Pros and Cons to Advertisements

Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we do not need, while others believe that advertisements inform us of new products which may improve our lives. I agree with the former. There are a few reasons supporting my opinion.

Firstly, we unconsciously choose to purchase products that we know better. That behavior of ours is one of our human natures. We habitually look for familiar brands when we want to buy some food or drink. Also, by applying knowledge of consumer behaviors, the advertising experts have ingrained the impressions of the products into the consumers’ minds. McDonald’s, for example, is using that technique to tempt us to choose its burgers when we crave fast food.

Secondly, we tend to trust the quality of the advertised products more than the others that are not. Humankind is a visionary-dependent animal. We perceive the world through the eyes, and almost like a habit, we believe in what we see, especially in things that show up before us many times. For example, consumers who already have smartphones prefer buying a newly released smartphone to the one from a less-advertised brand, even though the two new smartphones’ quality may be more or less the same. Indeed, the advertising companies are attacking us with numerous visionary stimuli turning us into the shopping-frenzy mode.

Lastly, companies use ads to create trends that non-violently force consumers to spend their money. The tendencies, which are social phenomena being triggered by chances or on purpose and going viral, are cleverly being taken advantage of by corporations. One of the companies’ common strategies to create trends is celebrity endorsements – hiring influencers to promote the companies’ products – is ubiquitous in the cosmetic and fashionable industry. So, next time, when your favorite celebrity tweets a photo sitting by a brand-new car or trying new lipstick, do not flip out to see a spike in an increase in the sale of that car or lipstick.

To conclude, advertisements make us buy things that we do not need. They are one of the companies’ strategies based on knowledge of consumer behaviors hypnotizing and tempting us to purchase their products.