Danielle Witham

Mrs. Layson
English 11B
4 June 2020

Advertising Death

High Schoolers. Some of the most gullible people in the world. Is that why companies try
to make everything look like so much fun, people partying, laughing, and dancing. What
highschool student doesn’t want to do that? But are they giving a certain type of crowd more
attention than the others?​ ​The U.S. should lower the standard amount of alcohol and tobacco
advertisements because a lot of teens have the opportunities to vape, drink at parties, and even
do hard drugs. Although kids should just be mature and not acknowledge these ads or
commercials they can also be peer pressured into doing these things by their friends to feel like
they fit in.
The alcohol and tobacco industries spend billions of dollars trying to make their products
look desirable and make people buy them. Companies in both have a wide variety of marketing
strategies. These methods can include radio and television commercials. Trying to glamorize
their products, companies will have models and attractive people pose with them. But the bigger
companies campaigns include sponsoring certain people or sports teams, films starring their
products, and offering free merchandise to customers that have the brand's logo. With these
advertisements being everywhere on the internet it makes it very easy for children of all ages to
see them.
Drug abuse is something that is talked about a lot to teens to try to prevent the addiction
to hard drugs. Showing these advertisements or commercials are harmful to young kids; seeing
young adults do it on tv makes them want to do it because they want to be “just like them”. High
School students are most likely to try drugs because their friends are doing it. These
advertisements are not helping by making drugs look fun on social media. Multiple music artists
will show drugs in music videos or even mention them in songs and make them seem
generalized; which can influence teens to try them. Teens doing drugs can influence the way
they perform in school and can turn their behavior violent. “ Students who abuse drugs and
other substances are more likely to perform poorly in school, steal, and behave violently than
students who do not.”, this shows that students are more likely to have unacceptable behavior
and not care about what happens in school. With this being said, drug advertisements need to
be a warning and not someone exploiting drugs in a desirable way.
In most teenage drama movies we see parties. The star of the show though would be
what? Alcohol. Many highschool students drink. It’s hard not to when you grew up watching
these “cool” highschoolers having fun and dancing while sipping on a red solo cup, but it’s not
all fun. An agency in the US department of Health and Human Services says that more than
85% of adults have had a drink once in their life, but for most adults that is not where their
drinking experience starts. Going to minors and students in highschool have numbers that you
wouldn’t believe. “ More than 15 million adults and more than 600,000 minors in the United
States suffer from AUD (alcohol use disorder) ,...” , Although this may seem like just a number
to you and me, those are real lives that will be changed forever just by one sip. Once you start
there is no stopping, it is an addiction. Minors should not be able to get their hands on these
products. Although in highschool there are many peer pressure situations, you don’t need
alcohol to have fun. Alcoholism can have many effects with minors and even adults, it makes it
hard to keep up with important things like your job or even your homework. It is likely that even
the people you love will slip away. “A person’s attitude toward alcohol can be influenced by the
relationships other people have with alcohol that he or she observes.”. Please, think about this
quote before you take up that offer on a drink your friend is handing to you. After that first sip
you won’t notice then and there how your world will change, but soon you will.
Although teens should have the honesty and discipline to ignore these ads and
commercials there will be peer pressure involved. Companies put out their products to make
money for their business; whether this is at the expense of a teens life or not. I believe most of
the problem is the people teenagers surround themselves with. Peer pressure is a huge thing
when you hit high school because you want to “fit in”. “Normative influence occurs when a peer
group normalizes certain behaviors, such as drinking or using drugs, thus swaying others to
take part in the same activities in order to fit into the group.”. While you might think it could be
just the advertisements that influence the kids want or desire to do drugs, it can also be the
people they spend their time with. “For instance, joining a peer group in which several members
drink alcohol increases the likelihood that people will drink alcohol because their access to
alcohol has increased by virtue of membership in the peer group.”, this shows that the easier it
is for a teen or a teen’s friend to get their hands on a bottle of alcohol, the easier it is for them to
get addicted. But if we can take the alcohol and drugs out of the movies and off the tv screens, I
believe that we can slow the rate of alcoholism starting in teenagers.
Although some people will argue that the companies are just trying to make money, or
that teenagers should know better than to try this stuff. The human brain is not fully developed
until you are about 25 years old. One of the last parts of your brain to develop is the prefrontal
cortex which is where decision making occurs. How are these teenagers supposed to know
what is good for them and what isn’t when they don't even have their brain fully developed yet?
Companies put out their products to make money for their business; whether this is at the
expense of a teens life or not. Teenagers are the last people to think about how something will
affect them in the long run so we should stop making drugs and alcohol look so fun because
down the road when they lose their family, their savings, their education ect. to alcohol it won't
be fun.
In conclusion The U.S. should lower the standard amount of alcohol and tobacco
advertisements because a lot of teens have the opportunities to vape, drink at parties, and even
do hard drugs. Having social media portray alcohol as fun to use when you're out at parties will
make more teens want to try it because they want to seem as cool as the people in the
advertisements. Alcohol and tobacco are addictive substances and if a teen starts now they will
watch their life turn to shambles in front of them. We need to start now and make a difference.
We need to stop advertising death.
 Work Cited

“Alcoholism.” Gale in Context ,

go.gale.com/ps/searchTopic?topicId=GALE%7C00000000LVV3&searchResultsType=MultiTab
&searchType=ts&bname=Alcoholism&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&inPS=true&prodId=O
VIC&category=Browse+Issues.

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=OVIC&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CELY
VNL408495603&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=OVIC

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=OVIC&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CEJ3
011400075&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=OVIC

https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&searchType
=ts&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&inPS=true&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&docId=G
ALE%7CPC3021900172&it=r

https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&searchType
=ts&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&inPS=true&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&docId=G
ALE|PC3010999130&it=r

https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&searchType
=ts&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&inPS=true&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&docId=G
ALE|PC3021900131&it=r