Tips on advertising - a philosophical approach

The usefulness of information that advertising conveys refers to two very different quotations about advertising: the first is from one of the founding fathers and early presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson , who said, that “Advertisements contain the only truth to be relied on in a newspaper” and the second is from a noted British author, H.G. Wells , who said that “Advertising is legalized lying”.

As these quotations suggest, controversies over advertising are not a recent phenomenon and, at times, have been both heated and extreme. Advertisements providing truthful information about the price of a product and its attributes reduce the time and effort that consumers need to expend searching for the products that best satisfy their needs. Advertising can also provide greater rivalry among firms because the greater flow of information brings more firms into competition with each other. One of the most important things is the fact that the ability to advertise new products and services encourages innovative activity by firms.

Tips on advertising. Advertisements can have an influence far beyond a simple message about a product and, at the same time, they can introduce characters to the public imagination, make icons out of actors, have everyone repeating a catchphrase, get audiences arguing over plot points or waiting for the next installment, and generate news stories. Advertisements often take on a cultural life of their own, and occupy space in the media beyond that which has been paid for and this, of course, is great for the advertisers.

When talking about advertising, trust and competence are the elements which get our attention in the first place. No matter what happens, there is still the ambiguously fine line that the advertising industry will be condemned to walk along if it chooses to be as influential a medium as it claims or desires to be.

As one of its definitions says, advertising is communicating a sales message to potential customers and, in order to be effective, it must consist in a cumulative process that maintains current customers, attracts new customers and establishes a favorable position for the business with competitors. However, it will not cure slow business growth or low profits, nor will it create a better business person or a well-organized business. It just offers specified benefits to a specific or target audience. As part of a sound marketing plan, advertising becomes an investment in the future of the business, instead of one more expense. The effectiveness of an advertisement is based on a careful analysis of the situation before money is spent. Thus, adverts can be investigated in order to discover what influence they have over us, and how they play a large role in constructing society and our values. In fact, knowing that advertisers are sometimes trying to influence and control us by their advertisements is an advantage which helps us fighting back. For example, when a person makes a purchasing decision, this person must ask himself/herself ‘why is he/she choosing that particular product?' and consequently, if his/her decision is based on the qualities that product has or it is just influenced by an advertisement. The most important thing here is the fact that a product must be bought because of its taste, its quality, and its price. And never because its packaging looks good or because it is a name brand.

Tips on advertising. At the same time, there is much value to be found in the study of advertisements as they portray a cross-section of society, playing on people's hopes and fears, and can later be used by our successors to discover what society was like during the Twenty First Century. The arguments for studying virtually any text apply also to adverts, which also show skill, and style in presentation, choice of photograph or text, and the structure in which these are combined in order to sell products to an audience. Because advertisements are common culture to all societies, in a way that no other programme, or medium can be, they are worthy of study and investigation. As one of the most powerful forces in existence, they need to be carefully studied, or else we risk falling too much under their influence and find our lives controlled by large advertising campaigns and companies.

In conclusion, what this study on advertising tried to demonstrate is the fact that advertisements play a very important role in our lives and whatever our attitude towards advertising, we cannot deny its influence because, as we can all see, the slogans, the music, the images and the logos are part of our consciousness and our culture.