Advertising is a legalized form of lying

Necessity is the mother of invention’ is an oft-quoted saying. But now-a-days the reverse of it is more true. In modern business, ‘invention’ is mother of necessityIn this age of machinery, new things are produced everyday. Market is created for these things through advertisement Businessmen advertise their goods in various ways and thus spread a knowledge of their goods among the customers.

It is through advertisement that people begin to feel a need for even those goods of which they had never heard before. Advertisement creates demand. it is the backbone of commerce and Industry. No business can stay in the business world without advertisement. A successful businessman is one who snatches away money from even the most miserly and reluctant customer. Thus, the business world rotates on the pivot of advertisement. As the world is progressing, so the means of advertisement are also increasing. We all know that big posters are pasted on the walls, and handbills are distributed to advance the sale of goods. Walls are painted and big signboards are displayed on crossings and prominent places to serve this purpose. In a cinema hall, first of all we see the advertisement slides. A major part of the daily newspapers is full of advertisement. ‘Situations Vacant’, ‘Tender Notice’, ‘Educational’, ‘Lost and Found’, ‘Matrimonial’, cinema advertisements, and advertisements of so many other commodities are regular features of all newspapers. Radio and Television also are being used as means of commercial advertisement.

A good advertisement must have certain qualities. First, it should be based on humanpsychology. A thing meant for ladies, should be advertised in such a way that they are attracted towards it. If men are to be customers, then it should appeal to their tastes. Goods for different income groups should be advertised, taking into consideration their purchasing power. A motor car is a thing for the rich. Its advertisement must be touch the mentality of the rich. Usha Sewing Machine should be advertised in such a way that the family man, with ordinary income, may feel the economic advantages of the investment of his money on it. Secondly, advertisements should be attractive. This is very essential. People look towards an advertisement only if it is eye-catching. Good, interesting pictures are very effective form this point of view. We all know about ‘Sanforised cloth’. The advertisements to show that quality of the

cloth display a man wearing a suit of non-sanforized cloth. He appears funny and uncomfortable as his suit has gone out of fit by washing. Another man is shown wearing a suit of ‘Sanforised cloth’. How smart and active he appears. We immediately learn that ‘Sanforised cloth’ is best because it does not shrink. So a good advertisement must be interesting, attractive and eye-catching. But proper sanctity must be maintained and unnecessary exposure must be avoided. It must also be frequently repeated, otherwise people forget all about the goods advertised. do not like to waste their time on things which do not concern them. So to be successful, advertisement must be brief. Long descriptive stories or certificates of praise about certain thing do not make good advertisement. This is an important point in advertising and a good advertiser must keep it in mind.

Advertisements are not concerned with the good or bad quality of goods. Even the most injurious goods are advertised these days. Advertisements of undesirable drugs and medicines and indecent literature, so common. They simply cheat the public. So we should be careful while purchasing an advertised article. We should use our own mind, instead of blindly following the advice of the advertisement.

In our country, the art of advertising is in its infancy. in progressive countries, like America, big business concerns have specialists and experts for this purpose. They spend huge amounts of money on advertisement. But it is not so in our country. Some businessmen consider their products to be very superior. They think advertisement unnecessary. This is undesirable. To get success in business every big or small business-concern must make effective us of art of advertising goods. To run a business without its aid is not possible in the modern age. “the advertisement for the body-spray, Impulse.

The whole idea of a man absorbed in his daily routine being suddenly roused out of it by a whiff of Impulse and then going through a series of impulsive actions to compliment the lady wearing it, is romantic and endearing to most women. This combined with the light, tinkling piano accompaniment and soft-focus filming makes the advertisement an attractive one. Then we have the newspaper and magazine advertisements, in vibrant color, interesting graphics and witty slogans. Take a look at most cosmetic advertisements like Maybelline or Cover girl, where the page is attractively splashed with the newest colors the manufacturer has come up with a pretty, lively girl caught in mid-laughter. Therefore,

advertisements today are generally interesting due to the visual and sound effects made possible y advanced technology in the various mediums of print, sound and film, and a little imagination, especially when rival companies try their best to attract consumers and so try to advertise better. Are they useless? Not necessarily. In many ways advertisements help to keep the cost of most publications low so that we can afford them quite easily. This applies in the case of our daily newspaper “The Straits Times”, the Sunday “Asia Magazine”, the popular “Readers Digest” and especially the publication we are all familiar with, our respective school magazines. The advertisers pay to advertise and this payment subsidizes publishing cost so that we pay less than what we might otherwise have to pay. Advertisements also help to ease our boredom sometimes. How many times have people been roused out of a bored stupor once they see an interesting advertisement on a billboard or bus or when lazily flicking through a magazine?

Also, advertisements either interesting or otherwise, especially of otherwise, do promote conversation among friends when they discuss them, how an advertisement is so silly, or another is unusual and imaginative and yet another is introducing an interesting and attractive product which might be worth buying. This then brings us to the last point. Are advertisements misleading? One of their uses is that they inform us as to what is available on the market, but is this information wholly true? Their main function is to attract buyers so naturally, only certain details regarding a product are highlighted while others are not provided at all. We are made to believe that a product is long-lasting, worthwhile, multi-purpose and bound to give us that happiness we cannot find elsewhere. Perfume advertisements promise to bring the opposite sex falling at one’s feet, dictionary and encyclopedia advertisements promise to give us all the wisdom and knowledge in the world, cosmetic advertisement for “Ponderosa Steak & Salad Restaurant” promises juicy and tender steak and delicious salad. I have eaten there and found the steak to be of very low quality, for a very high price, but the salad was everything the advertisement led me to believe. conclusion:

So in conclusion, I would say that modernAdvertisements are boring, unless and often misleading.”

How far do you agree with this opinion?

In our present world of consumerism, advertisements are very much the norm because  manufacturers have to attract us to their products, which they do not want and we do not need. Everywhere we go advertisements loom before us on billboards, leap out at us from magazines and newspapers, whiz a lingering impression on the mind. Advertisement jingles hail us every morning over the radio and through the day, and we watch consumer products come alive on television, singing and dancing to promote themselves.

Are they boring? Generally not, but there are exceptions, of course. Take for instance the PepsiCola advertisement on television, “starring” Lionel Ritchie and a host of dancing youths; exuberant excited, bubbling and fizzling with life and energy. With its foot-tapping beats and delightful visual effects, one requires a great deal of self-control to sit still and not dance along. Or consider the advertisement with that famous line, “When a man you’ve never met before suddenly gives you flowers, that’s Impulse.” Yes, commerce trade and industry cannot survive without advertisement. The most advanced advertising technology course gives new ideas and also acts as “Survival of fittest” in this dynamic decade. However there should be control over misleading advertisementsIf advertisements merely sold products, it would cause less critical concern than it does, but it sells images, dreams and ideal ways of life. It sells, and then reinforces time and again, values – those of consumerism and class consciousness; and it trades in stereotypes.

As discussed earlier, advertising creates and sustains an ideology of consumption and it is a social force affecting Indian homes today. Therefore, its impact should be analyzed. Advertising is a social institution and a necessary social evil. Advertising is a social institution and its cost and benefit should be evaluated to determine the total impact of advertising on our social welfare the issue is not whether advertising is perfect, but whether the benefits of advertising outweigh the costs making social welfare greater than advertising. Sethi (1997) said that advertising is one of the functions of mass communication. All productivity relies on this medium of mass communication. Advertising diffuses information about commodities, markets them and persuades the common man of their place in his life. In fact advertising does more than this. It plays a role in social change. It celebrates change and internalizes change for those who become better by using a certain product/service. In short, advertising is the voice of technology; because of that it represents the intention to affect life.

Advertising, though originally used to market products, now, unfortunately, it seems to market feelings, sensations and styles of life; an astounding ‘revolution in manners and morals’. All this has been possible through an efficient communication network which has revolutionized changes. The first impact that one gets from the advertisement is that the viewers have no choice of their own in making preference for the consumer goods they want to use in daily life. The advertisement imposes choices and preferences on the public mind through language, conversation, jingles, etc. Advertising in India has created an incredible awareness among the people in the past decade growing into big industry. It was grown along with the press and today it has found its way into the other two media – Radio and Television.

Advertising which was originally an American concept, has found its place in a country like India, so much so that the number of commercials have doubled in the media. Television is the most sought after medium for advertising.