I believe that marketing and consumerism play a large role in media and digital literacy in today's society. The Echo Generation are Canadians under the age of 20 (26% of Canadians are categorized in the Echo Generation). When I think of media and digital literacy, children and young adults come to mind. People under the age of 20 are very impressionable which makes them a large target audience for products in the marketing world.
Advertisements seem to be everywhere we look. I know I can't even go for a walk without seeing an ad for a product. Even in grocery stores, products for kids are strategically placed at a child's eye level so they will see the product and ask their parents to buy it.
Online marketing is also strategic and is a large part of digital literacy. When I log onto Facebook, all of the advertisements on the side of the page are catered to similar products that I have previously searched for online. This is great for companies but it also goes to show that you don't have much privacy in the digital world. This brings up the issue of digital safety which should be a main concern when we are teaching younger generations.
Advertisements seem to be everywhere we look. I know I can't even go for a walk without seeing an ad for a product. Even in grocery stores, products for kids are strategically placed at a child's eye level so they will see the product and ask their parents to buy it.
Online marketing is also strategic and is a large part of digital literacy. When I log onto Facebook, all of the advertisements on the side of the page are catered to similar products that I have previously searched for online. This is great for companies but it also goes to show that you don't have much privacy in the digital world. This brings up the issue of digital safety which should be a main concern when we are teaching younger generations.