Does advertising manipulate people into buying what they don’t need? Critics contend that advertising is so powerful and persuasive that people have no choice but to buy what they see advertised, regardless of their actual need for these products. Advertisers exploit our inadequacies, anxieties, hopes and fears. Advertisers, using psychological or emotional appeals, get us to buy their products by making us feel that these products help us gain status, acceptance, even love.
On the other side of the controversy, defenders acknowledge that the whole reason to advertise is to persuade. There’s no magic or dishonesty about using the marketing mix to identify customer needs, to create an appropriate product and to advertise the product. Defenders contend the advertising offers people the information they need to choose among products in the marketplace. Advertising can be seen as building consumption not by making people purchase what they don’t need but by making the market more efficient for both consumer and producers by offering information about the product, its availability.
No amount of advertising pressure can force people to buy something they don’t want and anyone who is persuaded by advertising to buy a bad product (or a product that doesn’t meet a legitimate need) won’t make that mistake again. Far from being helpless to resist advertising’s persuasive power people are able to ignore or discount advertising messages, by zapping television commercials, turning down the radio, or simply turning the page in a magazine or newspaper. Most consumer are savvy about what they see advertised and research indicates that children understand and are skeptical about advertising’s persuasive power.
On the other side of the controversy, defenders acknowledge that the whole reason to advertise is to persuade. There’s no magic or dishonesty about using the marketing mix to identify customer needs, to create an appropriate product and to advertise the product. Defenders contend the advertising offers people the information they need to choose among products in the marketplace. Advertising can be seen as building consumption not by making people purchase what they don’t need but by making the market more efficient for both consumer and producers by offering information about the product, its availability.
No amount of advertising pressure can force people to buy something they don’t want and anyone who is persuaded by advertising to buy a bad product (or a product that doesn’t meet a legitimate need) won’t make that mistake again. Far from being helpless to resist advertising’s persuasive power people are able to ignore or discount advertising messages, by zapping television commercials, turning down the radio, or simply turning the page in a magazine or newspaper. Most consumer are savvy about what they see advertised and research indicates that children understand and are skeptical about advertising’s persuasive power.