Is advertising good or bad for us?
It is certainly true that advertising tells us about new products, and we may think that these products might improve our lives in some way. Certainly, if you are already looking for something, say a new car, then advertising can provide you with information which you may find helpful.
Also, it can bring your attention to something that you think you would like or find useful, although you were not previously aware of its existence. For example, you might see an advertisement for a new gadget which you think would come in handy in your kitchen. Of course, the claims made by advertisers are not always borne out by the performance of their products, but that’s another story!
Advertising certainly has an effect on most of us. We have all watched TV programmes which have been interrupted by an advertisement for some kind of chocolate bar or other snack. Often we feel that we, too, would quite like such a snack, although until then, we had felt no desire for such a thing.
We may not make a connection between our desire for a chocolate bar and the one advertised on television. Indeed, we may not even have consciously noticed the subject of the advertisement. This is because much of the effect of advertising is subliminal, which can make it a rather dangerous medium.
Whether or not we actually give in to the desire for a chocolate bar mid-programme, or whether we regard it as a passing fancy, is entirely up to us. However, it is true that some people are more susceptible to the effects of advertising than others, just as some of us are weaker-willed than others. They may well be encouraged by tempting, glitzy advertisements into buying things which they do not need and which they often cannot afford.
We only have to look at the effect of advertising on children to see how it encourages people to buy, or at least to want to buy, things that they do not need. Most parents of young children dread the advertising campaigns that accompany the run-up to Christmas, a run-up that can start as early as the beginning of September! During that period, every programme shown on a commercial TV channel that is directed at children contains a host of advertisements featuring toys of every description.
The young viewers rush to their parents, calling that they want whatever toy has just been viewed, and these calls are repeated after every programme. The actions of the children are known as pester power. Strong-willed parents resist this pestering, but others give in and buy the toys in order to have some peace and quiet. The situation is so bad that there are calls in several countries for such advertising to be banned.
There are concerns, too, that the effect of advertising on some people is just as powerful as it is on children. They do not pester other people to buy things for them, but they buy unnecessary things for themselves. They often put their purchases on their credit cards and get further into debt.
We cannot blame advertisers for people buying goods that they cannot afford, but we should be conscious of the great power of advertising. It does not exist just to tell us about new products. Its role is much more seductive than that and we should all be aware of this.
