Advertising

Businesses need to advertise. If they didn’t advertise no one would even learn of the existence of their wares. In part, advertising is aimed at conveying information to potential customers and clients, but it is also used to persuade public to buy. This is the area in which advertising is often criticized. Advertisements are sometimes misleading. Although it is illegal for advertisers to make untrue statements about their goods, services or prices, they still make their wares seen unduly attractive. They pander to our egos and our vanities. They create a demand which would not otherwise exist.

It is easy to say, “I’m not influenced by the adverts!” Everyone is influenced to a certain extent. There was recently some research on subliminal advertising. The word “coffee” was flashed on to the television screen. It happened so quickly that no one was aware it had happened. For just a fraction of a second it registered on the viewers’ subconscious. The result? A surprising number of people chose to make coffee at that precise moment. Of course, it could have been a coincidence but it was highly unlikely.

Yet, for the typical manufacturer advertising is a form of insurance. The nature and extent of consumer’s needs have to be constantly assessed. If the needs are overestimated it is possible, through advertising, to soak up the surplus goods which have been produced. As a demand for a product sags, it can be stimulated. There are all sorts of useful by-products. Without the possibility of advertising, workforces would have to be laid off when sales fell. The warehouses would become overfilled and stocks would deteriorate, perhaps even becoming obsolete.

Advertising goes far beyond television and hoardings, newspapers and magazines. The manager of a clothes store is advertising by putting models wearing the store’s clothes in the window. A bicycle manufacturer is advertising when he sends a new price-list through the post to his retailers. How could trading be carried on without such devices?

Some would even go so far as to say that advertising actually enriches our lives. Commercial television is able to provide us with free programmes thanks to its advertising revenues. National newspapers drive much of their revenue from advertising. Look at a typical newspaper and you will discover the proportion of the pages devoted to advertisements. We also have advertisers to thank for the free colour supplements accompanying the Sunday newspapers.

IV. Answer the following questions to the text.

1. What is meant by informative advertising?

2. Why is persuasive advertising criticized?

3. What is subliminal advertising?

4. What should be done to counter a fall in sales?

5. How do national newspapers benefit from advertising?

6. How can window-dressing be seen as a form of advertising?

7. How does advertising help the workforce?

V. Say whether the following statements are true or false. If a statement is false, change it to make it true.

1. It is legal to make untrue statements about goods.

2. Adverts influence all people.

3. Advertising creates an extra demand.