1. What are the different ways that things are advertised?
Advertising is becoming more and more common, and sometimes it can feel like there’s no way to escape adverts. Most people think of adverts on television, but they get everywhere: on posters on the subway, on the sides of buses, on leaflets handed out in the street and many more places also. Often, these adverts try to show their product in a favorable light by making it appear attractive. This is usually achieved by using positive images such as bright colors or smiling, attractive people using the product. In this way, we associate the product being advertised with positive things in our mind and are more likely to buy it. At least, that’s the theory.
2. What is the most common form of advertising?
Most adverts are found on television and radio and in newspapers and magazines. It’s very difficult to watch a TV program or read a newspaper without being confronted with an advert of some sort. We get so used to this that many of don’t notice it anymore and tend to ignore most adverts. However, if an advert is common enough it may begin to stand out and it sticks in our heads. In Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games there were adverts everywhere, including on the TVs inside buses and subway trains. You couldn’t escape from it!
3. How effective do you think it is?
Some adverts are effective and others aren’t. Often we can find an advert annoying, especially if it has a song we don’t like. This can make us dislike the advert itself, but is actually a way of making us remember the advert because it annoyed us so much, and so we remember the product being advertised also. There is a lot of psychology in advertising, and some people think it is almost a science. The most effective adverts build what is called a ‘brand’: a recognizable name that people trust. The idea is to make people buy products with that ‘brand name’ and not buy any that come from another company.
4. What influence does advertising have on consumers?
It’s fair to say that most people are affected by advertising. We can’t really help it. At the very least we’re made aware of a product’s existence, even if we’re not persuaded to buy it. At other times advertising works so well that everyone wants to buy that company’s products. This can be a problem with children who see an advert and ask their parents to buy them the advertised product, even if their parents cannot afford it. Some people think it’s unfair to advertise to young children because there are not yet experienced enough to make their own decisions and are easily manipulated.
