Influencing the Young

A reoccurring topic happening in America is teen pregnancy. Through television, pregnancy has been increasingly more popular over the years. By glorifying unprotected sex leading to pregnancy on TV this will lead to an increase in teenage pregnancy.  In my opinion it shows that teenagers can make stupid mistakes and not get in trouble for their actions. Teenagers are not old enough nor are teenagers well stable enough to have that big of a  responsibility.

One show that has just come out the last few years is, 16 and Pregnant and the follow up show Teen Mom produced by MTV. This shows teenage girls that if you get pregnant you will get to be on TV and have instant fame. Becoming pregnant comes with a cost but by showing shows such as 16 and pregnant teenagers forget how the real problems the shows don’t talk about. They may address some issues but not very many.

Another example of how TV networks promote teen pregnancy is the show Secret Life of an American Teenager. This show starts out with the character Amy finding out she is a pregnant freshman in high school. Throughout the course of the season more and more characters have sex and getting pregnant. Where ABC believes they are doing a Public Service Announcement, I believe they are just showing teens that it’s okay to have sex in high school.

Although I believe shows like this are showing one option when being pregnant. Keeping the child and showing small struggles and not real struggles will not help the teenagers when they are stuck with the pregnancy. The show Degrassi the ongoing teenager soap has had several pregnant characters who have dealt with pregnancy is a variety of ways. Such as the first character Christine “Spike” Nelson who gets pregnant at 13 she keeps her daughter and names her Emma who later becomes a character. Next girls to get pregnant were Library, Mia, Jenna, and Manny. With the next four characters one gets an abortion, two keep their children and one gives it up for adoption. This I believe is a good way to show options. If networks are going to show teen pregnancy I think the networks show at least show options for the teenagers.  

Overall I believe that teenager pregnancy is making teenagers feel like getting pregnant is okay and a normal thing for teens to experience. Television shows should also stop saying teenager sex is a good idea. Because unprotected teen sex is what leads to teen pregnancy and makes the T.V. networks support more teen pregnancy.

Gender in Magazine Ads

Ads in magazines can have many different meanings, but when the meaning of the ad is to sell a bottle of perfume and the company uses a topless woman hold the bottle between the breasts it’s sending a different message to the targeted audience. This was an ad that was actually banned from Italy. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6G_7Yy13MFy4E1C-2hk7TGjDXBUGyQtzwNCvuiRmf5B1GfvpV3rmqTtGN-uVZJmvhJdfLF163qYDqrri58aeyo7ntkpMWXyqD17JgZnaf07hCK7-hZT-kg15Oep6oacCgpNEgreZZJNaQ/s1600/tomfordus_italian.jpg. From these two images they show a sexual side that does not help nor make sense to be an ad for. The picture to the right is selling sunglasses and from that it doesn’t make any sense to be biting the man’s finger in a sexual way.

Ads in men’s magazines have been known to have women be in little clothing and being only covered in the product. An article from Jezebel.com shows a woman being treated like furniture. This may be a more appealing way to sell things to men but from a woman’s perspective I think that being portrayed as an object and not a human. http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/images/39/2011/11/xlarge_9dcda29ba60dc64807151d5eb67f73e4.jpg Even looking at the picture further it shows that she has a shoe on her head which in a way it is hiding her face and pushing her more towards the ground. She looks as though she is an animal because she is on all legs.

Not only do clothing ads use women in sexual and degrading ways but actually, Burger King used a woman in an inappropriate way by having her mouth open and having a sandwich go into her mouth in a sexual way. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKsdyvWzNaI5G0iGB8EjkXkN4vyfT177NMToN5Eb-eUgEyviHxdS5uCwZdFyvXq2kotIy7s0lggipNdg0uoMGctZ6SDo3K_1NQutxtBsJBXmAKkFpvTSL8QhxmCyeqqjGovCNiHsOy1k/s1600/wtf.jpg .Now this is a good example of how you can discreetly use words and a picture to make a particular image and tone. Now this next ads was portrayed as “most disturbing ad found in December in 2008 fashion magazines” http://media180sm2010.blogspot.com/2010/08/advertising-is-defined-as-any-paid-form.html . This ad shows a man wearing a suit who is strangling a woman on the hood of a car wearing next to nothing. The man is in control and the woman is seen as helpless. In ads men and women as portrayed frail and weak.

Going from how women are seen in ads if we look at a few examples of men in ads, they look masculine and strong and very desirable.

This Calvin Klein ad shows a shirtless man with a lot of muscles http://ms10lm12.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/calvin-klein-man-ad.jpg. The ad is called MAN so it is fitting to have a man. Although I do not believe that this man needs to be half naked. This ad is supposed to make you feel as though if you buy this cologne you will look like this man.

My last ad example is a man looking so undesirable that he doesn’t just get one lady he gets two. Also with the women being almost naked it seems as though if you buy this suit you will get women out of their clothes. http://adoholik.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/che_affair.jpg. By presenting ads like these you can see that this is a tacit to try and trick people to buying the product.

By just a few ads it shows how the Media presents both genders in magazine ads. Since these ads have been around for the last few years it seems as companies will continue to make them since they seem so appealing to others and people buy the product.

Children in Television Shows

In television shows today children are being shown it is okay to be disrespectful and bullies. The way children are told to act on shows is repulsive because it is setting a poor example for all the children watching the television show. Two great channels targeted at children who present children in this manner are Disney channel and Nickelodeon.

 A great example from the Disney channel is the show “Good Luck Charlie” the younger sibling Gabe and neighbor Jo speak to each other. In this YouTube clip it expresses how disrespectful they speak to each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LQAHHvOS5s. Calling Gabe stupid continuously just makes her seem unmannered and the stunt she pulled at the end makes her seem like a bad child.

 Another example of how the media makes children seem disrespectful and rude is the show iCarly on Nickelodeon. Sam who is Carly’s best-friend on the show is sassy to everyone and is constantly bully others around her. Sam is supposed to the tough one in the couple and uses physical violence in many situations. Also she is very insulting to people for making no comments at all.  This clip has Sam fighting another girl and in the end Sam gets praise for beating up another girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBy79eLeGAQ. This clip demonstrations violence and is giving an excuse to viewers that fighting is an answer yet in any school fighting/bulling is not tolerated.

 Television shows need to start monitoring what we want the next generation to turn out to be and not have cheap entertainment. Television makes an impact especially since we are pretty much always around one. Children need to start using manners in shows so that parents rightfully get the respect they deserve.

In all if we didn’t have these characters in these shows we wouldn’t have to deal with the drastic sassiness and bullying issues would limit because children would learn at a younger age that is not okay.