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Jeanne Christie M.Ed., Ph.D.
Jeanne Christie M.Ed., Ph.D.
Media

What They See Is What They Get

How do marketers reach their targets?

In each decade there are both overt and subtle changes in young adults. The Internet facilitates the immediate and constant bombardment of the youth by the global economies, advertisers, and marketers. Consider the way a similar product such as milk is marketed to three different groups.

An ad agency trying to connect with three age groups uses different media. To an older generation of masters still working or maintainers enjoying their retirements, the marketing campaign is a need-based script through print or television. For Boomers, the traditional media and Internet used ads with a rhetorical script that relates back to their youth.

However, to the diverse millenniums, a script is used to engage the participants in a viral or electronic media. All three receive a message, but with different contexts and meaning.
What will the next generation bring? How will advertisers and marketers reach this new target audience? Will media communication react like a bell weather curve with a new generation or be skewed by global economics?

References:
Sivulka, J (2012). Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes. BST: Wadsworth.
Mark Bauerlein (Ed). (2011). The Digital Divide. NY: Penguin.

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About the Author
Jeanne Christie M.Ed., Ph.D.

Jeanne Christie, M.Ed., Ph.D., who taught communications at Western CT State University and at Manhattanville College, is the author of The Women of City Point, Virginia, 1864-1865.

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