(5) Advertisement：Bad or Good？
廣告利弊談
The purpose of advertising is to sell goods.This means that the advertiser is trying to make you think you need something，whether you need it or not.In other words.The advertiser is creating a demand for his product.This is fine.Remember all the goods being produced today have to be sold.And you cannot buy something if you do not know about it.First let’s see how advertisers try to reach the teenage consumers.Of course，many of the advertising stunts1used to sell to teenagers are used to sell to adults as well.
All consumers have certain basic needs or wants： food，clothing and housing.But the basic needs of most teenagers are provided for by their parents.Even here though advertisers appeal to teenagers because they know that the kind of food Mom buys or the furnishings in a teenage girl's room will be partly decided by the teenagers.
Probably the most effective appeal to teenagers (and to adults too) is to appeal to their emotions.Some important emotions are love and fear.Sales of cosmetics2 to teenagers reach $ 1 billion each year.Dating is very important to teenagers so you have to smell sweet.Hide any skin blemishes，and keep your hair looking just right.The ads show how using a particular hair spray3 will make girls and boys more attractive to each other.Ads tell you that you will be more attractive if you eat，chew，drink，wear，or use any one of hundreds of different products.
Young people like to think of themselves as individuals who do "their own thing"，but this is only partly true.Look around your classroom.Notice their styles and the clothing that your classmates are wearing.Your will see you have more things in common with each other than you would care to admit.
In addition，advertisers appeal to the desire to be healthy，to be in style，to be proud and to be admired.
Teenagers，just like all other consumers are influenced by brand names.Advertisers try to make teenagers get used to a brand because they know that the teenagers will stick to this brand in later years.Therefore，commercials4 are repeated over and over again on radio and television.We soon get to know them by heart.Slick advertising slogans will pop into our minds as we reach for a product.Some advertisers stay with particular radio or television stars，and consumers come to connect a product with a famous person.Since teenagers spend a lot of time listening to the music and watching TV，this form of advertising is very important.