How does Target Marketing affect our soceity?

Question

like how does specifying one certain age hurt or help the community.

Answer 1

When a company targets a specific group to sell it's product to. It's advertising is done with them in mind. But the company has no control over who will see it. If they are selling a Luxury car for instance they would target the white collar, upper income, group. and the ads would be designed with them in mind. But even if they did not intend to do it. The ad can give the impression that if you aren't in that group you are not good enough to buy that car. which causes society to stereotype people. If you saw a man who was in a business suit, well groomed , middle aged step out of a Rolls Royce Car. you wouldn't think twice. But if you saw a Black, young man wearing a ball cap, sweat pants and a t-shirt get out of the same car, you would think that he either stole it, was a drug dealer etc. Target marketing is a form of stereotyping, the company assumes that only a specific type or group will buy, or want or can afford their product. As for age, again it is a form of stereotyping. If you produce a product that you think 10-14 year old should buy. and a 18 year old buys it. He may be considered as immature or slow. I am well over 40 years old and I have read all the Harry Potter books, and liked them. I'm sure the target market was not aimed at me.

Answer 2

Interesting question. I'm a marketing executive and I find that now that I'm reaching 30 I don't care so much about a lot of the junk that got put in front of me as a teenager.

I think that the focus on the youth demographic is kind of detrimental to how kids these days perceive things and how they value overall issues overall. The kids on my street put more focus on wanting an ipod or the latest product. Sure when we were kids we had toys and stuff, but I sure didn't care what I wore to school, especially at a young age of 10. Now you have kids on opera saying that they don't want to look like the poor kids at school because they don't have a $200 jacket and they are only 8 years old!

In summary, the US is a consumer capitalist society. Sure there are many cultures and religions, but overall, the consumer culture reigns all mighty and advertisers/marketers are partially at fault since they target kids younger and younger.