The World of Advertising

3 Pages 713 Words

The World of Advertising


Advertising: “The structured and composed non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, goods, services, and ideas by identified sponsors through various media.”(Arens, 7). We see advertisements everyday, for shoes, for clothes and perfume and even condoms. This dates all the way back to 1974, when the Advertising Trust was established. It was created by a small group of individuals that believed that the best of advertising should be preserved for posterity. But what actually happens behind the scenes of this created project? That is exactly what my paper will answer.
Its easy to get public relations and advertising confused. The difference is that one is for selling and one is for persuasion. Advertising costs a lot more yet they have control over their message. Public relations do have more creditability, but advertising can easily appeal to one specific group.
Behind the scenes advertisers use demographics to target a specific audience. They use marital status, age, gender, geography, income, lifestyles and hobbies all as ways of attracting our attention. Advertisers spend 201 billion dollars a year on their advertisements, which seems like a lot but the more your product sells, the less you can charge for it. Most people think that it makes products more expensive, which starts off the criticisms of advertising.
The majority of the population feel that advertisements makes them believe one thing, and its really another. You might see a commercial for a great toy to buy your kid, and when you finally do, the kid plays with it and it breaks! Advertisements also make people buy things they don’t need because it will make them feel better about themselves. They easily use sex to get attention, and can influence the content of media by getting their product talked about on TV. Even politicians use the process by asking for money t...