Positive and negative impact on advertising

The Positive And Negative Impact of Advertising and Marketing

As companies vie with each other and try to market their products and services, their ad marketing campaigns seem to have undergone a change, and not for the better necessarily. Most of the ad campaigns rely on misrepresentation, clichés, hyped up data, including relying on icons to market their key products and services. The days of a simple banner ad are long gone and these days the ads range from print to media ads, social media ads and even mobile ads. Given the sheer staggering volume of ads, it has indeed become necessary to explore the positive ramifications as well as negative connotations of advertising.

Positive and negative impact on advertising

The positive impact of advertising:

It can be hard to put into words, the positive impact of advertising but the fact remains that ads are interesting and they do convey the message to the end user. As a format, they are one of the quickest forms of getting the message across to the public at large. So, if you wanted to make a sudden announcement or wanted to warn the public about the dangers of swimming in shark-infested waters, then an ad along these lines would have a much better impact than a printed flyer. Seeing an ad, somehow registers in our subconscious and allows us to relate the same – this is why advertising is a powerful marketing tool. And this is exactly the reason why some of the top companies spend billions each year, trying to come up with innovative ads to interest their consumers. Advertising actually helps to enhance communication and can be quite effective in relaying the same to others.

The negative impact of advertising:

Misrepresentation

The fact is that most of the ads you see these days all misrepresent information to one extent or the other.  For example, there are ads that claim that your skin tone can become several shades lighter after just one application of their skin lightening cream. Well, that one is a perfect example of misrepresentation and the reality is that hardly little control is exercised over what an ad company can put out. As long as the ad in question does not incite hatred or seek to abuse any community at large, it clears the bar. And that’s exactly why it is hard to trust any ads on account of the misrepresentation but they are clever enough never to lie outright in their ads as that would lead to a hefty fine.

Hype

Most of the ads tend to hype their products and that’s only to be expected but when it comes to drugs and medicines, this can be both confusing and unethical. Most of the medical companies hype their products; downplay any side effects so much so that the consumer often falls for the pitch. As a result, you often have to experience severe side effects from consuming a particular drug, despite the medical company claiming in their ad that their medication comes with zero side effects.

Obesity

As pointed out earlier, advertising directly impacts the subconscious and this is why children who see more food ads are likelier to overeat than those who do not. Obesity is a serious health issue and a constant barrage of food ads with glossy full-length images is not doing much good in preventing obesity. No one is claiming that advertising causes obesity but rather than dressing up food to make it more attractive for print and media ads can play a contributing role in the same.

Body image

With so many ads featuring models with the perfect body shape has resulted in the society differentiating itself on the same basis. As a result, teens are often heckled and teased by the classmates if they do not meet the standards set by these ads. These ads propagate the idea that any person who does not have the perfect figure is not worthy.  And naturally, the body shape is touted to be one of the most common reasons for the rise in teen bullying.

These are some of the pros and cons of advertising; while it should be pointed out that advertising is one of the most effective communication tools by which we can convey messages to large groups of people, it has become clearer that advertising has its own baggage. This is why all ads must be strictly regulated so that we can minimize the negative aspects of these ads and at least, bring down teen bullying stats to rational levels.

Alan Behrens

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