Advertising is a part of modern society. Do the advantages of advertising outweigh the disadvantages?
As technology develops rapidly, advertising has become an essential part of modern society. In this essay, I will explain the advantages and disadvantages of advertising and give my opinion as to whether advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
To begin with, there are some positive aspects of advertising and it is a particularly efficient approach to provide key information about the products. For instance, the majority of people tend to spend numerous hours researching the features of products prior to purchase, and appropriate advertisements enable consumers to understand the goods effortlessly while saving time. Additionally, advertising is one of many up-selling strategies that stimulate the economy associated with creating more employment opportunities. Thus, advertising is an informative form of helping consumers with a better understanding of products and ultimately promotes active economic flow.
Despite the positive effects of advertising, the negative impacts are also commonly seen. Firstly, advertising often results in impulsive buying where unplanned expenses are spent. A good example of it is an infomercial. As the infomercial amplifies the desire of consumers to purchase the item by presenting positive feedback from reputable celebrities, there is an increased number of people committed to unnecessary purchase. Another disadvantage is that the cost of advertising is added to the price of products which ineffectively increases the financial pressure of consumers. Consequently, consumers are being charged for more than its actual worth. Lastly, some advertisements are misleading such as the vitamin supplement advertisement. While a balanced diet has been reported as a sufficient source of providing an essential daily vitamin intake, the supplement industry convinces the consumers to take an extra supplement. Therefore, advertising has a number of negative impacts in relation to financial issues of consumers.
In conclusion, I believe that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages as the transparency of advertising is vital in order to protect consumers from unreliable misleading advertisements.