IELTS Writing Practice: Our Buying Habits Question: Today, the high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree? My answer: Nowadays, particular consumer products sell well in the society. Some say that this is due to effective advertising rather than the real needs of consumers. I fully agree with this point of view as our buying trend relies very much on the power of advertisements. First and foremost, a company's celebrity effect influences our buying habits. Many companies build a good reputation of themselves and owning their products are considered more superior than others. For instance, many ladies would do anything to get themselves a purse from the famous brand, Hermes. Their products are a symbol of status. Interestingly, a lot of people do not really buy these fashion items because they need them, as there are many affordable alternatives in the market. Rather, such consumption owes to how the fashion brands portray themselves as a high-class brand. In addition to the celebrity effect, the creative ways of product promotion play a huge part in attracting customers to buy out of their needs. These include glamorous visuals and innovative TV commercials. The most well-known example would be Apple. Every year, the electronic giant holds a press conference, in which new products are introduced. The CEO uses colorful presentation AV materials to show the new devices and features to the world. Multiple versions of TV commercials are also produced. I remember there was a little jingle in an Apple TV advertisement. It was so popular that almost everyone can sing the tune. A lot of buyers are attracted by these novel marketing strategies and want to own these products. Some might argue that popular consumer goods sold at a large number reflect the society's real needs. This is not the case. Take iPhone as an example. People seldom make the most out of the gadget. In fact, there are a lot of functions that are unknown to most of us, meaning that a majority of users do not necessarily need these functions. 'Need' is not the main reason for high sales of these products. To conclude, it is almost entirely that the marketing strategies of consumer goods, not people's needs, that contributes to the high consumption of popular products.