It’s bad enough that clothing companies have to steal their fashions from teens, but do they also have to hijack the style of their ads from teens too. Just take a look in any teen magazine and you will see several ads that feature one or a group of teens hanging out on a street corner, the basketball court, the beach or in their room. Chance are these ads look just like pictures you and friends might take of each other while you are hanging out on the street corner, the basketball court, the beach or in your rooms.

This is no coincidence. Clothing manufacturers, and the advertising and marketing agencies that they hire to promote and sell their products, intentionally make their ads look like your snapshots. Sure, they photograph their ads with the most high-tech cameras available, but the images they create don’t look that different from the ones you make with your point and shoot camera. And that’s the point, these companies want you to look at their ads and think about those pictures of you and your friends. They want you to remember all the fun you were having when those pictures were taken and then associate that fun with their clothes. So next time you look at an ad that features teens, look closely, you just might see yourself.