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Sunday, February 9, 2025
HomeConsumer EducationIs Video Game Addiction Reinforced by Consumerism?

Remember that time when you had to practically beg your parents to get you that collector’s edition of DC comics for your birthday? Or back in High School, when you and your friends had to line up at the mall to check out the latest beauty product that Tyra Banks was endorsing? And this time around, your kids have been on their best behavior just so they can get the latest Xbox edition that other kids their age already have. What is common with these scenarios?

The target market and the end-results are the same.

There have been changes and variety with the products that the capitalists are coming up with. But the target market is the same. It’s no question that these capitalists through several forms of mass media and advertising are closing in on the easiest and most vulnerable target in the market today- the youth.

The end-result of how the capitalist market have exposed the youth with these products is just one- to strengthen the power of the consuming public. The youth is the biggest sector in the society comprising the school age to the early or middle adulthood stage. And according to studies, they are definitely the largest consuming public whether this is through their own means or aided by the parents.

Video games are no different from the previous media that the youth was exposed to. It used to be books and magazines, music and movies, and now we have gadgets and video games. They have steadily gained enormous popularity. Much thanks to the geniuses of marketing and advertising, video games are definitely the “in” thing with the consuming public. They have devised ways and means of coming across the stage where the youth are exploring everything and anything that they can lay their hands and eyes upon.

Endorsements coming from celebrity or sports idols by the youth is one way of appealing to the youth’s consuming power. Add to that countless billboards, print ads, YouTube videos and television ads. These all appeal to the youth consumers. Or to the people who financially support this consuming public- the parents.

The capitalists are instilling beliefs, values and concepts to the youth market. They know how to appeal to the youth by investing on products that may define the youth’s attitudes and behavior, according to how the capitalist society wants them to perceive those. Self-identity, feeling of belongingness, and consumerism are the target values in media like video games today.

Video games appeal to our youth’s search for self-identity. In the virtual world, they embark on a journey where they are strong and unbeatable. They equip themselves with gadgets and tools that enhance their superhero capabilities. They get to play dress up in lavish clothes and accessories. They have their own character that they think suits them best or what they desire to be.

The virtual world allows them to create allies within the game. They belong to a clique where they speak the same language and act the same way. They find their own niche in this world. They find a place where they are accepted and where they belong.

These young people are also exposed to every aspect of being the largest consuming public with the video game they are hooked with. With every new trend or upgraded version released in the market, the youth are pressured into keeping up with these new things. Hence, they would spend more to keep up or pressure their parents to spend for these. The youth are slaves to the concept of consumerism- to fulfill that desire to get what they want even if it may be seem out of their own means.

Consumerism and video games is such a deadly combination for the youth. As more and more young consumers get hooked and addicted to video games, the capitalists are steadily preserving their own power and control over them. By endorsing and devising ways to get the youth eternally hooked to video games, the youth is as well entangled almost willingly in the world of consumerism. The immediate concern is no longer how the youth will be protected against this propaganda. But rather how the youth may be molded, in attitude, beliefs and orientation, by the kind of materials and thinking the capitalists are exposing them to.



Source by Kristine Cagayat

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