The big day has just arrived, a national tradition that has been celebrated ever since its first appearance in January of 1967. The Smith family sits down in front of the television anxiously awaiting the kick off to the year's biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl. While the family sits in anticipation of the game, many advertisers eagerly await the releasing of their multi-million dollar television commercials. With nearly half of America's television sets tuned to the channel, this is their ultimate chance to attract new customers to their products. The commercials are designed to be hip and create a buzz and are just as attractive to some as the Super Bowl is itself.What now become ...view middle of the document...
As a teenager in an environment where alcohol is abundant, this author has no doubt that the alcohol commercials are made to target the under age group of youth. Commercials aim towards the youth by the use of attractive models and actors having a good time while drinking alcohol. Advertising analysts say beer commercials in general play into the fantasies of young men in our society. "This is kind of the bottom line of alcohol advertising. It's the adolescent male fantasy. The beer and the alcohol equal the women. If you'll just drink, you'll get these things." (Thomas 1)The teenagers of our generation have been brain washed to have the mind set that in order to have a good time, there needs to be alcohol - period. When going to a party, many teenagers reflect back to the commercials that they have seen on television and subliminally expect all of the fun packed into a 30 case of beer. Cleary, the source of these thoughts are not solely contributed by the alcohol commercials but by other factors such as their environment, parents, and friends. But the simple fact is that alcohol commercials do exacerbate situations and give teenagers a false perception of a very dangerous drug. Alcohol commercials have absolutely no beneficial effects on teenagers, and its advertisement needs to be taken seriously for what it is - perilous.The government currently relies on the alcohol industry to set its own voluntary television advertising standards. With that power, advertisers can create their commercials to specifically appeal to young people and encourage teens to try their alcoholic beverage while denying the fact that they do. What else would attract "adults" to alcohol better than animated talking frogs? This problem is becoming widespread and does not only occur on Super Bowl Sunday, but on the other 364 days of the year as well. Giving freedom to television advertising with beer makers can be a deadly mixture for our young society. Similar to giving a killer a weapon, the government should be responsible for not playing their role in doing everything possible to protect the youth of our nation.While the U.S. brewing industries claim that they are very careful not to place any beer advertising where the audience is a majority of people who are under the legal purchasing age, 13 of the 15 most popular shows for teenagers included alcohol advertisements. This indirectly results in 10.4 million drinkers in the United States that are under the legal age of 21. (Thomas 4) While alcohol is implicated in the three leading causes of teenage death, commercials are still allowed to be displayed freely on air to be watched by the very youth that are going to be corrupted.Well...
