Marketing violence to youth

MARKETING VIOLENCE TO YOUTH

Table of Contents

I. Introduction--------------------------------------- 3 II. Violent Movies----------------------------------- 4 III. Brutal Television--------------------------------- 5-6 IV. Vicious Video Games--------------------------- 7-8 V. Sadistic Music------------------------------------ 8-9 VI. Intense Internet----------------------------------- 9-10 VII. Conclusion---------------------------------------- 10
VIII. References---------------------------------------- 11

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INTRODUCTION In the 21st century, youth seem to be overwhelmed by mass media. Everywhere that youth turn, there are magazines, movies, music, television, video games, and internet websites used to constantly promote and market violence. There is a distinct difference between the way that today’s youth are confronted with media, than what their parents or even their grandparents faced. Most children no longer go outside to play after finishing their homework, or take a walk to the local library to check out a book. To today’s youth, this type of entertainment is almost extinct. Instead, youth attention and time is grasped by some form of digital communication technology, such as an iPods, television, the internet, and video games. Marketing, advertising, and branding companies have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars to target and capture and keep the interest and wallets of youth. In January 2001, America Online, the largest internet service provider, and Time Warner, the world’s biggest entertainment company, joined forces to what is now known as the largest media merger in history. Together, these two media giants own four film studios, several book publishers, three major record companies, a large cable television system, and more than two dozen popular