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How advertising affects our society
Impact of Advertisements on Peoples Decisions
Influence of advertisements on society
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Introduction
Have you ever been surfing the web and seen an article about how some group is attacking a product due to some controversy? Have you then proceeded to read about said product and eventually seeking it out to see if it’s as bad as what the mentioned group(s) said? Well, this is how sales are made. I believe that controversy can help sell products by creating curiosity, giving something for people to criticize, and giving something for people to talk about. Are there products that are not socially acceptable to advertise. Is it true that too much controversy can prevent a product from selling?
Controversy and You
Going back to the example above. Say the product is a game that is being criticized for having ultra-violent themes and excessive gore and blood. That doesn’t sound too interesting does it? Well, let’s say that the game is said to have a lot of violence and too much blood, and a good underlining theme. You’re probably more likely to go look at the one with the good plot, rather than the pointless ultra-violent one. A study, done by Wharton (2013), has found that too much controversy can completely turn people off of a product. While another research by Waller (2005) shows that just the right amount of controversy can leave people with a good feeling about a product, but too much will leave them with disgust and distaste. That’ll make them not want to make purchases from that company thus decreasing sales, so advertisers have to be careful with how much controversy they expose. As Jonah Berger put it, “The middle end of that [controversy] scale is the sweet spot” (Wharton 2013).
What is Controversial?
Have you ever been watching TV with the family and a Trojan commercial pops up and eve...
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... in a way that makes them feel comfortable about discussing their company with others which will open the door to more customers and sales.
Works Cited
Finding Your Company’s ‘Controversy Sweet Spot’. Knowledge@Wharton (2013, December 05). Retrieved from https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/finding-companys-controversy-sweet-spot/
"Does controversy sell? Ad research suggests not!." Quirks Marketing Research Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. .
Waller, David S. (2005). A Proposed Response Model for Controversial Advertising.
Retrieved from: https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/5787/2005002296.pdf?sequence=1.
Waller, David. "Attitudes Towards Offensive Advertising: an Australian study." Journal of Consumer Marketing 16.3 (1999): 288-294. Redirecting. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
Jean Kilbourne is passionate about an array of topics when it comes to advertising, but her message is clear: we cannot escape advertisements and they are influencing our minds. Socialization and the Power of Advertising illustrates this using children and consumerism. Killing Us Softly 4’s main example is women. Either way, advertisements are negatively impacting us and, as Kilbourne points out, it’s getting worse. Whatever the solution is, we have to put an end to the experience of being immersed in an advertising
However, it becomes controversial when people start to advertise of how well these products are without them knowing or with them lying. Chang discusses “I don’t say yes to every company because I don’t want to recommend a product to my viewers if I don’t believe in it. She said. I don’t want to lie to my subscribers, so I’m really honest about my reviews and stuff.” (Page 2). There are some people who do try to sell products they truly believe are good, however, everyone has different taste so not everyone will believe something is good. There are many more haulers now who are constantly lying about products that they don’t even know, use, or even enjoy but try to sell them in order for money, exchanges, gifts, and rewards in return from these companies. Eventually people will find out that they are being told to just advertise and sell it to people that eventually people on the other side will stop believing the haulers and the consumerism world. In Kunzru’s story he expresses how people just seem out of it, always trying to sell things that are unnecessary. He says “I found myself wondering if Sasha was telling me that the sushi at Bar Fugu was to die for because he meant it or because it was a snappy slogan.” (Page 10). People often recommend places where to eat, shop, or even just to see a movie.
Jhally, S., In Kilbourne, J., Rabinovitz, D., & Media Education Foundation. (2010). Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women.
Every company that has a product to sell wants to have their advertisements grab the attention of the potential buyer. Companies today are competing at high levels to come up with the advertisements that will be flashy and aggressive so consumers will become interested in their product. However, a commercial or an ad might not get the initial point across or cause many viewers to be confused when they see them. Sometimes, what the company is trying to do might offend people. Ethical lines may be walked upon so that the strong points can be presented to the consumer.
Often, rhetoric is simply vehicles to individual gains. Advertiser use rhetoric to persuade consumers into buying their products. While some offer truth about their product, most of the time, they often fall in the thin line between truth and deception. For instance, Bayer Aspirin, as it was presented in this lecture, claims that “nine out of ten hospitals use Bayer aspirin.” This type of advertising brings Bayer into that unethical thin line to sell their product to the appealing consumers. Bayer wants to influence consumers to think that their aspirin is better brand because nine out ten hospital use their
As a race, humans are easily persuaded and quick to judge others who do not follow their beliefs. This leads to people not spending time evaluating whether something has both right and wrong facets. Many highly debated issues, such as abortion, drinking-age and religion, are controversial because there are ethical arguments for each side. These ethical dilemmas are not confined to personal situations, but spread to politics, governments, and businesses as well. A highly controversial debate in business ethics is the production and distribution of tobacco products. Many people will debate that the selling and promotion of tobacco products is unethical due to the threat these products pose to consumers’ health. While this health risk is of high concern, the emotional ties that people have to this argument constrict their ability to look at both sides of the case.
Companies have rhetoric in their advertisements. The goal is to persuade a watcher or listener into believing that their brand of a certain product is the best. This in turn will make people want to buy the product. When it comes to advertising for a product, the majority of people see it as a concept that is both simple and harmless. As Chidester points out, through the eyes of popular culture as religion, the product associated with the advertisement is considered to be a fetishized object.
Rinallo, D., Basuroy, S., Wu, R., & Jeon, H. J. (2013). The media and their advertisers: Exploring ethical dilemmas in product coverage decisions. Journal of Business Ethics, 114(3), 425-441. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1353-z
This is where the government should come in. The government should regulate what's good or not. Drug commercials are great examples. The government makes sure people know what's wrong with the product and shares that information through the ad.
Today, we are bombarded by messages; not just text messages, or electronic messages, but marketing messages. With modern technological advances, advertisers are competing for the consumer’s attention. When we are crowded by these images, we no longer recognize them and fall into their carefully designed traps. This behavior leads to more extreme tactics deployed by the mass media to catch the attention of its demographic. Eventually, the companies are producing and promoting propaganda. This trend is pointed out in the non-fiction book, Age of Propaganda: The Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson. The two authors explain how the media and advertisers use a calculated formula to convince viewers and consumers to buy their product. The way advertisers do this so effectively is through using the “four stratagems of influence,” as coined by Pratkanis and Aronson. These stratagems are as follows: pre-persuasion, source credibility, message and emotions. Each section is a complicated and yet applicable device to influence and dupe consumers.
It can consist of a product being endorsed by peers or even celebrities. In short, this means if such people like a particular product, then it must be a good product. It can carry weight and persuade a particular audience this it is a product or service is of high quality.
Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 18 (1999): 270. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. DePaul Library. 7 Mar. 2008.
4) Kilbourne, Jean. Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women. Dir. Sut Jhally. DVD. Media Education Foundation, 2000.
Kilbourne, Jean. “‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence” Free Press. (2000): Web. 27 Feb. 2014
(2010). McClintock, Ann. A. & Co. “Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising.” Eds. Chait, Jay. A.