience, many feel this should be regulated even more.  "All major media organizations need advertising to exist; that's how they pay their bills" (Peart 17).  At the same time, though, each organization sets its own advertising standards.   Many of the ads during the Super Bowl were for beer while many of the viewers were under the age of 21.  Some groups feel that it is morally incorrect to advertise certain product while children are viewing.  There are not many laws on this subject but most stations regulate themselves as to when it is appropriate to sell certain products during air time.  The ability of an advertiser to be able to air an advertisement while perspective buyers are watching greatly increases the effectiveness of the ad.

Television's largest advantage over other forms of advertising is the fact that they can promote products through the use of visual and auditory stimuli.  Magazines and newspapers can be read, radios can be listened to, but only television allows you to do both simultaneously.  Showing an ad and talking to an audience allows the producer to appeal to the consumers emotions through pity, vanity, or even humor.  For example, a radio advertisement can describe the awful conditions in third world countries, and ask for the public's aid to the unfortunate children, and a magazine might show a picture, but a television ad has the ability to show sick, hungry children with the sound of their crying in the background clearly showing the pain and suffering.  Television's mass appeal enables advertisers to be able to use spokespersons that would other wise not be able to promote their products to the general public in person.  Through the power of television, a spokesperson can be brought into millions of homes without ever having to leave the premises of a TV studio.  This allow companies such as NIKE to use prominent sports figures to almost personally sell their shoes to each individual viewer in their home.  Television allows even animals to sell and promote their favorite foods.  Morris was able to convince many pet owners to purchase Nine Lives cat food by talking and feasting on Nine Lives' tasty dinners.  The personal touch that television is able to bring to viewers greatly increases its effectiveness.  

A repetitious jingle, an easily recognizable character, or  a familiar phrase can be seen many times within the five hours of weekly TV viewing but, this alone does not sell a product.  People watch TV to be entertained and advertisers understand that the more entertaining or interesting they make the ad, the more people will stay tuned to watch it.  A great example of this is during the Super Bowl.  Many people rush to the television in order to watch  the commercials because they are entertaining.  The ability of an advertiser to tell an interesting story or create a humorous one greatly increases the appeal of the advertisement.  The invention of the television is one of the most powerful tools for advertising a product to the masses.  With so many televisions in the United States advertisers can reach millions of people in one thirty second spot of air time.  The evolution of television and the technological advances of computers have given advertisers the tools to create commercials never before possible.  As the amount of time people watch television grows advertisers are given more and more time to expose their products.  Compared to the television ads of the past, advertisers are having to work much harder in order to impress perspective buyers to purchase their products.  But, because of the ability of television to saturate a product because of the time spent in front of the set, to target a specific audience and to hit the viewer on both "ends" (auditory and visual), their hard work will pay off.