Does advertising generate unreal needs for the society?

It is indisputable that nowadays, advertising plays a major role in the enormous growth of the consumer goods industry. Many people argue that such revenue does not come from real consumers’ demands, but from tempting advertisements shown on TV. Although I accept that TV ads have certain influences on our buying habits, I disagree with the idea that advertising generates artificial demands in society.

The opponents of advertising and the unreal demands it creates make many good points for their opinions though. Human nature is such that people will always want more than what they already have. Understanding this, advertisements with attractive images of new products keep telling people that they will not be happy and look good unless they use their products. As a result, naive audiences turn into buyers for something they do not really need. The smart phone advertisement can be a prime example for this case. A large majority of young people in my home country use expensive smart phones in the latest versions just because they want to look trendy and smart, without real need for the phone’s advanced functions.

One the other hand, I underline that advertising is not the only constituent element that leads to people’s buying decisions. These days, intelligent audiences no longer refer to what they see in those fascinating ads as the only reference when they want to buy something. Instead, consumers tend to look for information from many other available sources, such as magazines, Internet or salespersons’ advice. Moreover, different people will have different concerns as well as their own needs and wants, based on which they make different choices of goods. In other words, what advertising does is to introduce new products and create unknown demands and customers are still the decision maker with their own reasons for buying.

In conclusion, I believe that advertising should be objectively perceived as a creative way of presenting information, rather than condemned as a stimulation of false consumer demands.

[Excellent.]