What really are advertisements? - Part I

A famous British writer, George Orwell once said 'Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket'. Advertising in its most traditional sense is a way of promoting a product, to make it known to people and to persuade them to buy it. It can also be used to promote a company’s image or spread a social message like aids-prevention etc.

The most important motive of an advertisement is to get the consumers' attention to promote the products’ sales. They are meant to inform and influence the consumers into buying the advertised goods or services. While these inform the consumers about the new product launched in the market, these also uphold a company’s ideology.

Some of the good things about advertisements are that these help the companies sell more products thus helping the company to produce better products at lower prices. Consumers are also benefited as they can compare products and prices and pick out the most appropriate one. As the companies spend a lot of money and other resources on advertisements, they often live up to the promises they make

There are also some negative aspects of advertisements. It often lures people to buy those things that he/she cannot afford. The lifestyles promoted by certain ads, like harmful cosmetics, junk food, artificially flavored drinks etc are known to make people specially children unhealthy. Besides these, advertisements make people feel like losers if they do not posses the particular thing. Most of the teenage girls would like to look as beautiful as a model or a film actress by using not so costly cosmetics and a boy if given a chance would not mind riding a bike endorsed by one of the most popular Hollywood actor. Ads can also be said to convey provide information that we do not really need in our daily lives. What these sell are images and symbols.