According to WIKEPEDIA Advertising is, " a form of marketing communication used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to take or continue to take some action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. This type of work belongs to a category called affective labor."
Then basically advertising is simply a way of endorsing advocacies, campaigns but most commonly for product use, in terms of using any mass communication media. It can be billboards, news papers, led ads, tv commercials, radio plugs and suchs.
Some examples:
So how does it affects our society?
In addition to public service advertisements, traditional advertisements that market a product or service can offer social benefits. In fact, according to Megan VandeKerckhove, a student at the University of Florida's Interactive Media Lab, advertising is free speech, and it can work to promote free speech. According to VandeKerchkhove, this is especially true in countries where free speech has been suppressed. Advertising there, especially when it comes from the Western world where free speech is embraced, can encourage the idea that free speech is important. Furthermore, freedom of choice and advertising-supported entertainment, which is often a promoter of social change, are two important components of society that are both promoted through advertising.
There are also various blames that advertising is causing negative social impact on lives. Even if advertising has a vast good impacts on society, it can be ruled out that is has bad impact also. It plays with the emotions of general public and encourages them to think that buying and depleting are the activities of life. Advertising posters of modern films, where sexuality is shown much than the actual theme of the movie, can divert the society a lot. Materialism is being much glorified through advertisements, which can again have dangerous consequences Society is becoming ignorant towards social or world issues because we are too obsessed to satisfy our newly created needs.
We can say that advertising has positive as well as negative impact on society. The balance, of what is necessary and what really not needed should be focused more. Advertisement can create contentment but can also simultaneously create discontentment. Our society and the marketing of products depend so badly on advertisement that even its negative impact on society can’t outweigh the many positive social and economical effects.
Sources:
http://www.theceoinsights.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&
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