Grammar and lexis in structured language learning exercises

Culture and media cannot be separated and hence advertising has a strong impact on culture and vice versa. It is interesting to see how media influence behavior and at the same times, accepts cultural changes and reflects the impact through advertising. One major example of this is the use of wireless communication. With increase in use of all wireless devices like ipods, iPhones and cell phones, the advertising has also taken on a new meaning ad method. Mobile advertising is now a common phenomenon where people get offers and deals even simple advertising messages through their wireless devices.

This shows how cultural changes impact advertising and how advertising in turn affects cultural trends. Advertising serves a very important purpose whether we admit it or not. It allows us to choose from a wide variety of alternatives. But what happens when advertising becomes a little too invasive. There is a good chance that your cell phone would soon be used as an advertising tool along with those iPods and other Bluetooth enabled devices. As mobile communication increases with 180 million users in the U.S. alone, it had only been a matter of time before advertising entered the field. As Bluetooth technology becomes popular and allows easy transfer of media files and iPod and cell phones permit storage of audio, video files and various types of images, advertisers have decided to explore this new medium of advertising.

We always knew that by the end of the first decade of 21st century, wireless devices would certainly become a common receiver of advertisements. In a recent survey, it was revealed that while most cell phone users were wary of the idea of advertising through mobile devices, they were open to the offer of opt-in advertising. "Though consumers aren't wildly enthusiastic about mobile advertising, about 20% of wireless phone users in a recent survey would find some form of advertising on their mobile handsets to be acceptable...Wireless users were most favorable toward "opt-in" advertising." (Mobiledia)

Few years ago, advertising through wireless devices appeared like a far-fetched idea. But with the emergence of better technologies especially Bluetooth, the idea is shaping up faster than we had imaged. Four major mobile service providers in the U.S. have decided to open their service to advertising in order to reduce costs of subscription. Advertising may actually prove beneficial to users who may find themselves getting mobile plans at much cheaper rates as packages are likely to become more affordable. These major service providers will soon be incorporating "banner ads, text message marketing and short video commercials into their business models" according to CNET news.

But all handsets are not Bluetooth enabled and neither do they all have screen big enough for video commercials. So what are marketers really thinking? A report indicates that mobile advertising would first be tried through text messages since every single cell phone handset allows that. "In the U.S. cell-phone users now send some 2.5 billion text messages per month, according to data from the Mobile Marketing Assn. released last summer. And that's sure to grow: 80% of people carrying those devices have still never sent a text message." (Lacy, 2004)

Marketers are excited and they sure have a millions reasons to be. But what about the customers and how exactly will they be affected by wireless advertising. According to the research by In-Stat, consumers are not very excited about invasive advertising. They are willing to give opt-in advertising a chance. But advertisers may not need to beg for their messages to reach your handset since a large percentage of cell phone users are the youth who are usually more accepting of new technologies than older customers. Impact of this kind of advertising is not known yet. We will have to wait a few more years to see how it shapes up. There was a time when it was felt that pop-up advertising would help the product and service reach millions of customers but it was later found that such advertising actually hurt the product. What could be the reason? The invasiveness factor!

It is one thing to have billboards all around since those are empty spaces now being taken up by marketers. But those were not your spaces. With cell phones, it a whole new ball game. Advertising reaching your handset might actually cause more irritation than convenience and if that happens, you know what the impact on the service or product will be. "This is part of the creep of advertising into every nook and cranny of our lives," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit consumer group. "This is advertising right in your face." [Richtel, 2006]

Sprint Nextel is likely to become the first carrier to use such advertising techniques. Verizon and Cingular are expected to follow suit as Rob Hyatt of Cingular revealed, " "We are looking at mobile advertising closely…I'm not prepared to say anything publicly here. But if you look at the cable TV market, a subscription and advertising business model worked very well to deliver lots of high-quality content." (Reardon, 2006)

There is a chance that mobile advertising might find it easier to penetrate the wireless technology if they make it clear how the customer would benefit from it and also offer the choice to turn off such messages. To force your brand on consumer's cell would definitely be suicidal both to the company as well as the product. Irritating pop-ups and their forceful invasiveness is a clear example of how such advertising can really hurt the customer and the product. This method of advertising failed so badly that they had to develop anti-pop-up software.

Discussing the failure of pop-ups, one Website writes: "….pop-up or aggressively animated ads are nothing short of eyesores and should all be banned immediately as most users immediately try to close down or escape from these intrusions. There is already a wide selection available of advertisement screening software - eliminating pop-ups in particular. Anything that jars against the online experience is bad for the long-term viability of the media facilitator - namely your website." [Emojo]