Advertising does more harm than good - discuss

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To advertise is to ‘make generally or public known, to praise publicity in order to encourage to buy or use something, to ask or offer by public notice.’ Advertising persuades, informs, competes and, indeed, entertains.

        The word ‘advertise’ comes from the French word ‘avertir’ which means ‘to warn’. Many years ago, chemists, barbers, prostitutes, etc would have relied on advertising to promote their business. Chemists (or apothecary) would have advertised their business with their logo- a remedy bottle with a serpent snake wrapped around it. Whereas barbers where instantly recognised by a red and white striped pole outside their shop. Prostitutes would have advertised their speciality of sex in a picture above their bed, in the brothels.

        In the past twenty years, there has been an increase of two thousand per cent in the amount of adverts shown on television each day (from two hundred a day to four thousand, five hundred). In the 1980s, people were happy to see an advert make the product look good but, nowadays, people prefer honesty. People now want to see a just society, ‘Asian families and people in wheelchairs in ads- not pretty people!’ ‘Pester Power’ 1995. Death and sexuality were ‘never to be seen in adverts’ but in recent years, companies such as DOE have begun creating shocking ads to show the real ending- not a happy one.

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        A wide range of techniques are used in the art of advertising. Colour immediately attracts attention. Although red, popular as it is and yellow, bright and eye catching are the two most commonly used colours in advertising, the simplicity of black or white can just as easily gain the viewer’s attention. Celebrity endorsement has a huge influence on advertising. In ‘Pester Power’, children were immediately able to answer the question ‘ What are Gary Linekar’s favourite crisps?’ with the correct answer ‘Walkers’ as he is used in the advert to advertise this product. This, no doubt, shows the popularity of ...

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