Advertising: Information or Manipulation? Essay

The “American Dream” has changed form dramatically since the term was first coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams. By definition, it refers to the goal of the American people to pursue their own individual dreams with independence. However, considering the increased amounts of advertising in recent years due to the advancement of technology, are Americans actually making their own, uninfluenced decisions about the products they are purchasing? Kalle Lasn, the founder of the anticorporate AdBusters Media Foundation, would likely disagree. As the founder of this organization, the Estonian author’s goal is to inform average consumers about the hidden grime in advertising that they may not be aware of, such as discrimination and logical fallacies.

In today’s society, no matter where you are, there is always a good chance that you have seen an advertisement. These little creatures are everywhere. You may see them when you are reading a magazine, watching TV, or surfing the internet. We have become so used to them. Advertisements are good at making us stop what we are doing and giving them our full attention. What is an advertisement? An advertisement is an announcement made to the public. In Jib Fowles’ article, “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” he is informing us that companies are spending millions of dollars on advertisements to grab our attention in order to manipulate us into spending or thinking of spending our hard-earned money on their product. Even though a lot of people do not want to believe that a paper that is eight times eleven with an image and no more than five words is manipulative because we want to think that we are not that easy to trick. Nike created an advertisement for one of

Individuals decide whether or not he or she want to believe the advertisements they see and hear. Just as O’Neill evinced “You must listen. You must read. And finally you must think – all by yourself” (352). If individuals learned how advertisements work, he or she can avoid being persuaded by the salesman. The individual will no longer feel forced to buy products he or she did not want. Society should serve a positive influence for change in advertising.

Source C explains that advertising is essentially teaching because it explains to the consumer how to use products and about beneficial and necessary items. However, commercials are not long enough to provide any kind of real training and if consumers need to know how to use a product they can learn about it through another much more thorough method. Additionally, Source F points out that anything that is truly essential does not need to be advertised because customers will purchase it anyway. Another argument is the advertising generates money, thus promoting the economy by encouraging people to spend money and paying for online articles and television programs (Source D). While advertising may boost sales, the fact of the matter is that people will make purchases without viewing commercials, therefore contributing to the economy, and will likely make better decisions that are based on logic rather than flashy entertainment. Moreover, Source F explains that in an effort to promote sales companies often ignore their moral responsibilities, as in the case of the powdered milk sales and cigarette advertisements. A 30 second television commercial promoting sugary sports drinks or frivolous purchases may help the company’s profits, but at what cost to the well-being of

Every day, companies present the people with advertisements everywhere they go. Advertisements have become very prevalent in today’s society nowadays focusing in on a negative connotation. Advertisement has become an effective way for producers to display their new products. In present day, they come in forms of billboards, flyers, e-mails, and even text messages. It is widely known that companies create advertisements to persuade people to buy specific products or goods; however, it is not widely known that advertisements can make a negative impact on today’s society. The companies manipulate people’s mind and emotions, swaying people by new promotions and therefore generating a strong desire to fit into the society, that causes them to make inessential expenditures. Advertisements pose a critical impact on the American culture.

The average United States Citizen views about 5000 advertisements a day (Johnson). Advertising is everywhere. Billboards on the way to work, ads on the internet, and paper products such as magazines or newspapers display a sale or a promotion of a good or service. Usually, the ad will give a brand or company name, and uses the product’s merits to draw the consumer closer. This has grown exponentially as advertisements in media in 1970 were estimated to be 500 a day, a ten percent increase in the last 48 years. (Johnson). This is due to the rise of technology, as the computer has become a household gadget within the new millenium. These advertisements are meant to give a synopsis of the product or service’s purpose, quality, and efficiency. If a consumer views 5000 advertisements in a single day and assuming the commercials do not repeat, 5000 goods or services are introduced. With more options to choose from in such little time, the consumer has a harder time differentiating the quality and perhaps necessity of the product. The marketers rely on the quick, impulsive decision making of consumers. With the misleading nature of many infomercials or radio broadcasts, the people of American society are bombarded with constant propaganda, thus making seemingly harmless promotions more potent to filling industries’ pockets and lessening the common population’s

Advertisements are an extremely prominent part of American society. Very few places exist that an individual can go without being exposed to some form of ad. From product placement to billboards, advertisements exist in nearly every facet of life. Marion Nestle discusses what she considers to be one of the more heinous forms of advertisement in her essay, “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate.” Nestle uses several persuasive techniques to convince her audience of the evils of supermarkets. Her use of emotionally charged phrases paired with her more logical assertions help to drive her point home while her clear bias and lack of supportive source detract from her overall argument

Advertising is used in the public to get the word out that a new product is here. Advertising informs people that this product may be something that they like and is useful to them. Without advertising, many companies would not be able to preserve their business. Companies have to make sure they efficiently inform the public what their product does because if the public has no understanding of the product, they most likely will not buy it. Advertisements are first used locally and can eventually become nationally if the business is doing well and properly informing the consumers about the product and its purpose. This can be done using social media, newspapers, magazines, or bill boards if they are wealthy enough.

With the new technological advancements of the 1900s, the concept of advertising prospered into a new industry based on the desires of the people. Historically, magazines, newspaper, radio and television have all greatly improved advertising, making it one of the largest forces that works to help or hinder society. “Before 1910, advertisers mostly sought to inform customers about products; after 1910, the main goal was to create a desire to purchase products” (Blackford 3). Thus, business strategy was created that convinced people that they needed a product. This opened up a new world for people to be manipulated into spending their money on what they thought would improve their lives. Advertising improved the

Modern day society revolves around consumerism. As American citizens, we see thousands of different advertisements each day. The majority of our lives simply consist of buying and selling products and services. In a mock press release, The Onion’s criticizes American consumerism and the false promises advertisers make in their commercials.

In the article “ How Advertising Informs to Our Benefits”, writer John E Calfee, argues about the benefits that advertisement provides to our society. He says advertisement is a great tool for communicating information and shaping markets today. However, he also argues on the point that advertisement can sometimes be misleading, and that it leaves out the important information.

Each day we are bombarded with advertisements from a plethora of corporations in every waking moment of our lives. Advertising agencies have become so advanced at what they do, that often times we may not even realize we are being advertised a product. This raises an interesting ethical dilemma over a certain type of advertising: persuasive advertising. Philosophers, economists, and business professionals have debated over whether or not persuasive advertising is an immoral violation of the autonomy of consumers. While not all forms of advertising are in and of themselves certainly immoral, persuasive advertising is particularly reprehensible due to the fact that not only does it manipulate our unconscious desires of which we are completely unaware in order to sell a product, but it also routinely leads us to act against our own best interest, thus overriding our autonomy.

Advertising has had a major impact on society. Some may be considered positive and some negative. Take a look around, advertisements are placed everywhere, television commercials, billboards, newspapers, and even on the sides of buses. Advertising is the basic form of marketing and trading throughout the world. Today’s society knows it as marketers trying to influence or persuade consumers into buying something. It also serves as a medium for services and businesses. There are many advertising strategies, but television commercials will always remain the number one strategy. Think about it, how much television is watched a day, probably a lot. What better way to advertise a product or service? Advertising has a positive effect on our economy. It does not only influence and persuade consumers, but it also benefits them in many ways. It also benefits manufacturers and their company, and the world as a whole.

There are thousands of companies around the world today, but only a few are successful in the competition of business. Top companies, every year, invest billions of dollars on advertising because it is an effective way to present their product or service. Advertisements are impactful because they are everywhere from the Internet, movies, books, magazines, and outdoors. Although most advertisements may look simple, its use has been effective for companies to deliver propaganda, persuasion, and subliminal messages to convince consumers to buy something they don’t need. The use of propaganda, and persuasion is evident in companies such as Camel, Pepsi, and Tesla Motor to convince viewers to engage in their

Without advertising, the media (including newspaper, television, and radio) would be much less vigorous. Advertising provides revenue for commercial mediums, which would otherwise need to be funded by the actual consumer of these mediums. For instance, a newspaper would cost up to three times as much money because advertising provides two-thirds of the revenue of the print media, and all television, bar government funded networks, would be pay-TV (since nearly ALL revenue for television is provided by advertising, while the consumer provides no financial support except for providing the service of watching the advertised messages). So we can see a major economic infrastructure based around advertising.