Authors: Nilüfer Pembecioğlu
The impact of the media on society is enormous. The values, the society and behavior types are all affected through the media consumption process. The media is so powerful to change the system of the society, the traditions, believes as well as acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. The upside down system of the media sometimes puts the most respectable behaviors into comical situations and the most undesired values to the top places. The most important of all, people, especially the children accept what is given through the media without questioning it too much or without any conscious criticism of the issue.
The escaping tone and function of the media sometimes anesthetize and stupefy the audience through the colorful images and humor provided by the side. Especially when it comes to television commercials the ads have the potential of convincing the audience to any kind of behavior or change for the sake of just following the current trends. The actions provided in a humorous setting without having any serious or on purpose attempt to change the things are the most dangerous and effective ones. Since the remembrance percentage of these humorous ads play an important role in the provided actions, the actions accompanying the product gain importance.
The ads, within the limited time they bewilder their audience try to convince them to act in a certain way, to buy a certain product or change their attitude towards the thing introduced. In a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere it may sound so good, for example to steal a brand new car and have a tour around the city. Or, similarly, to convince the other people to give their biscuits to you because you’re so hungry. Stealing things from the others seem to be usual and acceptable in the ads as well as lying to the others.
It is really important to analyze what the people do in the ads and how the audience perceives these behaviors and actions. Sometimes they fly or change colors, sometimes they act in an inappropriate way and sometimes they steal things, etc. All these acts aim just to be cute enough to sell the product. The wrong behavior is softly, openly and evidently stands there; however, the audience is not ready to judge it or to refuse it. Yet, the main question is if the sales are more important than the morale of the society or not.
Regarding all these issues, the first part of the paper mainly concentrates on the analysis of the television commercials and mainly analyzes the bunch of the ads for February 2014 on Fox television channel in Turkey. The main aim of this part is to find out what kind of actions and morale the ads provide for the audience.
In the second and perhaps more important part of the paper, the concentration is more on the media impact on the audience. The main aim here is to be able to see the impact on the audience as a whole and to understand what the cumulative affect it has on the audience. The paper discusses the areas of improvement in the commercials and society to present better images, actions and messages for the future.