Do advertisements inform choices? Advertising industry has brought about a revolutionary change in the way we perceive reality.

their influence is so profound that we tend to believe only in what advertisements present as true. Even though we may have other alternatives, the mighty commercial, persuades us that its choice should be ours too. In his work Simulara and Simulation, French philosopher Baudrillard argues that advertising has created a world in which simulations of reality seem more real than life itself. We tend to ponder upon those unrealistic images we are offered and think that our own lives might become similar to those on the commercials if we use the products they present to us. People acting in an ice-cream commercial are chirpy and we may be too if we eat that particular ice-cream. This is a result of believing solely in what we see and what we consider to be the only way. Advertisements present their products as exaggeratingly positive in quality thus they appear more appealing to their potential consumers. These advertisements convey subliminal messages that oblige us to use their products. Not only do they pull the wool over our eyes but they subconsciously obstruct our views to even think of other products. They seem so tantalisingly appealing that they force us to take their stand and disregard all the others. Powerful business companies invest enormous amounts of money in advertising, therefore they will not allow competition get in their way. They hire celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears who took part in Pepsi commercial, thinking that these may influence the consumers. The buyers who prefer Justin and Britney will certainly drink Pepsi and that is what these industries aim at when making a commercial. They destroy the competition and rule the market by visually presenting themselves as the best. We live in an era when our lives are determined only by what we see and we let that take control over our lives leaving no place for other possible alternatives which may be far better.

How does advertising turn luxuries into necessities? From the moment people are born, they develop a need to love and be loved in return. However, seldom do their attempts to establish a firm relationship give fruit and a love life replete with pain and frustrations becomes no surprise. What advertisers do is appeal to the basic human necessity to have a romantic relationship without getting hurt inasmuch as they advise us to use luxury items to lure the object of our love or it that fails, establish a relationship directly with luxuries they promote. One of the tricks advertisers utilise is an ad with a love story, where it is imperative to have a luxurious item on one, or else ones dreams fall through. Since the advertisement has presented people with such a false dilemma, they came to realise that it is necessary to purchase a luxurious item in order to be loved. Aware of the fact as they are, the well-established companies that sell luxurious sunglasses or watches will utilise this model for their advertisements in order to entice people into spending exorbitant amounts of money for their products. Other advertisers have counted on the fact that some people have suffered greatly because of love and that they might already feel discouraged from taking any steps. That is why they support them in rejecting the notion of true love between people and yet encourage them to love a luxurious item that is incapable of hurting them. That is why the car companym BMW, designed an advertisement in which two people are making love but the womans face is caresed with a picture of an automobile. The slogan reads: your only passion. This advertisement trivialises human relationships and demonstrates how our basic necessity can be satisfied and that is by acquiring a luxury. Although one might think that advertisements do not affect them, they still pass their subliminal message to our subconsciousness and manage to persuade us into buying things we do not need. Ascribing non-existant qualities to luxury products help advertisers plug and finally sell their products as necessities.

Advertising: information or manipulation?

Nowadays, the consumerism has reached its peak. We are experiencing its climax, we live by its rules. Moreoever, we all play our roles in the play called The consumer society, which makes us equally responsible, but the protagonist at the play is definitely advertising. Somebody would refer to the whole advertising industry as a nothing but a rat race; hiring worlds top models, investing in expensive roll-walls, making it all look perfect, etc. But whats the actual product of advertising? What we actually buy? The product or its advertisement? Experts say that advertising as an extremely powerful and influential industry impose pseudo-needs and its key to success is an appeal to our weak system of satisfying. We tend to satisfy our needs by all means, so the main goal of an ad is to exceed a pseudoneed that needs to be satisfied, i.e. to manipulate. Whats more, we are unaware of the fact that advertising has entered every sphere of our lives. Whether you are going to a job interview or youre meeting your date, the only important thing is how to promote yourself. This state of the fact leads to the existance of two realities or two parallel worlds. One is an add and the other is we are living in. Are we able to differ these two? Which one is the actual reality? This confusion is either purposeful or accidental, but whats sure is that behind the scene of the advertising industry hides manipulation and very often deception. That whole world of adds dictates our way of clothing, impose new technologies, very often totally meaningless, create our way of thinking, thus completely destroying the system of values, because only that matters is a latest new product. The latest new product of advertising is the consumer society as such as are experiencing today. What would be a next one, we will see!

How can spending time in nature change a persons view of the world?

In this alienated world of machines bristled with covetous people whose only principle is avarice, nature seems to be entirely forgotten. Yet in this urban world there is a vestige of hope. Some people who dared leave the city and taste the world of pristine nature have shown us that living with nature is true happiness. Both history and present experience concede this. There is a reason why monasteries are built in the secluded parts of the country. It is only in nature and with nature that we can achieve serenity and experience its beauty. Even though people believed in medieval times that city air made man free, many scholars, mostly from the clergy, rebutted this, referring to the cities as the heathen parts of the country. Now, if we dwell on this just a little we can see that the cities are exactly that, a fertile ground for vice and violence. Back then people were inhabiting the cities in increments, steadily, but it is Renaissance that trigger its migrations to the cities, asserting that religion, the church, is imbued with superstition and that natures only purpose is to serve the mankind. This contention changed us into what we are today. However, there were voices that advocated something completely different. Romantics consummate skill made people realise that we are all part of nature. The prolific writers of this era, through both their work and their personal example, showed to the masses that nature is where we belong. Romantics left the cities and went to the remote lands where they sought inspiration for their work, and where they lived their dream. Today, no one is trying to galvanize the masses. People are beginning to realise that living in the country rather than the cities contributes to their physical and mental health. This is most obvious in the US but we are not exempt from this either. Entire families decide to leave the cities and their usual land of choice is Alaska. Documentaries are now filmed to show how even in this hostile environment people can find happiness and inner peace. Even in our country people who have moved to the countryside witness about the impact nature has on them. Spouses rarely fight, there is no tension in the air, physical labour made them healthier and so on. Nature has its ways to seduce us. We may decide to question them, but their influence is irrevocable. Whoever tasted life on the mountain, for example, can never forget it. And they keep returning to it year after year. We can say that nature is a conjurer that is capable of changing us forever.