Is Advertising Good Or Bad?
We see numerous advertisements everyday. The main reason that companies spend time and money on advertising is to attract customers’ attention on their new products. However, there’s a diversity of opinions when it comes to influences advertisement has on the society. I think whether an advertisement is good or bad depends on its’ content.
Advertising has a positive role to play in the society when it provides the information that is useful. First, With the information that advertisements provided, consumers are easier to seek the products that meet their requirements from the advertisements. Second, advertisements sometimes offer useful life tips for consumers. For example, the advertisements of clothing brands show you some awesome and trendy styles you may like. Third, some great advertisements contain not only information about their products but beyond it. For example, The Pantene advertisements from Thailand is a 4-miutes-long story which depicts a girl’s story. For consumers, watching the commercials like these are quite entertaining.
Advertising is bad when it coveys misleading information to customers. For example, the advertisement of Dolce&Gabanna involves with the issue of gender discrimination and sexual violence. In the picture, the woman lays down on the ground by a man above her, while others are watching indifferently. This advertisement could covey a misleading idea that “women are dominated by man” to the society. Besides, both me and my classmates Jina mention about the issue that the advertisement can distort people’s value proposition. For example, the Dove advertisement that we watched at class makes consumers feel inferior without wearing makeup and using photoshop. Those beauty advertisements promote the entirely opposite idea of “keeping your natural beauty.” Moreover, the fashion advertisements can cause consumers to have low-esteem on their body shape, and leads them to have unhealthy diet.
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https://blogs.ubc.ca/jinachoi/
http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-advertising-harmful-to-us
https://www.quora.com/Is-advertising-a-good-thing-for-society