Effect of Advertisement on Society

Advertising is a form of communication for marketing and used to

encourage or persuade audience to continue or to take some new action. Advertising is the best way to communicate to the customers. Advertising helps informs the customers about the brands available in the market and variety of products useful to them. Often producers and marketers spend a huge amount of money on advertising because it is the best possible way to communicate about the product and its uses to a large number of people. If 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. 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.

Today people have forgot the real objective of advertising. The main objective is to attract the consumers to buy their product and hence increase their sales but they are using improper means to achieve their aims. They don't think of the effects that their advertisement will produce on the society. They generally ignore the other side of the coin. The whole society is prevailed by some of the evil effects of advertisement including children and youngsters. These are not the only effects of advertisement. Producers and marketers advertise products in

such a way that consumers want that product and the next minute they are in the shops or malls buying that product without even thinking whether they actually need that product, whether it will be useful to them or not, etc. Some people don't think before buying because the advertisement in a way blocks their thinking. 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. This kind of aggression on the minds of the people, coming from different strata of the society, can create disturbances on traditional way of life of some category of people. In the long run, it is likely that social and cultural transformations of revolutionary nature are created in the society through such programmes. Some business firms and organization produce misleading advertisements to attract consumers. They give false hope to consumers and even sometimes the product's prices are charged high. Consumers buy some products to show off their status even though you can get the same product from a different place with an inferior price. One of the example of misleading advertisements is White Tone Face Powder. It says that "Gora Nikhaar, instantly!" which attracts some of the consumers. People want to look good and fair and so they buy such products in the slight hope that the skin may become fair but they don't understand the fact that beauty is nature's gift! Otherwise everyone would have become beautiful using these products! They use such taglines merely to attract consumers and boost up theri sales. The other side is that it provokes a part of the public. Provokes in the sense that advertisers use such means in their advertisement that a part of the public pays attention to the thing where the attention is least needed. They focus on the means first and then the product. Sometimes they buy the product because of the effect it produces in the advertisement though it is always exaggerated. Such examples of advertisements are as follows: 1) Axe Deodrant 2) Steam Solar Power Heater (shown in local channel) 3) Liril Soap 4) Zatak Perfume 5)Amul Macho 6) Nivea Body Lotion

7)Parachute Body Lotion 8) Hide and Seek biscuit ad( Hritik Roshan's ad) 9) Latest Myntra sale ad The advertisement of Axe deodrant depicts the caption that the deodrant is so strong and powerful that even angels will fall on earth! Now what sort of caption is that?? Even angels will fall on earth? This advertisement was even banned in South Africa by the South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority for offending Christian. "As such the problem is not that angels are used in the commercial, but rather that the angels are seen to forfeit or perhaps forego their heavenly status for mortal desires", it said in the statement. The negative impact of the advertisement here is that it is offending the religious and mortal values. These advertisements are watched by all sections of the society and even children too. Portrayal of women in some advertisements is not good. The way they are portrayed produces a very bad impact on the society. 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.At the moment, the media in order to earn revenue through advertising are implicated in creating a market for consumer goods. Though it is largely an urban phenomenon, the same commercial advertisements on television reach rural areas and can have disturbing effects on rural people, where wants are encouraged, whose appetite for luxury goods and services is whetted. This can lead to a sense of frustration among those who cannot afford them So, advertising can prove fruitful in some areas but proves useless in some areas because then the means used are improper.Thus, producers should advertise their product in such a way anyone is particular is not offended and they indirectly don't play around with people's emotions. They must not use wrong and improper means just to boost up their sales because their objective might be just to attracts consumers and increase their sales but it may produce a negative impact on others. They must always think of consequences and

the effects the advertisement can produce on the society. They must strictly adher to their objectives and compromise wherever required.