Social & Economic Impacts of Advertising

In recent times, the word 'Advertising' has become a fiercely mooted topic. Advertising has positive as well as negative, social and economic impacts on our society. Considering advertising as a public welfare is a positive social impact whereas exposing women as a sex tool comes at the negative side. As far as economic factors are concerned, funding for the media and stimulating an active and competitive economy, are the major examples. Assorted techniques are enforced for persuading consumers that they want the product which is being advertised. These techniques usually give attention to the benefits that would be brought to the consumers rather than focusing on the actual products. For instance, an automobile advertisement adverting the mechanical attributes of a vehicle, most likely concentrates the exhilaration, reputation and social progression it may bring to the buyer. This swarming advancement is habitually sexual, or involving the opposite gender to attract the consumers with the glamorous women/men's fancy car. There are various blames that advertising is causing a negative social impact on the lives. The chief unfavorable judgment for advertising is that it hales the public to buy things that they are not their real want. It is arrogated that advertising plays with emotions and encourages people to think that buying and depleting are the activities of life. According to advertisers, they state that people are capable enough to set their mind and no one can force them to buy anything which they dislike or which they think is not a necessity. Advertisers also think that there are positive impacts of advertising on our society and culture. For example, it can be used to generate awareness among the public that which product is OK or to which they should say NO. In other words, advertising also acts as an educator in the sense that it educates people what is good and what is bad for them and puts a ceiling on the harmful products like smoking and drinking etc. There are not only social benefits of advertising, but it also has some economic advantages. Without advertising, the media, including newspapers, television and radio would never be much strong. Advertising provides revenue for commercial mediums which would otherwise need to be funded by the actual consumer of these mediums. So, we can see a major economic infrastructure based around advertising, in which the big companies fund and subsidize the commercial media by the way of advertisements. The major economic negative aspect of advertising is that it boosts the price of goods and services. The source of this contention is that, when organizations subsidize the mass media with advertising, we, the purchaser, subsidize advertising by compensating a grossly increased price for heavily advertised goods and services. An easy example of this is that a box of Omo washing powder generally costs around two to three dollars while the market price of the product would

be seven to eight dollars. The fact behind this is that the remaining proportion goes in heavy advertising in television and print media. So, the impact of advertising on our society is in a jumble form, depending on the functions and implementations of numerous campaigns. Our society and the marketing of products depend very badly upon advertising. The companies have become much dependent of advertising that even its negative impacts can never outweigh the many positive social and economic effects.
In todays advertisements there is an overload of sex and violence. The models you see in most ads are way to thin and hae been surgically enhanced. The country has allowed drug companies to adverise during sports games and family channel prime times on the television. Erectile disfunction ads, feminine products, and sexual gels should not be allowed to advertise during hours that children, who are easily influenced, are watching with their families. Society has accepted this type of behavior and has shown an influence in the generation. Girls have become more permiscuous by the age of 12-14 and the boys have no respect for them. If this type of behavior continues marraige will be a thing of the past. As my mother once stated "Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?"

Effects Of Advertising On Society

The purpose of an ad is to influence you to purchase the product. If you select one brand of product over another brand of product, say a loaf of bread which you need, that's one thing. But, if you go out and purchase a product you don't need because an ad convinced you that you "had to have it", that's excessive consumption, which is wasteful. Also, ads sometimes position a product as a status symbol - the cool thing to have - and if someone can't afford that product and buys a lesser expensive version (say, sneakers) they might be ridiculed by their peers.
Every time we open a newspaper or we turn on the TV, we see sellers of almost identical products spending huge amounts of money in order to convince us to buy their brands. Every year, each typical American watches 1550 hours of TV, listens 1160 hours on radio, and spends 290 hours reading newspapers and magazines. So every day, each American watches 100 TV advertisements, 100 to 300 ads through other mass media, and in one single year receives 216 pieces of direct mail advertising, and almost 50 phone calls from telemarketers (Pratkanis and Aronson 2). All these, because sellers of everything, from computers to detergents, believe that advertising is essential to the product. Ed Ney, exchairman of the Young and Rubicam American agency, refers to the mid seventies when many firms still had as a debatable issue if they should advertise or not. Those days have passed. As Ney says, that has happened, because it has been proved that advertising is beneficial to the firms (Clark 16). The critics state that advertising is really beneficial to the consumers: They believe that advertising creates consumers that are better informed about the characteristics of the commodities, and that it does not alter the way in which the companies evaluate their products. Also, they believe that advertising creates price sensitivity for the consumers that buy the best products for their value. Finally, they think that with advertisement, entries for new brands are much easier because of the communication with the potential consumers that commercials offer (Haefner and Rotzoll 87). Advertising, collective term for public announcements designed to promote the sale of specific commodities or services. Advertising is a form of mass selling, employed when the use of direct, person-to-person selling is impractical, impossible, or simply inefficient. It is to be distinguished from other activities intended to persuade the public, such as propaganda, publicity, and public relations. Advertising techniques range in complexity from the

publishing of simple, straightforward notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers to the concerted use of newspapers, magazines, television, radio, direct mail, and other communications media in the course of a single advertising campaign. From its unsophisticated beginnings in ancient times, advertising has burgeoned into a worldwide industry. In the U.S. alone in the late 1980s, approximately $120 billion was spent in a single year on advertising to influence the purchase of commodities and services. Modern advertising is an integral segment of urban industrial civilization, mirroring contemporary life in its best and worst aspects. Having proven its force in the movement of economic goods and services, advertising since the early 1960s has been directed in increasing quantity toward matters of social concern. The continuing cancer and anti drug abuse campaigns are only two examples of the use of the advertising industry as a means to promote public welfare. Advertising falls into two main categories: consumer advertising, directed to the ultimate purchaser, and trade advertising, in which the appeal is made to dealers through trade journals and other media. Both consumer and trade advertising employ many specialized types of commercial persuasion. A relatively minor, but important, form of advertising is institutional advertising, which is designed solely to build prestige and public respect for particular business concerns as important American institutions. Each year millions of dollars are spent on institutional advertising, which usually mentions products or services for sale only incidentally. Another minor, but increasingly popular, form of advertising is cooperative advertising, in which the manufacturer shares the expense of local radio or newspaper advertising with the retailer who signs the advertisement. National advertisers occasionally share the same space in magazine advertising. For example, makers of pancake flour, of syrup, and of sausages sometimes jointly advertise this combination as an ideal cold-weather breakfast. Advertising may be local, national, or international in scope. The rates charged for the three different levels of advertising vary sharply, particularly in newspapers; varying rates are set also by newspapers for amusement, legal, political, financial, religious, and charitable advertisements. Advertising, collective term for public announcements designed to promote the sale of specific commodities or services. Advertising is a form of mass selling employed when the use of direct, person-to-person selling is impractical, impossible, or simply inefficient. It is to be distinguished from other activities intended to persuade the public, such as propaganda, publicity, and public relations. Advertising techniques range in complexity from the publishing of simple, straightforward notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers to the concerted use of newspapers, magazines, television, radio, direct mail, and other communications media in the course of a single advertising campaign. From its unsophisticated beginnings in ancient times, advertising has burgeoned into a worldwide industry. In the U.S. alone in the late 1980s, approximately $120 billion was spent in a single year on advertising to influence the purchase of commodities and services. It is suggested that advertising is not beneficial, but harmful to the consumers. First of all, it does not really inform the consumers, but persuades them. Persuasion is actually the step of advertising that induces purchase. This is managed by techniques that appeal to feelings, like love or hate (Rotzoll and Haefner 100). For example some advertisements say that the firms take care of the consumers by creating safest products. This venture is usually used in car advertisements. As Eric Clark puts it very well advertising exists to inform but even more so to persuade (Clark 15). Also, as opposed to the promotion through personal contact, advertising does not involve pressure to the audience. For that reason, the last does not fight the message. So, it is easier for the advertiser to hand over the message (Dommermuth 44). Moreover, as McConnell and Brue put it, material wants have a high reproduction rate. The rapid introduction of new products whets our appetites , and extensive advertising persuades us that we need items we might not otherwise buy (McConnell and Brue 22). Furthermore, advertisers do not tell all the truth. Because advertising is not journalism but salesmanship, is not obligated to tell the whole story (advantages and disadvantages of the products). For example, in car advertising, some advertisers often say that their cars are fast, safe, and luxurious, but they do not mention that these cars are the most expensive in their category. As a former director of promotion for the Time magazine, Nicholas Samstag puts it the half truth is the essence of advertising (Clark 15). That s why advertising has devaluated some words like real or natural which mean whatever each advertiser wants them to mean. For example, there are chocolate chips with all natural ingredients, all natural cosmetics and so forth (Clark 18). So we see the advertisement of Kinder chocolate saying that has only natural ingredients, without mentioning the preservatives that it contains. In addition, advertisers trying to paste up more

appealing images to the products, they give them an added vague value. Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon, often says that in the laboratory he makes cosmetics but in the store he sells dreams . Many products may be transformed into glamorous, full of colours and image products. A very good example is chocolate mints After Eight, which are mass produced and affordable for children to purchase with their own pocket money, and they have a luxury image (Clark 25). Moreover, advertising has been dominated in the media in such a way that has the ability to be all-invasive. Professor of Advertising, Kim Rotzoll, has a good explanation. Advertisers, he says, are not in a position to enforce, but they have the power to dominate by transmitting us their messages through our television programmes, through our magazines etc (Clark 15). Besides, according to Eric Clark advertising is far from impotent or harmless; it is a mere mirror image. Its power is real, and on the brink of a great increase. Not the power to brainwash overnight, but the power to create subtle and real change. The power to prevail (Clark 20). So still in the postindustrial society, advertisers produce consumers by controlling their ideas and beliefs (O Barr 203). That s why the Times say that advertising works without our knowing that it is working on us. Good advertising works with still greater stealth (Clark 13). Furthermore, advertising is harmful to the children, too. From the earliest years of children, advertisements shape the way of their lives, and what to consume. Many commercials showing boys playing with cars and girls playing with dolls create different tastes and preferences for each sex (O Barr 205). Children see about 20.000 thirty-second commercials each year, which stands for three hours per day (Clark 188). Thus, every day companies sneakily draw children with complicated baiting techniques. Such a technique is found in some advertisements that show cool children consuming the products that companies advertise. So advertisement offering a parade of toys, games, and foodstuffs, impede on Saturday morning cartoons. Usually we do not know the image making and role modeling that such commercials transmit to the children. After all, we should remember that children simply want some products without being concerned about the quality of these goods (Bosch 21). An academic, Donald Roberts, in order to prove the influence of advertising to children shows an experiment. In this, a list of boys Christmas present requests created from two researchers, J.R.Rossiter and T.S.Robertson, in both early November and late December. They estimated the amount of exposure to commercials and the way children responded to these commercials. They concluded that children with stronger defences chose fewer television promoted toys in November than did those with weaker defences. On the contrary, by late December, distinctions on defences made no difference. So a big advertising campaign was enough in order to change the tastes and preferences of even the most resistant children (Clark 201). Finally, advertising prevents new entrances in the market: That, permits to inefficient large manufacturers to govern the scene because newer (and probably more efficient) producers cannot afford the large advertising budgets required in order to get into the market. So advertising becomes an entrance obstacle that discourages ethical competition and gives an impulse to conditions in which a few manufacturers have an unhealthy oligopolistic control of prices and supplies of commodities. For that reason, advertising leads to a significant deviation from the perfect market (Leiss and Kline 16). Also, the supporters of the idea of advertisement believe that the last benefits the firms too. First of all, as a result of the better informed consumers, firms lower the prices and improve the quality of their products and second because there is better communication between the consumers and the firms (Haefner and Rotzoll 87). It is suggested that advertising benefits the advertisers in an unethical way. First of all, companies are forced to advertise in order to frustrate the invasion of brand enemies without extensive changes in quality or price of the products. Thus, advertising is an added cost to the consumers, without benefit to the last or the competitiveness of the market (Leiss and Kline 16). If there is any real and useful information in the commercials, it could be better provided on the labels of the products or by the salesmen in the stores (Leiss and Kline 15). Moreover advertising creates brand loyal consumers that do not pay much attention on the price of the products. Also, it affects the tastes and preferences of the consumers. All of the above give the ability to the firms to charge higher prices and to be uninterested in the quality of their products (Rotzoll and Haefner 87). In addition, the reasoning process taught by the commercials deserves attention, because of a faulty logic that fosters conclusion without all the information that could probably be associated with. Although this problem is not very important in deciding which breakfast cereal to buy, it is very dangerous and sneaky in presidential elections, where the consequences are more conspicuous (O Barr 205). That is because each candidate has created propaganda that might distort the beliefs of the

voters. That is why advertising is appealing to the government. Making an advertising campaign against heroin use as the best way of spending money is debatable, but it enables the administration to be seen caring (Clark 31). So, to sum up that advertisement exists only in order to return profits to the advertisers by many tricky ways. Some of these are the use of persuasion at the consumers, the faulty logic messages, and the influence on children. All these acts, definitely, are not for the benefit of the consumers.

The Impact of Advertising

The advertising business has become such an important factor in the economy in many countries, especially in the United States, that it also changes the economy itself, society, culture, and the political system. The stimulation for the demand of products and services helps the economy grow stronger and stronger. New inventions become known much faster and can establish their spot in the sales figures of the economy. If there are more people buying these products the overall costs will drop and the product will become cheaper for the customer which raises his willingness to buy even more. On the other hand advertisements are very expensive and some economists believe that these costs are put on top of the actual price paid by the customer. Critics argue that advertising can also have a huge influence on It tells the consumers that only purchasing products makes you happy and therefore people compare each other on their belongings. Women also compare themselves with the beautiful and very skinny models they see on commercials and ads. This sometimes results in eating disorders and a low self-esteem of women who dont look like these models. Another bad effect is, that minority groups, especially in the United States are portrait in a subordinate position, which settles in the minds of people. Commercials are also an important part of the income of a TV station which leads to the suspicion that a news channel might not report on an incident about a company they depend on. A lot of TV shows are also based on these commercials, and if the ratings arent good enough the show will be stopped. Only those shows which attract a lot of viewers will be shown, which is not very differentiated and put minorities like older people at a disadvantage. Advertising can also have an impact in politics. $ 467 million were spent on advertisements and TV commercials in the elections of 1998. It gives the opponents the chance to respond to charges very quickly reaching a few million viewers. But since this is very expensive only very rich people have to chance to run for a political position or at least depend on the donation of wealthier people who could have a huge impact on democracy this way. The political issues talked about in an election are also very much simplified because the spots are only about 30 seconds long, and you cant really discuss a lot in such a short period of time. There is finally the impact advertising can have on the culture of a country. The globalized economy uses the same commercials in a lot of different countries, which leads to a break down in the differences of these societies. Children will grow up not knowing how their culture has been before in their country. It can also lead to a lot of discussion about moral values if we just think about the very controversial ads of Benetton we have discussed.

society.

What Is The Impact Of TV Advertisements On Society?

Advertisement's all have different strategies of catching the viewer's attention and getting them interested in the car being advertised. This Honda commercial has a very effective way of getting the viewers attention because of its uniqueness and difference to regular car commercials. When people see this commercial, they stay and watch closely unlike the toilet break or snack made when any other boring, ineffective car commercial is on. People force themselves to watch an advertisement that is different, smart and eye-catching. However, what they do when they see the same old type of boring advertisement is they totally ignore it and make time for themselves. This would be a waste of time, availability and money for the car company producing that commercial because it will not motivate anyone to buy the car when they are not even watching the information provided such as the model, the contact information and the price offers. This causes loss of money for many companies. Strategies such as this commercial's will motivate and could kind of 'bribe' the viewer into becoming interested and contacting the company or considering one of the offers available. Another, very effective way is bribing children watching, so that they will nag their parents into buying the car until the parents finally take a look and get interested. The children will be bribed because of the great use of technology and its uniqueness or in other words it's 'coolness' as children like to say. Finally, this advertisement is effective because it sponsors their company, so that when people see that commercial they straight away know it is the 'Honda' Commercial and whenever they see a Honda, they think of the commercial because they would have remembered it from their interest in it. This commercial leads to many other even better upcoming commercials using innovative and emerging technologies.

Economic Impacts of Advertising

Advertising is a communication process whose purpose is to inform the potential customers about products and services and how to use them. If the advertising is positive and effective, it plays a significance role in the economy. But if it is the other way round then the economy suffers at large. It depends no the type and effectiveness of the advertisement.

Advertisement is necessary for economic growth. It is contributing immensely in the economy of every country. Advertising industry is contributing if the following ways - providing jobs - making low selling costs - making the company profit increase - increasing the security of a company

Advertising is a powerful tool of competition. It provides valuable information about products and services in an efficient and cost-effective manner. In this way, advertising helps the economy to function smoothly - it keeps prices low and facilitates the entry of new products and new firms into the market.

Legal Impact of Advertising

y Legal aspects of advertising
y

The government in each country has to make sure that advertisements appearing do not flaunt of their rules & regulations. It should not:show anti-national feelings contain misleading information about the product Violate government rules

y y y y

y Legal aspects of advertising

y y y y

Some examples of the Advertisements with legal aspects:Get your car checked for pollution Drinks & driving do not mix Weight, price, manufacturing date, date of expiry should be mentioned on the packing case

y Ethical aspects of advertising

y y

Ethics are the moral standards against which behavior is judged Key areas of debate regarding ethics and advertising are:
o o o

Truth in advertising Advertising to children Advertising controversial products

y Ethical aspects of advertising

y

Truth in Advertising

o o o

Deception is making false or misleading statements. Puffery ( commercial exaggeration ) is legal. Cannot legislate against emotional appeals

y Ethical aspects of advertising

y

Advertising to ChildrenIssues
o o o o

Advertising promotes superficiality and materialism in children. Children are inexperienced and easy prey. Persuasion to children creates child-parent conflicts. What does the literature say about kids abilities to process persuasive information?

y Ethical aspects of advertising

y

Advertising Controversial Products

o

Critics question the targeting of minorities.



Tobacco, alcohol, gambling and lotteries are product categories of greatest concern.

o o

How does the concept of primary demand provide insights here? What does the literature say about advertisings impact on these product categories?

Benefits Of Advertising
Advertising is the most important tool in the marketing of products and services. Companies all over the world universally accepted this fact. The expenses on advertising are considered to be a profitable investment that reaps profits both in the long and short run. Businesses that keep on advertising regardless of rise or fall in the economic times get a competitive advantage over those that cut their ad budgets. There are many benefits of advertising which include:

1.Information to the customer. Advertisement about new products keeps the customer informed about the new developments in the industry. They help to provide them information regarding the newly launched products. 2.Takes care of customers. Advertising takes care of customers. It helps in holding on to the loyal customer, decreasing the number of lost customers and enlisting new customers. Thus the overall effect of advertising is increase in the number of customers that will gradually become loyal to the product. 3.Improves the sale of product. Advertising facilitates a noticeable increase in the sale of the product. It thus helps reduces per unit cost of the product and help the businesses to earn profits. 4.Alters the attitudes of people. An effectual advertisement results in a swift change in the attitudes and habits of the people. 5.Direct communication. In earlier days customers believed on the opinions of retailers, when making the purchases of products. With the rapid spread of media and advertising to every nook and corner of the world, people have become aware of the various products that are available in the same category and the freebees and benefits of purchasing them. So the companies or manufacturers are able to communicate their message directly to the customers. 6.Increase employment. Advertising is a complicated task and a lo\t of people are involved in the making of an advertisement. Research team, design team and many other people are required to make and deliver it. So, advertisements generate employment for a lot of people. 7.Economic progress. Advertising increases sales, employment and profits. The overall effect of all this is economic progress for the nation, or more broadly for the world as a whole. 8.Religious and moral benefits. Social and religious institutions use advertising for communicating their messages like messages of patriotism, faith, compassion tolerance, and charity toward needy, messages related to health and education. These educate people and guide better behavior. Advertising through every medium offers some or the other benefits. But nowadays the most popular medium of advertisement is through television. Although the cost of advertising is quite high but the benefits in the long run balance the high cost associate to it. So, companies should concentrate on advertising as an important medium to