Social Media and Advertising

How has social media helped evolve the role of the audience in commercial advertisement? Is this a negative thing? 

Social media is rapidly increasing its involvement in our lives and this is particularly true for the youth. Through this immersion, the audience begins to play a larger role in the advertising field. It is now as though the consumer is part of the marketing campaign where they broadcast the product on a personal level. This further blurs the line between marketer and consumer, where the consumer becomes a marketer in their own right. Here, it is important to highlight the importance of personal contribution to commercial advertising. Through the consumer’s personal creations in the form of comments, pictures or videos, they give the company a further advantage. This form of advertisement allows every user to become an endorser in a way. In turn, this allows the company to seem credible and gives them a free form of advertising. Although the individual advertising actions are on a small scale, this is what ultimately adds up to create the company’s overall image. This use of personal advertising is what creates the overall fan base and helps to spread the word about the product. For example, fans of movies that create images about the movie will help spread their artworks while simultaneously expanding the movie’s fan base and financial potential. This can be both negative and positive; depending on the view we examine it from. For the company, it is an effective method of advertising that allows exponential increase. It is a great passage for gaining money and for continuing projects. However if we look to the people who are being essentially used for this we realize the negative impacts. The lives of consumers are being constantly tracked and used for research purposes. Often times, people who have set out to simply create an image for themselves inevitably end up in endorsement deals. This is regarded as the way to make money off of your talents or persona and is often greatly wanted by people. However this impacts their lives in which they become part of a product rather than a true identity. Although it may not be realized initially, this shapes them as a person in a negative way. And therefore, the overall impact of this movement in advertising is negative to the people it affects the most, the audience.