COMMERCIALS

Do commercials really influence us? They sure do! Children remember and recite slogans, jingles and songs from advertising. They’re aware of brand names and try to influence their parents to purchase advertised goods. Children and teenagers may learn misleading information about nutrition from commercials.

Commercials convince that cream filled snack cakes are vitamin enriched or caramel bars are packed with protein, but in reality they’re heavily sugared foods. People are influenced by media advertisement. We buy ah kinds of goods we don’t really need. We spend hard-earned money on products that look attractive on TV or in magazines. Tricks commonly used by media advertisement are well known. Celebrities advertising different goods like cosmetics, clothes, sport gears. Gorgeous slim women telling us the only thing we need to look like that is to get some ducts they use. Cute little smiling babies in all kinds of commercials make us laugh. Talking animals and toys convince us to run for some beautiful gadgets or food. Prices like 99.99 or attractive discounts for something we’ll probably never use if we get it. It has become almost impossible to avoid media ads. It surrounds us at home in stores, in the street, in buses, trains and planes. The solution is to learn to be reasonable. To ask ourselves the most important question? Do I really need it? Is it so necessary to get it? Most of the time the answer will be NO!

Answer these questions.

How does media advertisement influence children?

What tricks are used in media ads to convince us to buy advertised goods?

Match the pictures with the tricks used in commercials.

GRAMMAR:

The Present Simple is used for:

ü      Permanent situations

ü      Habitual actions.

ü      For general truths

ü      Exclamatory sentences.

Television impact on children

Almost all homes today (98 per cent) have at least one TV set. The average TV set is in operation more than 7 hours a day. Children as young as 9 months old watch as much as 90 minutes a day. By age 4, children average four hours a day watching TV. By the time young people graduate from High School they will have spent more time on watching TV than any other activity except sleeping.

Here are some advices to make watching TV a positive experience. Check the ones you like the most.

ADVICES	Yes	No
Make TV time family time
Spent time talking about what happened on the show.
Turn the TV off when the program is over.
Plan follow-up activities to watch TV.
Compare product with TV commercials.
Plan alternative activities on watching TV.
Watch only one program a day.

Speaking activity: Remember the last product you bought and if the decision was influenced by media advertisement. Discuss this situation with your classmates.