Does Advertising Help Or Harm Us
Advertising utilizes marketing communications sponsored by particular companies to promote and sell their products or services by utilization of catchy and attractive messages. Nevertheless, advertising does affect us negatively. Firstly, they are harmful as they cause the poor use of our finances. The constant bombarding of people with attractive, eye-catching products and services result in the belief that one requires a particular service or good even when unnecessary, causing us to make unwarranted purchases that cost a lot of money.
Secondly, advertisements destroy the society through advertising of unhealthy products. Advertisers’ primary role is to make known their products and in doing so attract customers. Consequently, harmful products such as fast foods, fast-food restaurants, and junks are advertised mainly targeting kids by introducing them in cartoons or in commercials around the time; children are watching TVs, contributing to unhealthy eating habits that cause obesity in children.
Thirdly, advertisements affect mental health by creating unrealistic expectations that lead to serious eating disorders and low self-esteem issues. In the advertisement of various products, advertisers portray people that they consider as perfect. They airbrush them to appear thin and of full figures, for women while the men have muscles and perfectly toned bodies. Such images create inferiority among viewers especially youths who feel the pressure to attain the above body outlooks to be perfect. Thus, they adopt unsafe eating methods such as dieting that result in disorders such as anorexia. Additionally, if they are unable to attain such perfect bodies, they develop low self-esteem.
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Fourthly, advertisements result in confusion due to the tyranny of choices. The need to decide about a product compounded by the presence of numerous different brands results in overloading of an individual and raising their expectations. Hence, they have to conduct a lot of research and comparison to decide which product is better. Eventually, when they buy the said products, they suffer disappointment especially when the products do not uphold their marketing hype and their expectation. In turn, the customers feel disappointed and blame themselves.
Advertisements also work as a form of brainwashing technique and takes over the liberty to develop preferences. The adverts have flooded the lives of people whereby one cannot avoid them as advertisers incorporate numerous diverse methods of advertising such print media, TVs, radios, the internet, posters and even city screens. Additionally, they utilize eye and ear catching messages that bombard one into watching, listening and reading them. Thus, people unconsciously believe in these adverts and end up purchasing products with the notion they choose them.
Advertisements breeds materialism. Advertisers utilize several measures to attract customers to their products. Some go to the extent of creating illusions that their products, however unnecessary, that they are a necessity and one can have them if they want. Such advertising techniques consequence in increased fixation to obtain all goods advertised facilitating the development of egotistical and obsessive tendencies with products bought. In turn, it leads to the loss of valuable relationships such as family and friends. Moreover, it creates a sense of entitlement in children, as, through the adverts, they believe they should have all they desire.
Advertisements restrict the quality of products in the market. They do so by capitalizing on the ability of a company to afford various avenues of marketing their products as opposed to the quality. Hence, in most cases, large businesses that may not necessarily produce the best quality products flood the market by use of numerous advertising avenues. It, in turn, makes customers purchase inferior goods while the smaller companies with quality products go out of business.
