Because we pay for them to do it

Personally I think the media is a reflection of society. If society chnges, the media will follow

Question answer: Because they want to sell stuff, and they know how to tap into our most basic instincts, and coerce us, often unawares, into buying their stuff. The sex and violence instincts are in the earliest formed and central part of our brains, that's why those things are always in the movies too, they sell.

It's up to us to use our brains to better effect, and put up educated blocks to prevent the advertizers getting in. And if you can avoid the advertizing all together, so much the better. Children and teens are excellent targets because they don't have as many blocks in place yet.

Interesting fact:  sex appeal in advertising draws attention faster and more easily, but actually inhibits the consumer's ability to recall the product.

And where will it end? One simple solution, pull the plug. Choose what you watch. COmplain when you don't like it. Write in to places. Have your say. Be aware when they are hood winking you.

Back in high school, I had Consumer Education class. Excellent class. They taught us some of the advertising tricks. How they slip in symbolic images, colours, synonyms. You may think it's an ad for tires, but really they're telling you you will get laid faster if you buy their tires. Psychology, on and on it goes. The more you look, the more you can pick out. The advertisers are buying real estate in your brain.

Society corrupts kids because their parents corrupted society.

Good one Jae!

Too true Mike.

gives a whole new meaning to the word 'Projection'. 

WHERE on Earth did she by her bra?

I dunno, do you think they got the POINT?  Advertisers have been doing this for decades; it's nothing new.  Unfortunately, some advertisers try to project an ideal 'body image' to children and teens that's both unnecessary and unattainable.  When I was younger, there was the 'sex appeal' tooth paste, the 'Wonder Bra' in which a male actor is 'applauding' the assets of the woman wearing the bra, etc.  The tragedy happens for those few who take these ads seriously and end up with anorexia, etc. because of this influence.  Cigarettes were a big item when I was in high school  As a non-smoker, I was told I wasn't 'cool' if I didn't smoke.  Well, some of those 'cool' people are now suffering from various ailments including cancer and one guy, in particular, died at age 34 in an accident, although he was also dying of cancer at the same time.  Perhaps church and community groups should be targetting programs that teach values and decision making to counteract this pressure and help parents with resources to meet that challenge. Targetting companies that exploit children and youth with massive write-in campaigns as well as working for legislation to limit the type of content may give some control over what assaults our childrens senses.

Is this an ad for something?  I can't seem to focus on the product

Yes the product is rather dwarfed by the projections eh!

CBC does it's kids shows in the morning without ads. I like that. When I was a kid there were all kinds of ads on during kids shows. Toys, Fruit Loops, Sugar Puffs... CBC is doing the right thing. They used to have these 5 teenage hosts from across Canada, a nerdy Nufie guy, a spunky black shick, a brainy BC girl, another guy, and sweet Patty. They were good. I really like Bill Nye the Science Guy...

iT'S ALL MEN'S FAULT for thinking  that they are thinking beings and women's fault for allowing men to think they are thinking beings.

What IS the difference between a black and white slide projector and a colour slide projector? I remember once having a Bell & Howell something or other... can't remember what. I certainly haven't seen it in years... Sabrina either.

It's also good to remember that these ads aren't a driving factor in anorexia and the like.  They don't help, obviously, but seeing ads isn't going to break someone down.

The trouble is with bombardment of young girls minds with these images, not so much Sabrina, more Twiggy and Kate Moss... without any positive healthy re-inforcement, or not enough. It is one thing to create or appreciate an artistic photo of a thin beautiful young woman, quite another to start to think you, and everyone else, should look like that. Anorexia is also an illness of the mind, with other influencing factors in the victims lives. We can't pin all the blame on the skinny models, or men, or the brain, or the fashion industry.  An anorexic thinks she is lesser, doesn't deserve food. A part of her wants to fade away.

I have appreciated many an artistic fashion photo, and I'm not a fashion victim. Go to a new age store and you'll see plenty of healthy, alternative imagery of women. With a balanced outlook, you can appreciate the Vogues and the Earth Goddesses of this world. Woman has many faces.

This is entirely accurate, but don't forget guys get the exact same thing.  We're told we're supposed to be macho assholes that can hold a minimum of 12 beers.

 have you seen the lady gaga video for alejandro? i mean i watch corrupting tv & movies etc all day but i still thought it was kind of shocking/gross

Warped, totaly. Sorry I left you guys out of that post. Guys need alternative music, in the way girls need new age stores! ; ) All ya gotta do though is ask a girl, we don't want macho assholes.

Sophie, No I haven't, or maybe I have. I saw a couple by her and was quite turned off. Ick!

I don't watch tv.  The programs offered tend to sicken me - or be on at a time that isn't convenient for me.  When our kids were young we didn't let them watch iniscriminatly.  I rarely read magazines so avoid the ads in them.  I suppose that makes me an oddball - but I'm happy - and not incapable of holding a conversation about real things instead of tv shows.

When we watched tv as a family I used to point out the nonsense about the adverts.  My kids finished up with some ability to think!

I've been volunteering in a Gr. 7/8 class for the past few weeks, and learned a whole lot about the kids of that generation.  First of all, many of them KNOW that people are constantly trying to sell them stuff.  And yet, they still want it.  I read a really great 'book' report that one of the girls in the class did about a Teen magazine.  She wrote that it was excellent that the articles of the magazine pushed healthy lifestyles, being active, and finding beauty within, but also noticed that all the ads were those of skinny girls with perfect hair, etc. 

With the way the media and social networking has made EVERYTHING about ANYTHING available, I think it's not so much that the media is promoting one or the other, it's that there has to be SOMEONE telling the kids what's right and what's wrong.  Those decisions you were talking about, ElanorGold, they'll eventually fall to the kids themselves, but they start with the parents.  Oddly enough, I think things have swung back around so that the media cannot be held fully responsible for anything.  Sheltering a kid won't work, and thinking you can is a fallacy.  The job now is for parents and teachers and youth leaders of all kinds to be aware that their actions are probably more important than ever.

Also, they totally still watch Bill Nye in the classroom, and it's still frikkin' awesome.

It's a war of attrition. Kids (and adults) are increasingly more savvy and advertisers are increasingly slicker in response. It never ends.

 The weird thing about Gaga is that she's probably one of the most oversexualized stars on the market, but unlike the others, she doesn't even try to have actual sex appeal; sexuality in her videos is presented in a way that strikes one as grotesque, ugly and sometimes absurd.  Alejandro is a perfect example of that.  I'm not quite sure what she's doing; either she's trying to deglamorize it by exaggerating her own fakeness, or she's just out to shock people, which she seems to be succeeding in.

Eleanorgold

Newage stores are just another form of rip-off commercialism.  I can find that stuff from ethnic stores for a fraction of the price, or make it for even less.  It's all about body image, just the same as the annorexics; except that the body image has to do with a one-upmanship about pseudopsychology, health and spirituality.  I'm not saying it's devoid of all of those things but that all of those studies are more than a "safe" newage store, "safe" university, "safe" church and the newage store attempts to rip off all of  the unsafe and safe places.  I do like to go in for a quick aroma therapy, though!  And, I have been known to buy really expensive holistic soap!

As for record stores, sure are a lot of really competative women ( they scare me, actually) in and working in those places, not so sure what you are talking about as it's being a place men go.

Hi Faeren! Good to see you again! Glad they're still watching Bill Nye. He's cool. It's good that young people are more aware. We do have that responsibility. I know they still want stuff, I don't understand it all myself. But I know it isn't good to get too worked up about it, or anything.

Well jlin, I've just had lots of pleasant experiences visiting new age stores. I'm not talking about the prices. I'm thinking of the music, not the record stores. 

I think it's just shock value, myself.  I don't really think she comes across as committed to changing prevalent opinions :P

IMHO, I think the only real solution is for parents to raise their children to be thick skinned and self confident.  Though I'm pretty sure this is the ideal anyways :P

macho (yuk!!!)

Sensitive, artistic men who are comfortable with their feminine side (Hooray!!)

Well my opinion anyway. I guess there's some women who like the beer guzzling muscle men bound in chains.

true true.  call me biased but im used to the high-school girls who ditch the nice guys for the assholes :P

thats a huge reason im glad to be out :D

I remember in high school one girl I dated had a VERY suggestive poster of Bret Michaels in her locker and he had on almost as much make-up as she wore. Make of that what you will.

Bret Michaels, Yuk!! I had Michael Hutchence on my locker door! No makeup and a kind smile. : )

There is a phenomenon, whereby young girls are attracted to the absolute opposite of themselves, teenage rebellion, curiosity...and they go for the bad boys, but the good news is we outgrow that!, and look for good men, who will be caring husbands and good fathers.

Maybe it's just aesthetics.  Badboys are just out there to teenage girls.  Not to mention, they seem a lot more confident than the nice guys.  Then as everyone gets older, people see where the 'bad to the bone' kids tend to end up.  Though I like to think that's not the majority.  I'll have to see in ten years when we have the highschool reunion.

I think Miss Anne Shirley summed it up for me on the subject of boys:

"I wouldn’t want to marry anybody who was wicked, but I think I’d like it if he could be wicked and wouldn’t."

(S'good to be back Elanorgold!  Hope you're well!)

Is society corrupting kids/teens? HECK YES!!!! And there is only one who can save. Please people, I emplore you. Make.......................................................Richard Dawkins your Lord and Saviour. I recently have and it was the best decision of my life. May Dawkins richly bless you all.

Are you being serious CF?

Great quote Faeren! Yes, I'm fairly well.

I missed my 10 year re-union, so I didn't get to find out! 20 year is around the corner. Found out a bit on Facebook though. You can't really tell which direction life will go, but most folks seemed to be doing well.

Elanorgold this probably isn't the place to bring this up...but I absolutely LOVE you avatar!!! hahahaha

As-salaamu alaikum

-Omni

Thanks Omni! I just love that video, song, and that flighty girl. She's a lot like (aspects of) me. I was just a kid when that song came out. Nice to see you! Or your name I mean...Where's your avatar?

i just realized that that avatar is from the safety dance and im kicking myself for not realizing it sooner.  :P

~cause your friends dont dance and if they dont dance then they're no friends of mine~

Yup! : ) I've actualy been thinking about it for a while, then, I think it was Jae, posted the vid in the Happy Canada Day thread and I had to do it that day!

awesome

Very cool! I love that song and I was about 10 or so when it hit as well.

Any woman with half a brain will soon figure out that those geeky nerds in high school, the ones that didn't garner the girls' attention, make the absolute best husbands.   They have brains (in spades), tend to be funny, thoughtful, quirky in an endearing way and, because they didn't have girls hanging all over them in high school/univ, tend to appreciate and value their female partner.  I should know,  I married one of those guys and it was the best thing that ever happened to me (other than those three blonde hair boys that tear through my house!).

Well...I keep trying to put up a new avatar up but WC is punishing me for being innactive lately I suppose...

On the other hand I have a prepared speech:

IN DEFENCE OF GAGA; A short spiel by Omni.

I LOVE LADY GAGA!  And no, not just because her music is so darn catchy, and not because of her perpetual lack of pants.  I love her because in my opinion, and opinions of many other music critics (professional and not) her music is a work of art...the art of satire and sarcasm.  She satires popular culture, she has underlying themes and small subtle and (knowing GaGa) not so subtle queues that just make me giddy.  For example, the glasses made out of cigarettes she wore in her "Telephone" video. Can you say satiring the tobacco companies?  At least in my humble opinion.

How about the underlying themes of feminism, sexuality, religion, militarism, not to mention the very question of what it means to be a man in her latest video for Alejandro?

I'm sold.  Of course I could just be looking into this too much, and finding things that are only in my head...but that would just be crazy...wouldn't it...?  ;P

As-salaamu alaikum

-Omni

Hmm, OK.

Good avatar. I like the Bach poster in the background!

i suppose youve listened through more of it than i have omni, i believe you.

In my day teens had the gumption to corrupt themselves instead of waiting around for society to do it for them.

Funny how that ended with them getting jobs and forgetting about activism.

No activism, just sex and booze really.

Ha Ha Ha!   "I'm a teenage lobotomy!!"

read the post wrong, my bad :P