Perception of Extreme Advertising by Young People (by the Example of Adrenaline Rush Commercials)

Abstract

The article proves scientific and social importance of studying the impact of advertising on young people, and presents the results of an empirical research into peculiarities of young people’s perception of two popular Adrenaline Rush commercials that demonstrate extreme sportsmanship. Basing on the postulates of psychosemiotics and narrative psychology, the author makes a complex psychological analysis of the two promoting narratives. The study shows that the commercials have a high suggestive potential. The slogan “There’s nothing you can’t do!” addressed to the target audience is provocative and, according to the research hypothesis, is able to stimulate young people’s need for risky behavior, which they may demonstrate not in sports, but in life in the form of antisocial conduct. The empirical research involved a survey of 94 respondents including 70 university students and 24 senior pupils. Having watched each commercial, they tried to determine a potential volition action of the character by estimating on 1-10 scale every of the 50 variants to finish the sentence “He can do it”. The factor analysis of the numerical data enables the author to point out six factors that form semantic categories of potential actions, namely, the common, the humanist, the antisocial, the extreme, betrayal, and power. It is inferred that both commercials extensively stimulate readiness for antisocial conduct, and senior pupils are more affected than students are. Young people do not think critically when they hear the pitch for risky behavior, so, in their minds, the risk zone expands into the area of social destruction.