Advertising is the least reality based form of all media. If advertisements were held to the same regard as news writing, the advertisements would tell you that little diet pills that require no exercise don’t work, silly creams won’t make you 20 years younger and wearing a certain perfume won’t get you dates.
Advertisers play on people’s weaknesses to sell their product. They care about images and the messages they are conveying to the public.
As much as some ads may be controversial and make people upset, they support papers and magazines. Advertisers have the right to try and sell their product to the best of their ability.
Through advertising we receive many messages about how people should behave in society. Advertisements can accentuate stereotypes, but not all do.
Listen to a television ad selling household products, and it will most likely be a woman’s voice. Listen to a television ad selling tools, and you will most likely hear a man’s voice.
The Western Front is funded by its advertisments. Without them, the student body would not have this paper.
Students don’t have to buy the message, and they don’t have to buy the product.
Some complaints have emerged about the advertisements in our paper. Running a certain ad in a paper does not mean it supports certain values.
The opinion section is free of ads, and that is why we are open to the ideas students provide. We cannot run a paper without advertising and would not be able to voice the opinions of the student body without them.
Advertisments do not steer the content of a paper.
Papers do not pull ads because some people may feel the ads are dishonest. They accept advertisements from several companies people may or may not agree with because they have a right to sell their product. Students have the ability to consider the ad for themselves and make a personal decision about it.
Disagreement over the army ad in the paper is not really about the army but the controversial war in Iraq.
Though the war is an item of conflicted opinion, supporting our troops is not. The paper supports all the young men and women in the army who are serving and protecting our country.
This does not mean it does or does not support the war they are fighting in.
The army has just as much a right to advertise in the paper as anyone else.
We are surrounded by advertising everyday and censoring our paper is not going to do anything to change that or the messages the advertisers relay.
The editorial board is comprised of Editor in Chief Jeff Richards, Managing Editor Shana Keen and Opinion Editor Lisa Hust.
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