The worst, yet somehow most popular way to sell a product is to make the consumers feel negative about themselves, or make them feel like something is wrong and "missing". If a person sees an ad on the television telling them that their skin is too dull or wrinkly, they start to feel like it actually is. The commercial, of course, has the answer to all your problems. They will undoubtedly introduce you to some sort of cream or wash that will brighten your skin and get rid of those wrinkles. The main problem here is that the media is promoting a negative self-image. They want you to feel bad about yourself because they want you to feel like you need their products to improve your well-being. As the film "The Ad and the Ego" tells us, advertising will never give off the message that you are okay, or that you should "just be you". They want you to feel like you are incomplete without whatever product they are attempting to sell to you. .
Another thing that this kind of advertising does is use sex and/or sex appeal to get its point across. If you pick up a magazine and begin to flip through it, the first things that you will notice are all the ads. Handsome men, and skinny women with perfect skin are plastered on practically every other page, and sometimes the product that is being sold is barely even visible in the ad. The problem with this is form of advertising is that it objectifies the people that are in it. They are valued less for who they are, and more for the way that they appear. The media plays on the discontent of the public by reminding them that they do not look like the models do. If the product being advertised is shown as erotic, then the consumers might want to buy it to enhance their own sex appeal. Sometimes, however, this objectification can lead to much more than discontent, it can lead to violence. Some men do not value women at all and view them only as objects.