Cole Walbrecht
Doc. Zerwin
SLCC
Nov.18.2010
Media Influence
Sex, Violence, Alcohol and Drugs, this is not an invitation to a party unless you are watching TV. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the typical 8-18 year-old living in the U.S. consumes on average around 7 hours and 38 minutes of media (television, radio, games and the Internet) in one day, which in total adds up to more than 53 hours a week. With media being available at all times for today’s youth to access whether through the TV, Internet, advertising or radio, it is increasingly becoming a strong influence on them. Media has a huge influence on behavior of today’s youth. As a media savvy teenager, I feel media directly impacts today’s norms and actions by exploiting Sex, Violence, and Alcohol.
S-e-x. It’s everywhere in the media. The average young TV viewer will see about14,000 references to sex each year (American Psychological Association). Does it matter? According to teens, yes! Teens themselves say that TV, as well as movies and other media, are some of their leading sources of information about sex and sexuality (Media Influence on Youth). But, do these images give people realistic, healthy, equality-minded views of sex (Media Influence on Youth)? Three out of four teens say TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teenagers to have sex, ranking entertainment media as the top source of information about sexuality and sexual health (Media Influence on Youth). A recent report from the Center for Media and Public Affairs “ found music videos to contain more sex per minute than any competing media genre. And a recent study of 4,294 network television commercials found that nearly one in four commercials includes some type of sexual attractiveness as a base for the message (Media Influence on Youth). The media that is put out today, shows and tells teens that sex is normal for their age.
Sex Sells… However, a study conducted by Rand and the University of California found that “just because teens view sexual material on television does not mean that they will engage in sexual behaviors since parents played a strong role in reducing sexual behaviors. But it does mean that parents need to be more proactive. Parents can sometimes have a bigger influence on teens than the media might have.
But don’t believe everything you do not see… The number of sex scenes on TV has nearly doubled since 1998, with 70% of the top 20 most-watched shows by teens including sexual content. Fifteen percent of scenes with sexual intercourse depict characters that have just met having sex. Of the shows with sexual content, an average of five scenes per hour involves sex (Boyse). In today’s world, teens cannot avoid sex in the media.
On the flip side, TV has the potential to both educate teens, and foster discussion with parents. Watch with your kids, and use the sexual content on TV as a jumping-off point to talk with your teen about sex, responsible behavior and safety (Boyse). Although this may be a good opportunity to discuss sex with your kids, the content aired on TV is constantly opposing those discussions.
If you think sex is the only message, you may have missed the biggest force in media – Violence. Literally thousands of studies since the 1950’s have asked the question whether there is a link between exposure to media violence and violent behavior. All but 18 have answered, “Yes”. The evidence from the research is overwhelming. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “ extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior.” An average child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by the age of 18 (Boyse). The level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. There are 3 to 5 violent acts per hour in prime time, versus 20 to 25 acts per hour on Saturday morning (Facts and TV). All these violent TV programs are influencing kids behavior.
Does gaming lead to more violence? Shin summarizes the columbine tradegy: On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an assault on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves. Although nothing is for certain as to why these boys did what they did, we do know that Harris and Klebold both enjoyed playing the bloody, shoot-em’-up video game Doom, a game licensed by the U.S. military to train soldiers to effectively kill. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which tracks Internet hate groups, found in its archives a copy of Harris' web site with a version of Doom. He had customized it so that there were two shooters, each with extra weapons and unlimited ammunition, and the other people in the game could not fight back. For a class project, Harris and Klebold made a videotape that was similar to their customized version of Doom. In the video, Harris and Klebold were dressed in trench coats, carried guns, and killed school athletes. They acted out their videotaped performance in real life less than a year later...
The influence of the game Doom showed and taught these kids how they thought they could get away with the shooting. Without a doubt media had an influence on these boys.However, the Columbine tragedy can be misleading. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics “ the crime rate in the US has dropped by more than half from 1995 to 2004.” This is the same decade in which we saw the launch of every new game system – Game Cube, X-box and Sony Play station. According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the US is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population (Shin qtd.Henry Jenkins).The 2001 U.S. Surgeon General’s report states that “the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability an the quality of home life, not media exposure.” But kids are playing games today more than any other generation.
Studies by Media scope National Television found that in fact children do learn aggressive attitudes and behaviors and become desensitized to real world violence. On television, perpetrators go unpunished 73% of the time, which can give the message that violence is a successful method of resolving conflicts (Media Influence qtd. Comfortably Numb). The message that violence is a successful way to resolve conflicts is desensitizing kids.
But if you still do not think media has an effect on violence, what would happen if there was not TV or gaming? In the mid 1970s, University of British Columbia professor Tannis McBeth Williams studied a remote village in British Columbia both before and after television was introduced. She found that two years after TV arrived, violent incidents had increased by 160 per cent. This shows that TV and violent incidents have a direct correlation. In this case when TV was introduced, violent acts increased dramatically.
Turn on a TV on Saturday during a football game, and you will be exposed to commercials advertising alcohol. Now the party has started… But the real question is do advertisements showing the drinking of alcohol make us want to drink more? Whether young people are directly targeted by alcohol advertisers or not, they are exposed to alcohol advertising on television in print media, and on radio. In fact, 45% of the commercials that young people view each year are advertisements for alcohol (Alcohol Advertising). The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reports the rates of binge alcohol use in 2008 were 1.5 percent amount 12 or 13 years old, 6.9 percent among 14 and 15 years old, 17.2 percent among 16 or 17 years old, 33.7 percent among persons aged 18 to 20. In 2009, the rates for each group of underage alcohol usage increased by a fourth. Alcohol advertising is dramatically increasing the consumption of alcohol in today’s youth.
Did you know? Television advertising changes attitudes about drinking. Young people report more positive feelings about drinking and their own likelihood to drink after viewing alcohol ads (Austin 1994). The beer brewing industry itself spent more than $770 million on television ads and $15 million on radio ads in 2000 (Alcohol Advertising). The question is… would you spend $770 million on television advertising if you did not think it worked? A study by the Federal trade commission found that there is no reliable basis to conclude that alcohol advertising significantly affects consumption, let alone abuse.” A University of Texas study of alcohol advertising over a 21-year period found that the amount of money spent on alcohol ads had little relationship with total consumption in the population. Really? So if advertising does not affect consumption, why bother? If advertising doesn’t increase consumption, why bother to advertise? The answer is simple: to increase market share. Instead of increasing total consumption, the objective of advertisers is to encourage consumers to switch to their brand and create brand loyalty (Alcohol Problems and Solutions). Alcohol advertising is reaching teens and influencing them to drink alcohol.
So advertising to youth would not affect consumption? In 2002, underage youth saw more alcohol advertising than adults in magazines, and underage girls were even more exposed to this advertising than boys, according to a study in the July 2004 issue of The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The fact is that research reports show that exposure to alcohol advertising shapes young adolescents’ attitudes toward alcohol, their intentions to drink, and underage drinking behavior (Alcohol Ads). Alcohol advertising appeared during all 15 of the top teen television shows in 2002. Alcohol advertisers spent 60% more to advertise on these shows in 2002 including Survivor, Fear Factor, and That ‘70s Show than in 2001 (Alcohol Ads). Twenty-two percent of the alcohol ads aired on TV in 2002 were more likely to be seen by youth 12- 20 years of age than adults (Alcohol Ads). According to a 1998 advertising study, youth six to 17 years of age identified Budweiser’s cartoon ads as their favorite, more popular than ads for Pepsi, Barbie Snickers and Nike (Spud). "The more ads kids are exposed to, the more likely they are to drink, that is the fact." says David Jernigan, PhD, executive director of the Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University. Kids see alcohol ads everywhere, they cannot be avoided
Everyone is familiar with “The Meth Project”. The Anti –Meth messaging campaign graphically portrays the ravages of Meth use through television, radio, billboards, and Internet ads and has gained nationwide attention for its uncompromising approach and demonstrated impact. The campaign’s core message, “ Not Even Once” speaks directly to the highly addictive nature of Meth. The national funding of this program reaches 70-90% of teens three times a week. This is saturation –level advertising (Montana Meth Project). Based on the apparent success of the ad campaign, it has since been implemented in other states including Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Illinois, Utah and Nevada.
Unfortunately it has not worked as hoped. In fact the opposite has occurred. In December 2008, David Erceg- Hurn released a study on the effects of the Meth Project while also researching graphic tobacco advertisements… and this is what he found:
The negative outcomes identified in the study include: following six months exposure to the meth project's graphic ads, there was a threefold increase in the percentage of teenagers who reported that using meth is not a risky behavior; teenagers were four times more likely to strongly approve of regular meth use; teenagers were more likely to report that taking heroin and cocaine is not risky; and up to 50% of teenagers reported that the graphic ads exaggerate the risks of using meth. (Daid Erceg- Hurn)
My conclusion is that whether we like it or not, media directly influences the youth of today. Even when we try and use it to our advantage, control it, it has a strong influence on us daily, and not always in the way we would hope.
Works Cited
Alcohol Problems and Solutions. "Alcohol Advertising." Http://www2.potsdam.edu. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Advertising.html>.
Boyse, Kyla. "Television (TV) and Children: Your Child." University of Michigan Health System. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv.htm>.
Crisis Connection. "Media Influence on Youth." Crisis Connection, Inc. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm>.
"Daily Media Use Among Children And Teens Up Dramatically From Five Years Ago." Kff.org. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia012010nr.cfm>.
Erceg-Hurn, David. "Success of Anti-meth Ads Questioned by Study." EurekAlert! - Science News. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/sfpr-soa120908.php>.
The Marin Institute. "Alcohol Advertising and Youth - Spud McKenzie." Marin Institute. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.marininstitute.org/Youth/alcohol_ads.htm>.
McEntire, Teresa. "Studies Show Teens Sexual Behavior Influenced By Media Content - Parents - Families.com." Parents Blog - Families.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://parenting.families.com/blog/studies-show-teens-sexual-behavior-influenced-by-media-content>.
Media Awareness Network. "Research on the Effects of Media Violence." Http://www.media-awareness.ca/. Media Awareness Network. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. <http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm>.
Montana Meth Project. Montana Meth Project. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.montanameth.org/View_Ads/index.php>.
Parents Television Council. "Facts and TV Statistics." Parents Television Council - Because Our Children Are Watching. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/facts/mediafacts.asp>.
Shin, Grace. "Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression." Http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/. 2003. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723>.
T, Buddy. "Alcohol Ads - Girls More Targeted by Magazine Ads for Alcohol." Alcoholism - The Alcoholism Home Page. 24 Oct. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://alcoholism.about.com/od/teens/a/bljama040707.htm>.
Wikipedia. "Alcohol Advertising." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_advertising>.
Wikipedia. "Montana Meth Project." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Meth_Project>.
Wikipedia. "Video Game Controversy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy>.
