Have you heard of the Yoplait commercial being pulled? What? No? Omfg, Check it out!

You've seen the commercial, right? The one that's been running for months? With the girl in the fridge debating on ways she can get away with eating a real cheesecake? Now, you have to think...is this harmless? Are they overreacting? Or is there some truth behind this? Thoughts?

Well, in regards to the commercial I find that such talk in common and Yoplait seemed to be just playing on what is a common, but not accepted, form of a personal reward system.

But to the subject matter I believe commercials in general affect us much more than we think. As many of us like to imagine 'hey, I'm not affected by commercials! I don't do jack squat!' you can't deny people can see hundreds, perhaps thousands of commercials per day. This includes just basic internet browsing to walking around downtown. Even if you're not actively affected by it the chances that your subconscious is working hundreds of them over in your head is very likely.

That includes commercials with both positive and negative influence. Even if you don't actively imagine you're like that, what the people say in the commercial will definitely be floating around your mind somewhere.

Commercials and advertising often have the exact opposite effect on me. If I seriously dislike and ad campaign for a product, I will go out of my way to avoid that product. Similarly, if something completely spams their commercials and their advertising is overbearing, I will quickly start to hate that product/brand/company and boycott the use of their products as well. Oversaturating the market is bad thing.

If commercials weren't capable of influencing most peoples' judgements with regard to their spending habits, then commercials would not be the way they are today. Sure, there are exceptions that aren't drawn in by the memetic appeal that a given commercial is aiming to provide, but that usually implies that the unaffected (or disaffected) consumer just wasn't a part of their intended demographic. Personally, I watch commercials just to look for those psychological triggers that try to influence people to buy the advertised product, with the full knowledge that I can't escape my own subconscious desires. If a type of product will be useful for day-to-day activities, then I try to judge it off the its functionality, not how attractive the woman in their commercial was.

I dont watch TV and dont really notice commercials otherwise.

It actually depends on how old a person is. If someone is, say, 20 years old, then the person would just laugh at all the commercials that targets the older generation, take an interest in some of the commercials for them, and have them thinking about the items for children. If the person is 50+, however, everything for the younger generation tends to make them wonder why. This is mostly because most of them are from a traditional standpoint, and do not embrace new ideas quickly and with open arms. I find it to be quite interesting to actually find someone of the older generations who actually embraces new ideas, instead of just being stubborn about it.

That's an interesting point that Lyn makes and the difference between her position in life at the moment and mine. I believe that it is easier to ask someone else to get something for you than to fork over the cash yourself, so I would argue that commercials are more likely to win over and "sell" younger people who aren't using their own disposable income.

I feel that the commericals don't have so much affect as the jingles do. I know the freecreditreport.com songs by hart

More so on children. They play the toy adds at certain times when an average child would be sitting down in the living room watching their cartoons and after school shows. Fastfood adds and other advertisments on food products are played in the early evening at the time when consumers are thinking about dinner. It is all effective.

My brain switches off during add breaks.

A bit of a sad story that is a little off-topic; but, I think it really rounds out what commercials, television, media, and even the internet can spark someone to think something is right/wrong or to think badly of themselves. My mom recently had a co-worker with a ten year old son and a twelve year old daughter. The twelve year old was left home to watch her brother - yet, spent most of the day in her room minding her own business. When the mom came home, she found her ten year old son in his room (he had hung himself on the cieling fan).

This story made me... very sad; to think a ten year old could feel so hopefully that he was drawn to do this. I think media has a drastic effect on us today. It tells us what to wear, what to wear, what we need to look like - even how to think. So many kids even are exposed to this sort of nonsense from a young age and it can really rub off on them. Kids especially are easily persuaded to thinking a certain way.

In sum, I think commercials and just general media does more harm than good.

~ Maestro ~

@Maestro: Do you have any reason at all to think that commercials are to blame for this kid's suicide? o.O

Anyway, commercials are designed to affect people. There are experts whose job it is to figure out how to affect people the way they want as much as possible. So yes, commercials can affect people, but an intelligent person will realize that they're being manipulated. The real thing we have to watch for is commercials targeted towards children.

As for this commercial causing anorexia? Probably BS. If watching this commercial makes someone anorexic, then that person was either already on the edge of anorexia or just too damn sensitive. The article has a point, though, in that it reinforces the culture of healthy food tasting bad but being morally good and vice versa for unhealthy sweets. Still, it isn't introducing any new ideas that almost everyone doesn't already have. I love vegetables...

Not really; children make their own decisions for the most part. But, it is completely up to the age of the child in question as well. Depending on how young they are, an image or a word, or even a movie could put an idea in their head. To them, it may not even be suicide. They see someone in a commercial or a movie, connect it with something similar around the house, and go at it. The way they look at it is fun, or something cool (without understanding the realistic consquences). It's the same as MTV and other programs being to blame for a lot of kids attitude today. They see it on TV and quickly think it's okay or that's how they should act, dress, etc. Just because you see something on the television doesn't mean its right.

Media can really do a lot to a child. Parents don't think anything of it nonetheless. The easiest way to ditsract a child is plop him in front of the TV and hand him the clicker. I think parents need to start monitoring what they watch more frequently. It's not just children either. Even adults, teenagers, etc are subjected to the effects of TV! Weight commercials are one example making people feel as if they aren't good enough. Or, even advtersising medicine the way they do.

"Are you tired? Are you hungry? Can you not sleep? Then hey, you need this pill!"

It's truly sickening how they market things today. Or, even basic campaigns like... go to Dairy Queen and try this new blizzard! I also find it amusing how companys have the right ot make fun of competition. It used to be against the law but now, you see Wendy's commercials openly saying their fries beat McDonalds. Phone commercials that say their rates beat out these companys. Commercials can be deadly to peoples self-esteem and thoughts, but some are equally amusing. To me, I see through all the scams and idiotic ways of making someone think.

Plus, I don't watch a lot of TV to begin with. There are a lot of better things to do with my time. (:

~ Maestro ~

I would say it affects everybody, but in different ways... and sometimes we just don't even realized it!

I find that I don't particularly notice commercials very well, usually only if they have a catchy tune or it's actually something I already own and enjoy using, otherwise they're just white noise in the background

It also depends a lot on psychology and the approach the commercial has in its debut. There are techniques that advertisement campaigns use to try and get people to buy their product. Some of the commercials out there are so ridiculous and stupid that they turn people off. Now, some people will still buy those products based on other commercials by the same company, or if they still find the commercials to be funny. Even those of us who are turned off by commercials are still affected in some way when we shop. Jag made a comment about going out of the way to avoid products from commercials that are obnoxious or overbearing. This means that Jag is STILL influenced by those commercials in the shopping habits. In one way or another, those of us who do watch television and see the commercials are in fact influenced in how we shop.

Working in a long-term retail job, I can say that commercial influence people VERY much. I can't tell you how many times I have people come into my store looking for "You know, that thing that's on T.V." No, I don't watch T.V. Everything from Snuggies to Prayer Crosses and Pajama Jeans (I mean, COME ON), these people want it, and they come spend their money in the biggest chain retailer in the world. Yes, watch commercials so you can line those corporate pockets. :)

Good point on advertising. The difference with me is, selfish as this may be, whenever I get advertisements, they are ALWAYS interfering with what I'm trying to do, be it surf the web or watch a movie. I rarely watch television with the exception of movies on demand, and I never read ads on the web. I just close them because I'm busy reading something else. When I want to buy something I go and search it myself.