Can advertising be taken too far?

It would seem that life has been based around advertisment and not the other way around nowadays. Advertising has become very powerful and it would seem that whereever you go there is no escape from it anymore.

Even people that are playing computer games seem to be suffering as well with more and more “in game” advertisements being seen. The very first in game advertisement was seen in 1978 in a game called Adventureland. The advert was inserted into the game by the creator himself to publicise his upcoming game.

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. One of the ones that annoyed many gamers was Splinter Cell as irt contained a giant bilboard that you couldnt possibly ignore as you had to climb over it to pass through part of the level itself.

Schools are the one that has always caused a big debate but advertisement has been around in schools for many years. Is it just there to get a bit of extra business or is it slowly forcing children into buying in a specific brand for the rest of their lives?

Companies advertise in schools in a variety of ways:

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

• Many school canteens have started to become subsidised by food brands in return for advertising.

• The humble school bus has now become another medium for advertising to be served up to schoolchildren.

• 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. Is this really any different to what Hitler did to all of the German Schools during his dictatorship?

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.

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