Advertising Its Uses & Abuses
Man has a natural quality to express himself in numerous ways. He may convey to others the good qualities, which he possesses or may travel from place to place to make himself a known personality. Modern times have tightened his hands in matters of propaganda and self-exposition. Advertisement is the soul of this propaganda.
Advertisement means public notice through magazines and newspapers. The posts are filled by means of advertisement and the transaction between the employer and the employees is easily conducted. A connecting link between two classes of people is established through the machinery of propaganda. The thing hidden in corners are brought to the surface,’ the consumers get the goods and the producers get the market.
In old times, the name of an article being spread, the purchaser ran to the producer, but those were the days of few wants and confined ideas. The modern education has made us more civilized and cultured. His standard of life has been raised and he desires various articles of necessity, comfort and luxury. He is not content to remain in cottages or dirty houses nor is he easily satisfied with the low quality of food. In matters of dress, he has improved much.
The present age has fully revealed that advertisement is a powerful weapon. Hitler infused spirit into his countrymen by sheer advertisements. Painted pictures, decorative words, and attractive offers are now the daily business of newspapers. The big cities have many posters which arrest the eye. Railway Stations, cinemas and theatre-halls emphasize the importance of advertisement. We know the quality and names of different articles through advertisement. Thus, it increases our knowledge on the one hand, and on the other, presents before our eyes lovely pictures and moving scenes.
Advertisement is an atom bomb in the field of commerce. Even the best and cheapest article rots in the godowns if it is not advertised in a nice and attractive manner. It is through this powerful agent that our articles find a nice market in foreign countries and thus bring capital for our country. Like charity, advertisement pleases the taker, the producer and the consumer. The producer is happy because his commodities are easily sold and the consumer is content that he gets the goods of his choice. He obtains the maximum satisfaction out of his expenditure.
Advertisement, like God, manifests itself in many ways. Newspapers, handbills, posters, film-slides, loudspeakers and radios are some of its obedient servants who post over land and ocean without rest. The sign boards of the Territorial Army haunt us every where. The advertisement of the Lux Toilet is to be found even on buses and tram-cars. As a matter of fact, we are never free from this most important thing—the world.
But let us see whether these advertisements are a boon to mankind. We are compelled to say that they are only a great deception. We are given the temptation of a nice watch for Rs.15/- and in return, we get a bogus and useless thing which does not work smoothly even for a week. We get very lovely pictures painted on the calendars or diaries and they lower down our morals. We will not like to protest against the cheap and demoralizing advertisement, which are so often visible in our country ? Magazines and newspapers sometimes give very wrong and false advertisement with the result that they not only vitiate the taste of the cultured people but also earn bad repute for themselves. In that respect, advertisement becomes an unmitigated nuisance. The habit of spoiling the rear walls of the houses and buildings is harmful. from the point of sanitation also.
But if we balance correctly the advantages and disadvantages of advertisement, the scale weighs on the side of advantages. We can easily remove the bad points of advertisement. For example, if we are supplied an inferior thing for a superior one, we can boycott that company or firm or may even resort to legal action for playing that trick upon us. Similarly, we can stop the spoiling of the walls and houses with a stricter attitude. But in this age of propaganda and show, it shall be a grave mistake to do away with advertisement, which is touch-stone to our intelligence and fine taste and without which we can have no competition for quality and excellence. Let this great and sympathetic friend of humanity guide us constantly and augment our comforts and conveniences.
