Advertising takes up an extraordinary amount of time of television. For an hour long TV program slot, 15 minutes is solely advertising and commercials, leaving only 45 or so minutes for the actual show. Even more, in sports programs it often seems like no sooner does the game come back on than it goes right back to a commercial break, so that there is almost more time spent watching ads than the game. 
    Ads typically have a catchy tune, an interesting graphic, or a funny storyline to catch the attention of viewers. And as television programmers spend so much time showing commercials, viewers are practically forced to take in a very large number of ads on a regular basis. Particularly as Americans on average watch 34 hours of television per week, according to Neilson research. For this reason, it is important to see what kind of ads viewers are watching and how they impact the audience.
    One of the heaviest advertising industries is the food and beverage enterprise. From commercials advertising the deliciousness of a soda to PSA's talking about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables,we are constantly inundated with food advertisements, many of while are edited to make the food look better than it actually looks in real life. While many of these commercials often promote unhealthiness, there is a new movement to promote good nutrition habits.

    On the unhealthy side, as a research study on the "Priming Effects of Television Food Advertising on Eating Behavior" says, "advertising for food and beverages communicates potentially powerful food consumption cues, including images of attractive models eating, snacking at nonmeal times, and positive emotions linked to food consumption." These commercials tend to be on more adult channels, particularly sports ones. While watching a football game, I saw many commercials for products such as Coca-Cola or Papa John's pizza with cute images of polar bears holding Coke cans or deliciously greasy pizza. The spokes people talked about how tasty these products were, leaving out the "nutrition" information. Seeing so many commercials of healthy foods that portray them in a positive light leads more adults to think of and often buy these disgusting products.
    On the other hand, many kids' programs are trying to fix the obesity epidemic, as obesity is rising to the forefront as the deadliest disease in America. Disney Channel, especially, is making a big change in their advertising to promote healthy living and eating to their viewers. For example, one commercial shows a Disney Channel Star rapping about the importance of eating a large and balanced breakfast to kick-start the day. Another shows a son and dad both drinking soda, until the mother sees that the son is doing exactly what the father is doing, so she hands the dad a bottle of water. The spokesperson then says that replacing one sugary drink a day can help reduce overall sugar intake. As kids are very susceptible to ideas they see on television, seeing this kind of healthy advertising could begin to change the generation's eating habits.
    As a photographer and graphic designer, I often look at ads more for their artistic merit than their content. But, although I eat a very healthy and balanced diet, whenever I see commercials for fast food, soda, pizza, or other unhealthy foods that I avoid, I instantly crave them.The same applies across the board for all age groups watching TV. For this reason, it is important for television programmers to look at the food products they are advertising and see if they are sending the right message to their viewers. While most probably won't go as far as Disney who is not re-signing contracts with any unhealthy advertisers beginning in the next couple years, but maybe more channels will cut back on their programming. Then, in a more perfect world, companies might assess their products and try to make them healthier so that they could make more money in advertising again.

Beauty over Brains

    Women have long been striving for equality in what is still a predominantly male-driven world. According to Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth, in the past couple decades "Western women have gained legal and reproductive rights,begun pursuing higher education and entered the trades and the professions." Wages for females have increased, women are now increasingly becoming CEO's, editors-in-chief, politicians, and other professionals in positions of power. Yet, when we look to the media, when are still portrayed not only as lesser than men, but also as sexualized objects with an almost-impossible standard of beauty to live up to.
    One very obvious example is in reality television shows. In order to provide low brow entertainment, these shows play to base stereotypes where men (boys, really) are often meat-heads hyped up on steroids with no common sense or manners and women (not ladies) wear clothing than barely covers them and act dumb and gullible. I watched Jersey Shore -  a re-run - for the first time this week and it perfectly exemplified this concept.
    Even shows with less societally-glorified men play to stereotypes. Beauty and the Geek, an old MTV reality show where pairs of a beautiful yet uneducated women and a smart but unattractive man alternately answer trivia questions and compete in beauty challenges, is another example. While the men at least do not act like arrogant buffoons,  they are no less object of hilarity. In fact, their beautiful companions pity them for the guys' social ineptitude and unattractiveness. The women aren't much better. While they are remarkably beautiful, it is the standard skinny-curvy-blonde-bomshell beauty that American society holds dear. And they often cannot answer simple questions of Biology or Mathematics that middle schoolers should know. Although these shows are guilty pleasures, they are also very irritating because of the attitude these stereotypical characters hold saying beauty (slutty, unattractive "beauty") is more important than brains, career and manners.
    Music is another area which sexualizes women - often called "hoes" and "bitches" in rap music - and plays up the greatness of violence, drugs and cursing. Music, above all other media, seems to have the most impact on all ages, but teens especially. Not only is music pervasive throughout all other media, such as television and movies, but on its own can carry a very powerful message. People listen to music for "entertainment and distraction from problems and serves as a way to relieve tension and boredom," according to the Pediatrics journal. "Some studies have reported that adolescents use popular music to deal with loneliness and to take control of their emotional status or mood." Although some people swear that they only listen to the beat or that the music they listen to doesn't actually affect them the way it does other people, as the Third Person theory says, they are wrong. Thus, hearing lyrics where women are degraded or drugs are exalted puts these same thoughts in listeners brains, even if only subconsciously.
    I am not a feminist. I don't think that women have to be equal to men. As Marylin Monroe said, "women who seek to be equal to men lack ambition." Women are not physically or emotionally the same as men. They should have separate medical coverage particular to feminine health. Wages should be based on aptitude and position rather than gender. Yet, as educated and modernized as I am, I still find myself watching what I eat to stay thin, or acting silly and flighty to catch the attention of a guy rather than using my intelligence. I blame most of this on my exposure to the sexualizing messages of the media.
   
   

Television Violence is the Lidocaine of Normal Social Behavior

     For the past few years, the debate about whether violent television shows cause young viewers to act violently has been boiling and is now bubbling even more to the surface. On the one hand, producers and viewers alike use the evidence that while many children are exposed to violent imagery every day through cop shows, video games, etc. only a small portion actually become killers.   
    Yet, new scientific studies are beginning to show evidence to the contrary. A recent cohort study published in Pediatrics: the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, "used regression analysis to investigate the associations between television viewing hours from ages 5 to 15 years and criminal convictions, violent convictions, diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, and aggressive personality traits in early adulthood." The statistically significant data showed that watching excessive amounts of violent television (more than 2 hours a day) did tend to lead towards antisocial behaviors - though not necessarily violent ones - later in life.
    I can see the merits of either side of the argument. I recently watched a violent movie, Righteous Kill, with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, about "two cops who are hunting a serial killer murdering sociopathic criminals." As the description suggests, there was more than a little violence in the form of shootings, fist fights and verbal aggression. The most interesting thing I took away from this movie, aside from the moral issues regarding "righteous killing," whether a murderer deserves to die, was that I was fairly numbed to the violence. I watched a man die in a shoot-out and practically cheered because it was the last of six instances for which I had to code the movie. Yes, this killing was acted out, so the rational side of me could watch without empathy because I knew the actor did not really die. And I think this is the argument of many, that the audience should know that what they're seeing is not exactly real life, so they shouldn't try to emulate it.
   The problem is, while television shows or video games don't EXACTLY show real life, they do portray many people's imagination of violence. Particularly important is to look at Social Learning Theory in regards to young viewers' reaction to what they see. A boy may watch a movie in which someone instigates a fight, and especially if the boy watches programs like this often, he may go to school, have an altercation with another student, and think its ok to fight with the other student because he saw someone else (an adult) do it on TV.
    Under even more scrutiny are violent video games because gamers are the ones actually carrying out the acts of violence. I have played Halo and Call of Duty every once in a while with some of my friends, and found myself yelling at the screen "die!!" followed by strings of expletives when I don't kill my target. Especially young kids could potentially see a gun, not think of it as a necessarily harmful object because they've used them in video games and think they can in real life, and harm or even kill someone accidentally.
   Personally, my biggest problem with violent content is the numbness it can cause. It causes people to be able to watch death without cringing, which sounds pretty soulless. And the numbness also can cause people to pick up a weapon without as much care as needed leading to potential problems such as accidental shootings or even purposeful shootings when the perpetrator was numb to what he or she was actually doing. This is what I would define as radical anti-social behaviors (more powerful than those discussed in the study), versus more normal anti-social behavior, such as social awkwardness, caused by a numbness towards people from watching violent content.
    I don't think there is necessarily a reason to regulate viewable content as a nation. People should be able to watch what they want. But, I think people should be mindful of what they're watching so that the numbness won't creep in, so they can stay socially adept.