Advertising- One step 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.

When it comes to computer games, advertisment has slowly been creeping in over the past few years. The first game to actually feature an “in game” advertisement was way back in 1978 and was called Adventureland. The advert in question was created by the devloper to put his next game out there.

Football games started to set a trend as with each addition of FIFA came a new set of advertisments. It would seem that games have taken a leaf out of FIFA’s book in that more and more are seeing in game advertisements. Splinter Cell even had a giant billboard advertisement that you couldn’t avoid seeing as you had to climb over it.

Schools are the one that has always caused a big debate but advertisement has been around in schools for many years. The real question to ask is are corportate companies just trying their luck in a new sector or trying to almost trick the younger people into buying their products?

The business world has marked its presence in our schools in the following way:

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.

More recently and perhaps most worryingly we have begun seeing sponsored lessons taking place within schools, with subtle and not so subtle branding taking place within the lesson plans. 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?

The advertising industry worldwide covers mediums such as Print management to branding design. Exhibition stands are frequently used at trade fairs and industry events as another branding opportunity.