The Impact of Advertising on Attitudes in Belize

Introduction
Advertising is a vital component in the economic development and progress in countries all around the globe but most of all it has become the mainstream and biggest promoting tool of any industry. According to William M. O’Barr (2000),
“Advertising is a complex phenomenon — intimately tied to society, culture, history, and the economy — that defies any simple or single definition. Some aspects of it are universal, whereas others are culturally specific. It is personal salesmanship transformed into mediated communication. It sometimes provides new information, often cajoles, and always attempts to persuade. In addition to selling messages, it encodes cultural values and social ideals. And depending on your point of view, it is a positive or negative force in society and the economy.” (What Is Advertising?, 2000)
As stated in O’Barr’s definition of advertising, it has the power to manipulate the economy, society, culture, and the political system. Globally, advertising serves the purpose of promoting products and services, and business. Modern inventions and creations are becoming popular through advertisements. In addition, the economy becomes stronger because advertising stimulates the demand for products and services. Therefore, consumers buy products and seek different kinds of services because they have seen it on television, in the newspapers, magazines, through the use of technology and even word of mouth. Although advertisements cost many companies a lot of money, still there is a drive and the willingness to advertise their products and services through the largest mean, the media. The media serves as the channel for advertisements.
Furthermore, advertising plays a major role in politics. In Belize, politicians tend to splurge for their political campaigns and elections. Additionally, advertising impacts a country’s culture as it can promote different cultures but can also harmonizes different cultures.
Many critics are debating on different impacts of advertising to different people in the world. However, there is a commonality found in all persons, after watching an ad, there is a desire to purchase that product or service. On the contrary, advertising has an adverse effect. Just as it promotes television shows, food, places and much more, it has become the source of inferiority complex and insecurity of some women. Women tend to compare themselves to those perfect, coke bottled shape, sexy and flawless commercial models; and as a result, they are becoming too much conscious about how they look and materialistic. Teens may see alcoholic beverages being advertised and want to experiment with it.
What is the link between advertisement and attitudes in Belize? The main purpose of the proposed study is to present an exploratory study of the impact of advertising on attitudes in Belize. The study is applied on the Belizean media advertising in order to discover the attitudes it reflects. This study attempts to be an introduction to a research that clarifies how attitudes are manifested in advertising. The study will seek to answer questions such as: What is the attitude towards advertising in Belize? Are people accepting towards advertisements? Do they think advertisements have hidden messages and meanings? Has society become dependent on what media dictates them to do or buy? What are the influential factors that boost advertising to make people make decisions.

References

O'Barr, W. M. (2000). What Is Advertising? Advertising and Society Review. Volume 1 Issue 1. Retrived from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asr/v006/6.3unit01.html