Has advertising gone 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 first game to actually 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.

The FIFA games have also always contained various advertisements in the same way a football pitch would. Now games featuring cities in which you can explore like Prototype are using in game advertisements as well as shooters like Ghost Recon. Splinter Cell even had a giant billboard 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 ask is are corportate companies just trying their luck in a new sector or trying to almost trick the younger people into buying their products?

The business world has marked its presence in our schools in the following way:

• Candy and chocolate manufacturers have begun printing branded educational posters.

• A recent phenomenon in school canteens has been ’sponsored’ meals, with branded products being promoted.

• Advertisers have begun placing display ads and posters on school buses so that kids are now seeing these advertisements at the beginning and end of each school day.

• A recent and rather disturbing dystopian trend has been for actual lessons to be sponsored by a big corporation, so that in return for educational funding our children are seeing branded lesson plans, handouts and worksheets. This does not sound too different to the times of Nazi Germany in which the dictator Adolf Hitler forced people to read and write about the Nazis, does it?

There are a wide range of advertisements around the globe, ranging from managed print services to branding design. exhibition display stands are now even used for advertisements when a company is hosting or attending a certain event.

Technorati Tags: advertising, branding, education, gaming, marketing, Schools, television

Tags: advertising, branding, education, gaming, marketing, Schools, television