Advertising surrounds the American people of the 21st century, appearing in various forms: billboards, posters, flyers, television commercials, etc. In a study conducted by Yankelovich, a market research company, a person living in a city may be exposed to 5,000 advertisements per day (Story, Louise). While these promotional materials seek to inform the population about their existence and the products or services they offer, advertising also communicates ideas to society that have a negative influence. Advertising has a detrimental effect on modern American society due to its demeaning, unhealthy and dangerous messages, depiction of negative and unrealistic body images, and promotion of materialism and superficial things. Many advertisements in today's society often intentionally carry content that spreads messages. which are humiliating, unhealthy and dangerous. Many advertisements today, many for alcoholic beverages, suggest that elegant, sexy women prefer men who use certain products (“Advertisement”). Not only do these ads send a misleading message that women only like men who buy a specific brand, but the unnecessary use of sexual imagery reinforces the idea that women are mere sex objects (“ Advertising"), a controversial issue prevalent in the world today. However, these promotions are also degrading towards men. In recent years, advertisements have appeared that sexualize men in order to sell something to a different clientele. In addition to ideas that sexualize and objectify individuals, promotional materials also convey ideas that glorify harmful lifestyles, particularly to younger audiences. Often, companies advertise unhealthy eating habits and destructive practices like smoking... middle of paper ... well provides them with biased education provided by products sporting advertisements and labels. Materialism and an obsession with superficial and material things accompany advertising. Critics claim that the ads began to negatively impact people due to the increased prevalence of the ads and the overwhelming number of instructions to spend money and demand certain products. In a study of children aged 8 to 11, it was found that children frequently exposed to television advertising developed a greater desire for the products advertised and began to become more materialistic, unlike children less frequently exposed (Jacobs, Tom). Some experts believe that marketing has made adults and children materialistic and encouraged expensive obsessions with designer goods ("Youth-Oriented Advertising").”).