Courtney Johnson
February 25, 2008
Mr. Clint Scott
Chapter 4 Paper
Is Advertising Right or Wrong?
After reading chapter four, advertising has its ways on certain consumers of today. What
are the four most common products you, as a consumer, almost every day? Tobacco, gambling
or the lottery, firearms and alcoholic beverages are the most common products that you see on
the television, hear on the radio and browse across on the Internet. Advertising has been
blamed for making these particular products seem more dangerous and addictive than they
really are. Most consumers may view advertising for these products more appealing than
originally intended. One of those consumers may be part of the younger generation and this is
why advertising these products are considered complex issues. Does advertising really cause
people to drink or smoke or even buy a gun and shoot somebody with it!? NO!!! Advertising is
not that powerful. If advertising were that powerful, every product that is made and brought
out to the public’s eye to be advertised would not fail. Research shows that eight out of every
ten new products fail when it is advertised for the first time. While an advertisement ad is going
on, not one time does the advertisement tell you that drinking and smoking is a good thing for
you. You choose to buy the product and you are responsible for your actions. For an example,
McDonald’s, is a worldwide known restaurant that mostly everyone you know enjoys to eat
from occasionally. Let’s say that you keep going out to eat at McDonald’s on a regular basis.
You weighed 130 pounds when you started eating out every day and now you weigh 230
pounds at the end of the month. You try to sue McDonald’s because you have gained extra
weight and you have become considered as being obese. Advertising did not make you pick up
that burger and eat it… you did. Common sense and personal responsibility is what you have to
deal with instead of accusing the advertisement campaigns. Large amounts of money spent on
advertising may destroy competition too. A technique used to share expenses of advertising is
called vertical cooperative advertising. If a regional or local market wants a brand to benefit
from special promotions run by local dealer like your local Wal-Mart or Home Depot, everyone
is getting a wholesale gain. Back to advertising to children, advertising campaigns should and
need to know that they should be careful and sensitive to the level of knowledge a child has on
being a decision maker. If you come off on a child with persuasive modes and interesting facts
that THEY want to know about you, as an advertiser, you can alter his or her behavior and
motivation. Advertisements to children need to be on the topics of friendship, kindness,
honesty and generosity. Not all kids get advertisement through the television, the Internet is a
source also. This is not a good choice for younger children because everything that is on the
Internet is not always true. It is a lot of slander, libel and simple defamation on the Internet.
That’s why the question cannot truly be answered on; do you think advertising is right or
wrong. It is a lot of opinions on that questions that all we have to do is listen to and understand
his or her point of view.