1. In China nowadays, what things are being advertised quite a lot?
In China nowadays weight loss products are being advertised a lot, and you can always see these advertisements everywhere you go. In fact, losing weight has become more and more popular in China, and young people (especially young girls) are getting hooked on it. Actually the sad truth is some girls are not even fat, but since weight loss advertisements are playing on television and radios all day long, they start to doubt themselves and think they are not thin enough. Another thing is that clothes sizes are becoming smaller and smaller, so just to fit themselves in those skinny clothes they start to try different weight loss pills, or teas, and some of them are definitely not healthy.
2. What do you think is the function of advertising?
I would say that the function of advertising is to encourage people to but or use a product or service. This should be done by making the public aware of the product’s benefits and good-points, like it’s rock-bottom price or ease of use. Unfortunately, some advertisements use more underhand methods to sell their product like offering false information or telling you that if you don’t buy the product then you will be miserable. This is dishonest and manipulative, in fact it’s completely below the belt.
3. There are several different ways to advertise. Which do you think is the most effective form of advertising?
There are many different ways to advertise products. Some of them use famous movie stars and famous singers, so people get it into their heads that if they use this product they can be a famous and successful person. It sells a positive image by associating the product with a celebrity. It is quite effective and cuts right to the chase. However, it’s rather unsubtle. People nowadays realize that no matter how hard you try, you can never be as good as the star who is shown on TV. So in my opinion, the best way to advertise is to have a genuinely good and useful product that actually works on people. Some make-up companies let their customers use their products for free for a few days, and when they feel that it’s really helpful and effective then they will buy it regularly. Sometimes they even like to share this with their friends, so in this way they become more and more popular. Therefore the companies are saving advertising money and make more goods.
4. What do you think are the good and the bad points about advertisements?
Advertising is a good way for the people to know about a product in a short time. It helps the people get to know the function of a product and its main features quickly. Some of them even allow you to access the product straight away by giving you a phone number for home delivery. The other side of the coin is that since you only see the products on TV you don’t really get the idea of the reality. For example, some products might look bigger on TV than in the real life, so you feel you get cheated. The company selling the product also has an obvious desire to say good things about their product, not all of which may be well-deserved.
5. Do you think some advertising can have negative effects on children?
In my opinion, I think it’s true that some advertising can have negative effects on children, Weight-loss products give the children the idea being skinny is beautiful, so then they don’t care about their health. This can affect their judgment of beauty: they might think all the beautiful and skinny ladies are good, and the fat ones are bad. They may get unhealthy ideas about the nature of how to live their lives. Junk food advertising is also an area of concern. Advertising food at is unhealthy is okay for adults because they are responsible enough to make up their own minds, but children don’t have the life-experience to resist its temptation.
