ADVERTISING FOR CHANGE
- Ashley Armstrong
- Sep 29, 2015
- 2 min read

Learning more about the history of advertising made me think about the purpose it has served over the course of the last 75 years and the purpose it could serve in the years to come. When I consider how effective advertising has been at getting the masses to buy into a product or service, I begin to wonder why the same methods and strategies used to sell "Barbie" or cigarettes and beer cannot be used to sell education to our youth. When education was not mandatory and accessible to all children one would rarely, if ever, hear a student complain about having to go to school or having to do homework. Students were grateful to have the opportunity to learn, were thankful that their teachers took the time to help them learn how to read and most importantly, students were aware of the benefits of having an education. Unfortunately, society has changed and students attitudes toward school and education are much different than they once were and rather than students begging their parents to go to school they are begging them to stay home. Many students no longer value education and to them school is more of a job than a privilege and in order to ensure that our students are graduating with the skills and knowledge required to succeed in life than it is important that we change their attitudes towards school and education to ensure they are engaged and learning.
Traditionally, advertising has been used to assist companies with selling their goods or services by targeting a specific audience, whether it be men, women or children advertising has focused on altering the ways they think and feel. Based on the shift in society from a needs to a desire culture it is clear the methods and strategies that advertising uses to "manage the masses" and manipulate the unconscious has in the past been successful and as such I have begun to wonder whether advertising could be used to change the attitudes of students towards school and education. Thus, rather than selling our youth toys, fast food and clothing we could sell them, through the use of commercials and advertising, the benefits of getting an education and the importance of going to school and applying yourself in class. In my opinion, selling an education is more important than selling a happy meal!
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