Persuasive Essay on Advertising

Introduction

Advertising is a controversial topic that has elicited mixed reactions from advocates and antagonists alike. Advocates have cited various reasons in support of advertising. These reasons include informative, educative, commercial, and professional aspects of advertising. On the other hand, critics have questioned its intention as well as its overall consequence. The antagonists believe that advertising influences people to buy products and services even if they never planned to purchase. However, even though the ideas and stand of the antagonists cannot be rubbished, the advocates of advertising have produced more convincing reasons that elucidate the importance of advertising. Typically, advertising benefits businesses and people since it educates and informs people on availability and description of products which consequently results in high sales volume and profitability.

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Advertising is vital since it offers revenue for media such as radio, television, the internet, and newspaper among others. For instance, Korula, Mirrokni, and Nazerzadeh (2016) explain that "display advertising is the major source of revenue for service and content providers on the Internet" (p. 28). Imperatively, businesses use commercial media to reach a vast clientele. These media houses charge an appropriate fee on businesses and individuals for advertising their products and services. It is essential to note that if it is not for advertising, the consumers would directly fund them. This would make these media houses expensive as their cost would be exorbitant for ordinary media consumers to afford. Notably, advertising is the chief source of revenue for commercial media, and it helps to cut down the cost of these media houses. Additionally, it is worthy to note that the revenue that advertising generates is taxed which is then used to develop infrastructures and amenities such as roads, hospitals, bridges, schools, and so on.

It is vital to note that advertising also plays an informative role. Quintessentially, it informs people about a particular product or brand. It, therefore, introduces a person to a product that is newly launched or that which has undergone improvements. The ramification for this is that it helps in improving the sales volume of products, thus increased revenue and profitability. Advertising also gives information which helps a person to differentiate two or more products. It is also critical to pinpoint that advertising gives necessary information regarding the development and usage of a product. Furthermore, advertising gives clients relevant information concerning the side effects associated with a given product. Also, advertising is critical in informing people about the location to obtain goods and services. By so doing, it helps customers and potential clients make informed decisions regarding what to buy or consume (Honka, Hortacsu, & Vitorino pp. 611-645).

Advertising educates the society in various issues which are of great interest to them. Remarkably, it can reach a vast clientele and teach them about critical social issues. These issues include family planning, electricity and water saving, AIDS awareness, abolishing child labor, compulsory education to children, proper nutrition guidelines to mothers and their infants among other social issues. For example, Haroun et al. elucidate that HIV/AIDS awareness through advertising is instrumental in eliminating stigma among individuals living with the disease (pp. 1-11). Other than these issues, advertising also teaches the masses about political and economic issues. For example, it teaches people on various political candidates in an election as well as economic crisis and how to survive it. Advertising is thus a crucial tool for both government agencies and not-for-profit organizations as they facilitate or aid in teaching the society. Therefore, the educative ability of advertising helps the society to embrace the best practices which consequently helps to improve the standards of living of people and the entire community.

Advertising is regarded as an art, science, and a profession. People study advertising in schools to learn about fundamental practices that make advertising great and appealing. Notably, advertising is regarded as an art because it requires creative skills to appeal to the audience. As a science, advertising is contingent on scientific and systematic planning to help in establishing the best message that attracts the right people at the right moment. On the other hand, it is considered a profession because people who carry out advertising must follow established business ethics or operational code of conduct (Bertrand pp. 25-39). Also, those who take part in it are contracted individuals who earn money from featuring in advertising. For this reason, advertising positively impacts people as it enables them to obtain their daily source of livelihood.

Another importance of advertising is that it helps businesses build their brand image. Advocates of advertising believe that it creates goodwill as well as improving the reputation of the business. As Buil, De Chernatony, and Martinez state, "individuals' attitudes toward the advertisements improve brand equity dimensions" (116). They argue that repeated advertisement helps in establishing the popularity of branded services and products. Markedly, people tend to trust advertised brands or products over those which are non-advertised. Subsequently, an advertised brand helps it increase its value, which boosts its sales volume. The consequence of increased sales is improved revenue, net income, and profitability. This helps businesses to achieve dominance in the competitive and comparative spectrum. Thus, advertising is instrumental in helping a business to attain perpetual existence in its line of operation in the competitive industry.

Proponents of advertising also assert that it is a tool for monitoring demand and supply. Typically, repeated advertising generates a higher demand in the crowded and competitive market. As the demand rises, so is the supply of these products to meet the growing need of customers or clients. For this reason, it is essential to monitor these forces to avoid excesses in the market. As an illustration, if the supply is not at the same level with an increase in demand, there will be confidence loss in the market which will consequently lead to a decline in demand. If this situation happens, sales volume will fall, and the capital spent on advertising will not be recovered. Thus, when advertising leads to higher demands, the corresponding supply must adjust to match the rise in demand.

However, despite the positive implications of advertising, it has attracted critics who believe that it is detrimental to people and the entire community. Antagonists of advertising assert that it leads to increased product prices. They argue that advertising is part of the expense that a firm incurs as it tries to reach a vast clientele (Firestone 32). Since firms have the primary objective of maximizing their profits, they pass the cost of advertising to their customers. However, there has been a counterargument regarding this assertion. Advocates of advertising believe that it results into large-scale production of goods and services due to increased demand which subsequently reduces per unit and total production cost. Therefore, they elucidate that a consumer ends up paying less than if advertising was not in place.

Antagonists of advertising believe that it is a deceptive tool used to cheat clients or customers. They believe that traders tend to impress buyers by giving false statements regarding different aspects of their products through advertisement. These deceptive practices and fraudulent means are meant to make products to sell and dominate the competitive market. The ramification of advertising is that the public loses confidence with traders, which result in loss of reputation and business image. However, proponents have rebutted this argument by asserting that there are ethical practices guiding advertising (Bertrand 25). Therefore, it is difficult for people engaged in the advertisement to engage in malpractices since their actions are subject to the rule of law.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is indeed true based on the arguments and rebuttal arguments of advocates of advertising that its benefits are unparalleled. It educates people on issues regarding businesses and social life. It is a teaching tool that enables individuals to understand day-to-day occurrences and business concepts. Other than being educative, advertising is informative as it explains to customers the description of goods, thereby aiding them to make informed purchasing decisions. Also, advertising offers numerous job opportunities to people which enable them to earn a living. Through advertising, businesses improve their image which in turn builds customer trust and relationship. However, despite the benefits associated with advertising, people should not overlook the arguments of its critics. The society, government, and individuals should address the concerns of antagonists of advertising to guarantee maximum benefits.

Works Cited

Bertrand, Claude-Jean. Media ethics and accountability systems. Routledge, 2018.

Buil, Isabel, Leslie De Chernatony, and Eva Martinez. "Examining the role of advertising and sales promotions in brand equity creation." Journal of Business Research 66.1 (2013): 115-122.

Firestone, Otto John. The Economic Implications of Advertising (RLE Advertising). Routledge, 2013.

Haroun, Dalia, et al. "Assessing Knowledge of, and Attitudes to, HIV/AIDS among University Students in the United Arab Emirates." PLoS ONE, vol. 11, no. 2, Feb. 2016, pp. 1-11.

Honka, Elisabeth, Ali Hortacsu, and Maria Ana Vitorino. "Advertising, consumer awareness, and choice: Evidence from the US banking industry." The RAND Journal of Economics 48.3 (2017): 611-646.

Korula, Nitish, Vahab S. Mirrokni, and Hamid Nazerzadeh. "Optimizing Display Advertising Markets: Challenges and Directions." IEEE Internet Computing 20.1 (2016): 28-35.