Can advertising go too far?
Advertisement is a part of life. Everywhere you go there is an advertisement of some kind whether it is on the bus, on the internet, in video games and in even in schools.
Even people that are playing computer games seem to be suffering as well with more and more “in game” advertisements being seen. The initially game to really feature an “in game” advertisement was way back in 1978 and was called Adventureland. The advertisement itself was merely showing off the next game that was on the way by the maker of Adventureland itself.
Football games started to set a trend as with each addition of FIFA came a new set of advertisments. It would seem that games have taken a leaf out of FIFA’s book in that more and more are seeing in game advertisements. Crack Cell even had a giant announcement advertisement that you couldn’t avoid seeing as you had to climb over it.
Something that has started to cause huge arguments is the envolvment of corportate companies advertising within schools. The real question to question is are corportate companies just trying their luck in a new sector or trying to nearly trick the younger people into buying their products?
The corporate planet has managed to infiltrate the education system in a number of ways:
- Candy and chocolate manufacturers have begun printing branded educational posters.
- When the school dine is served, brand name foods are sometimes given out with the name being plastered all over the food serving process.
- The humble school bus has now become another medium for advertising to be served up to schoolchildren.
- Recently even lessons have started to be sponsored by huge corporate companies meaning that the kids have to learn about it. Is this really any uncommon to what Hitler did to all of the German Schools during his dictatorship?
The advertising industry worldwide covers mediums such as managed print services to branding design. Exhibition stands are frequently used at trade fairs and industry events as another branding opportunity.
