Virgin Vinyl, Real Counterfeit Diamonds, and Genuine Imitation Leather: With These Words I Can Sell You Anything

This work from William Lutz is about how commercials have increased over the years to the point where people may be able to see more on TV than actually shows.
One part of the work deals with, "Kids and Television". I was very suprised to see that in 1988, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reported that children ages eight to twelve could identify more brands of beer than United States Presidents. One girl actually could name fourteen beers but only four Preidents. I believe that this study is very suprising and a bit sad. Young children should not be able to list off fourteen types of beers, I know that I could not at that age. Instead they should be learning and doing well in school. I believe the type and amount of television children watch affect their perfomace in school.
The next point I would like to touch upon is how the Chinese view advertising. The best way to view how advertising in one country is affective is to have an outsiders point of view. The New York Times reported in an 1981 article on Hu Yun Huan, an Englsh-language specialist from China who believe that American television "advertisements are pretty fantastic. I found it interesting that Huang would say that American advertising is beginning to look and act like Chinese propaganda. In some respects he may be correct in the respect that advertising is a type of propaganda that is trying to persuade people in believing a certain point of view.