Because the advertisements in NYC often are geared towards a broad range of people or a specific group of people, we can see a major difference between the ads that are meant to attract parents, and the ads that are meant to attract children and kids. Besides the fact that kids are attracted to silly, intriguing things, and parents are more attracted towards practical, needed things, there is a significant difference in the ads. But, in reality, who’s buying? In this case, it’s not the audience of mass media, but the influence of mass media on its audience.
There is a concept in which, if you help someone, they will help another, and that person will go on to help another, infinitely. This also works with the suggestion of a product or service. The effectiveness of children’s toys is so high because of a child’s ability to beg, nag, and plead for the ability to obtain what they want. In NYC, advertisements use children’s lack of focus, to get the to want to buy something. Children, often walking while holding the hands of their parent or guardian, are looking everywhere. Any slight distraction can catch their attention, and it’s a main aspect of advertising. When in the city, obviously, ads will be above, below, left, right and everywhere. And, as mentioned before, since kids’ eyes tend to wander, once they see an intriguing product, they immediately tug on their parents’ hand and say, ‘Hey! Look at that!’ or, ‘That looks so cool! I want that!’. Now, no parent wants attention created by the drama of their child in the middle of a crowd or on the streets of New York, so after a little bit of nagging and whining, the parent often gives in. And its even more effective if the child has friends, because once one kid gets the attention of all the other kids onto a certain product, it becomes mayhem. Everyone starts wanting the same toy, and now you have a mass of whining and pleads for something they desire. This connects to the topic of mass media and its persuasiveness because it directly shows a way in which mass media uses its audience to attract more people.
