In a digitalized world, advertisements have become an integral part of everyday life. In some cases, we don’t even realize how many ads we see or hear every day. If you are going to read this article, you have already experienced some negative impacts. Having a positive aim of displaying different products or services, some ads turned into manipulative, harmful, and irritating.
How does advertising affect us?
Since the day we were born, ads have always been around us. We heard them over the radio, and on TV; we saw them on billboards and flyers. With the emergence of personalized ads, their amount increased tremendously. The key goal of aggressive ads is to impose people to buy unnecessary things.
The biggest problem is that they make us feel like we aren’t beautiful, smart, worthy, successful enough. This way, many people lose their confidence and feel insecure. This is the shortest way to convince someone to make a purchase. This strategy impacts vulnerable youth the most, and they become dependent on public opinion.
What are the harmful effects of advertising?
To eliminate this negative effect, some people try to protect their privacy by installing a VPN addon in their browser or prefer using an anonymous mode. Not accepting cookies is also an effective way to reduce the number of ads because your experience isn’t tracked. Most frequently, users download VPN Chrome-free and enjoy a limitless experience without annoying ads. Why would people avoid ads if everything was okay with their influence? Here are the most common problems:
● Encouraging monopolies. Ads are a considerable investment for businesses of any size and industry. Aiming to increase the sales numbers, they are so active that smaller companies can’t compete. Big businesses receive the lion’s share of the market, and smaller ones, usually startups, lose their competitiveness.
● Deceptive ads. Displaying the benefits and positive effects of products or services, many ads seem untruthful or even ridiculous. The creativity of advertisers has no limits, but in some cases, they overdo it.
● Reality distortion. Some famous advertisers say that they don’t sell products, but they sell emotions related to these products. They make customers believe that after purchasing, they get something desirable or beneficial. Very often, such values as love, relationships, and success are deformed.
● Increased product cost. Ad expenses are essential to do business. If ad campaigns are efficient, they raise demand for products or services. As a result, the prices can be higher to increase business profit.
What can we do?
Here are the most popular ways to reduce the negative effect of advertisement.
● Protect your Internet security by using special adblock tools. Installing a NetGuard VPN will enhance your privacy and keep you away from annoying ads. Many services like VeePN offer this feature to meet the users’ needs. It blocks ads in different browsers and applications.
● Limit your time on the Internet. Social media and surfing the net are the biggest time-eaters. Install limits on social network ads and your laptop. It will also help you boost productivity and manage your time more efficiently. If it doesn’t help and ads are still irritating, consider VPN Chrome free installation.
● Practice minimalism. This will help you learn more about life values. The more time you spend without the need to spend money, the less vulnerable you become to different ads.
How does advertising negatively affect youth?
When talking about the impact of advertising on children, it is necessary to mention that not all ads are so manipulative. Well-thought ad campaigns that consider their needs carry only positive and even educative influence. Yet, most kids and teenagers are not prepared to see ads created for adults. In some cases, the content is not appropriate for their age, especially when it comes to consuming alcohol, cigarettes, and other harmful habits.
Teenagers are also vulnerable, and inappropriate ads can cause different problems such as confusing values. They can even instigate them to start doing inappropriate things to seem more adult or cooler. For instance, beauty products ads can make teenage girls feel less confident. Or teenagers may want expensive clothes or the newest gadgets to attract more attention from others. Many parents try to protect their kids and install a VPN addon to ensure a secure experience.
What are parents to do?
• To prevent commercials from spoiling the child's character, his relationship with parents and destroying the values instilled by mom and dad, you must be attentive to what attracts the child's attention.
• Limit time the child spends on the Internet and discuss the videos that the child likes the most.
• Install a VPN Adblock, which will be a good solution not only to protect the kids' psyche but also to eliminate your «triggers on the Internet»
• Try to limit your child's exposure to websites with aggressive or sexualized advertisements.
• The most important thing is to listen and understand your children.
• Teach children to be more critical: to find discrepancies between the advertising image and the real product. Discuss advertising tricks, why the picture looks brighter and more beautiful than life. For example, when shooting "tasty" drinks, use thick, beautifully flowing liquids.
• Show teenagers that the ideals imposed by advertising can look very different in life. That a woman doesn't have to be a skinny model to be beautiful and a man doesn't have to be a jock to be loved.
• Do not be influenced by intrusive advertising as an adult
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