Media #3: The Blurred Line

     I was looking through the front section of The Sacramento Bee, like I do every week while searching for my current event, when I came upon an interesting article that said "Memory Pill Helps the Brain Like Prescription Glasses Help the Eyes, Claims U.S. Surgeon General Candidate." At first I thougt, "Wow, this is a huge discovery!" I mean, it was in the front section, where all the important articles are, it looked like an article, and the title sounded like any other article. Then I realized the miniscule writing located at the very top of this "article" and saw the words "paid advertisement." 
     
     After making the revelation that this "article" was actually an advertisement, I noticed that there were actually some small differenced in the article- a slightly different font, a barely noticeable difference in format etcetera, but they sure had me fooled! 

     By buying a place in a newspaper to advertise, this advertisement sort of tricks people into having their need to satisfy curiosity appealed to. A newspaper is a place where people go to satisfy curiosity. People will read the title of the "article" and want to read more, thinking that this new pill is actually a revolutionary technology, which will change the world with its amazing powers when really it is more than likely just a fraud. Some may even find themselves feeling like they need this pill- especially those who do not notice the words "paid advertisement" above the title. Even if they do notice those words, the may still find themselves thinking that they could really use this pill- if its in the newspaper it must be true!

     Personally, I dislike this advertisement. Whenever an ad successfully tricks me, it makes me not want to even consider buying the product. Even if they were selling something I would really want, and not a miracle pill, I would not buy it because I feel sort of cheated, and stupid- things that not put me in the must-have mood. 

     I must admit, that the advertisers did an honorable job blurring the line between advertisement and article, which for its purposes can be very efficient in tricking people into realizing that they need something they did not even knew existed. So, props to you pill people, but I still would not buy your product.