Advertising seems to have gone too far

Advertisement is a part of life. Everywhere you go there is an advertisement of some kind whether it is on the bus, on the internet, in video games and in even in schools.

Advertisement in video games is certainly something that is not unheard of but it has seen a rise over the last few years. The very first in game advertisement was seen in 1978 in a game called Adventureland. The advert in question was created by the devloper to put his next game out there.

Football games were one of the first big games to recieve “in game” advertisments. All kinds of games are seeing these “in game” advertisments now as the devlopers are moaning that the costs of games are rising so need the extra money. 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?

The corporate world has managed to infiltrate the education system in a number of ways:

• Educational posters can actually contain adverts for candy.

• A recent phenomenon in school canteens has been ‘sponsored’ meals, with branded products being promoted.

• Some school busses actually have advertisements within them so even before and after school the children can not escape the power of big corporate companies.

• 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. This does not sound too different to the times of Nazi Germany in which the dictator Adolf Hitler forced people to read and write about the Nazis, does it?

Advertisements are made in various ways across the world from print management solutions to Corporate identity design. Exhibition stands are frequently used at trade fairs and industry events as another branding opportunity.

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