In this modern world, we have figured out many ways to do advertising. When in the past maybe
radio was the main source to advertise products or services to the public and sometimes television
but now we have many sources. Do these sources make advertising effective or more effective? In
this essay this is what we will discuss.
The question being asked here is; ‘Is advertising ineffective without visual images?’. As mentioned
before, radio was one of the main advertising source in the past and is still used to this day. So, on
radio people could hear the words spoken. There were no visual images presented in front of them.
So when the people would hear an advertisement, they had to paint the picture in their head. So the
picture painted was going to differ from person to person. Assuming that the advertisement was
well said and had powerful words that created an emotional connection with the people, how the
people would react and their actions after hearing the advertisement would not be the same.
Let me explain my point. Imagine hearing an advertisement in the 1800’s on a radio. The
advertisement is about a food. Do you think a lot of people would go and try the food? Maybe out of
curiosity. But when you see the picture of the food you instantly know if you would buy it or not.
Even if in the radio the person describes the food the picture created in the heads of the people will
differ from that of the original food. Images can capture someone attention better than words. So
personally I believe that advertising is ineffective without visual images.
Not having a visual image and only hearing words can drag our imagination very far away and even
further away from the main goal of the advertisement. Today we have many sources of
advertisement like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and many more. These platforms allow you to post
pictures and videos. Using visual images is a powerful tool when it comes to advertisement. When
you do an advertisement for a food and put the picture of that product, people see it and know what
to exactly expect. And by using colours we can make the advert even more appealing than we could
have with words.
According a research done, the people have come to a conclusion that it takes someone less than 8
seconds to decide whether they want to read your post or not. The main factor was the image. If the
people’s attention was caught by an image they would stay and read the words written. First
impression matters. Even if there are just words written on billboard for example, then the colour of
the word, the background colour, the font used and etc. all this matters. And if it is not appealing to
the eyes then the people do not bother about reading what’s written.
Everywhere we go now, we are surrounded by visual images. On social medias, on billboards,
television, on streets everywhere. In Japan when you go out in the night people are so bombarded
with visual advertisements. There are screens everywhere in every corner. People do not know
where to look and what to look at because there are multiple adverts that are changing every few
seconds. Using visual image helps all the people to focus on the main message that the advertisers
are trying to project. The advertisers prevent the people to use their imagination but make the
people think in a way that they wanted them to think. This ensure high possibility of successful
advertisement.
Advertising can be done in different ways, not only through words but through images. Both have
their pros and cons. Both can be effective if used well. But when both are used together it becomes
a very powerful tool in the advertising industry.