Advertisement as a Mirror to Society - Report Example

Advertisement as a Mirror to Society Insert Name Course, Class, Semester Institution Instructor Date Introduction Arguably advertisement is the fastest evolving aspect of business. Being as old as the art of business, advertisement has grown and developed over the years to become what it is today- a reflection of the business world and the society at large. Advertisements developed today reflect almost all aspects of society. It is common knowledge that analogue forms of advertisements are a thing of the past (Horland & Wolburg, 2010). Gone are the days when firms could do posters as part of their marketing strategy. Today, an advertisement done in the year 2005 would be as irrelevant as one done in the 1990s. A commercial done in 1994 for example, reflects the life and social setting of the 90s. An advertisement done today reflects the life and environment of today. For instance, online marketing also referred to as web marketing, internet marketing, or digital marketing tells a lot about today’s society. First it tells us that quite a number of people are capable of accessing a computer and an internet connection. Secondly, it tells that the technology is taking root at a very high rate. Fourth it tells that businesses are going global very fast. The fifth observation is that businesses are appreciating technological advancements and implementing such technology (Mueller & Frith, 2010). This essay discusses the aspect of advertisement as a mirror to society. Advertisement as a societal mirror Specialists argue that promotion does not boost sales; instead, advertising creates consciousness, motivates people to try, and communicates mental gains to consumers already using a product. The notion that promotions drive people to purchase things that they had not planned to is uncertain. Various research findings have established that everyone believes that other people purchase that which they do not need because of the forceful drive of advertisement, they however deny that they, themselves cannot be driven to make uncalled for purchases by the power of advertisement. In essence then people do not purchase because of the force in promotional advertisements because seemingly, everyone is too knowledgeable and confident to be moved by advertisements (Olguin Et Al, 2008). It is no puzzle then why the persuasiveness in advertisements is insignificant. An experienced promoter has proper knowledge of the audience they are targeting, as far as its expectations, needs, and standards are concerned. Research shows that what advertisers do is to basically asses the requirements of a group that they target; modify their promotions to suit such needs. As such any attempts to alter the thinking of such a target faction becomes a waste of resources. Advertisement is not just a mirror reflecting the image of the society as it is but also a projector of that which society wishes to be (Rotzoll & Haetener, 1996). For instance, companies make use of advertising to sponsor ecological matters and questions on human rights. The organizations engage in such, not to alter people’s thinking but because they have realized members of society would appreciate to be environmentally mindful and to have fair, non-prejudicial right to use and chances for every member of society. Organizations are usually conventional. Any contentious attitude could unenthusiastically have an effect on their place in the market. Essentially, what companies try to do during advertising is to somehow show the trend in society and not to set the trend. Additionally, a culture’s advertising is an instrument for achieving proximity to its principles. A study carried out in 1996 on commercials from fifteen nations established that a person new to a particular society can get an idea of a society’s principles by examining its commercials (Rotzoll & Haetener, 1996). This explains the argument that that advertising actually reflects the morals and standards of a society, and by itself provides an important gateway to appreciating another society. The attractiveness of social sites has persuaded companies to build up virtual accounts to communicate with both established and potential customers, enthusiasts, and the broad-spectrum of the general population.  This is a chief case in point of online advertising following societal dynamics.  Statistics have it that more than 400 million people possess active accounts with Face book. In the world today, such social sites and online applications as twitter and face book are part of everyday life. The publicizing and commercializing market discovered an innovative way to link up with people to connect with people. This kind of change that comes with time is not a strange thing – during the time when audio-visual form of communication was being pioneered through the introduction of the television corporations quickly grabbed the opportunity. They realized they could employ this medium to reach potential customers through mass communication. Twenty years before that, the first radio commercial had been done. When the radio was being invented and being offered to the market, no one had the idea that it would be used in conveying commercial messages to the populace. It did not take long before marketing departments of many companies saw the opportunity and started designing advertisements (Sheehan, 2004). In the year 2000, Internet search engine Google initiated their advertising feature. A decade later, returns from the service would clock more than 22 billion dollars. Similar to the Google idea, social sites make use of information about the client to present more applicable commercials, hoping that the possible clients will probably get concerned with an advert that they find useful. This implies that commercials can be designed for particular target group, much like long-established media transactions. With the noteworthy and persistent advancement of know-how in the world today, digital equipment such as the special laptops and online applications have turned out to be basic requirements in both private life and office practice. These technological tools are being put into use every day for business, conveying of messages and schooling (Strachan, 2007). Such societal dynamics imply that for an advertiser to remain pertinent in the field, they have to embrace the level of technology that the world is coming up with each and every day. In a world that is progressively turning into a single small village, businesses see the need to grab the opportunities created by various advertizing and publicizing media to sell their product and services to potential and existing clientele. Investigations have established that huge proceeds have been realized by most organizations that have committed a considerable amount of resources to product promotion. It may be difficult to tell where advertisement began from or where it originated from but it is definitely easy to tell the role of advertisement in influencing people’s decisions to buy. Researchers argue that promotions as part of marketing comes with a substantial persuasive impact on humanity. It directs the customers into believing that only buying commodities can make them contented. It is very common to find ladies trying to gauge themselves against the slim women they see in advertisements. This has led to many negative consequences for instance, low a sense of low self-worth among those females who come to discover that they do not and indeed cannot look like the ones they see in the advertisement media (Horland & Wolburg, 2010). The fact that there is much corruption and mistrust in the society is portrayed in the politics of television advertisements. It is rather obvious that through television advertisements, the channel’s management build a rapport with the advertising company. It then becomes apparent that the television channel cannot report any negative activities taking place in the company and these amounts to denying the public the right to information In a greatly aggressive economic atmosphere where marketing is an important tool in ensuring the continued existence of a trademark, it is no puzzle why commercials have to reveal the needs of the social order so as to achieve differentiation. The objective of an advertisement is to boost the sales of the product under consideration by making it appear presentable to the eye of the potential consumers and existing clients (Sheehan, 2004). Promotions aim at increasing the responsiveness of the consumer and enhancing the clients’ awareness. Well designed advertisements usually kindle or awaken the human enthusiasm for a particular item of interest. In order to accomplish this idea, the marketing officers in charge of designing advertisements are required to target customers by making product presentation in a manner that is appealing to the needs of the consumers so as to build the yearning for the object (Mueller & Frith, 2010). Therefore, advertisements are indeed a reflection that which the society wants or desires. It is worth noting that commercials create new desires in clients by reflecting what society wants or by employing exaggeration to represent the ideal. Advertisements to a great extent act as a mirror to the society in terms of the desires of the masses because it depends on the desires of the community to sell their products. The essence and rationale behind a product reflecting the needs and wants of the target group is to make it look like it meets the desires and demands of the group hence boosting its acceptability among the members of the group being targeted. In the long run, this will provoke the desire to purchase the product. Some products often appear good to our need to be better people (Strachan, 2007). For instance cosmetics appeal to the women’s desire to live a fairy tale kind of life. Similarly some adverts act on the emotions and dreams of men. For instance the Guinness advertisements that make those who consume it appear manlier than others. The desire of men to be better men or to be manlier drives them in to the consumption of such products as Guinness. A comprehensive example was seen in the cigarette industry in the mid 1990s. The commercials displayed men professions like; warriors, seamen, and cowboys smoking various brands of cigarettes most notably Marlboro. These strategies turned out to be exceedingly efficient. They made the sales of the products shoot up abnormally within a very short period of time. This shows the effectiveness of an advertisement that reflects the desires of the society in enhancing an improvement in the level of sales. Though it may look like that advertisements generate fresh needs, the idea does not take in to consideration the fact that advertisements should essentially reflect the wants of the society to gain appeal to the client. It is therefore wrong to assume that these commercials are entirely detached from collective desires of the society (Sheehan, 2004). In an aggressive, evidently flooded world, it is very important that advertisements have to link with the person who reads or views it so as to keep away from the possibility being crowded out. Advertisements catch the attention and curiosity of the customer through the qualities of the product initially through an existing need and use that to increase craving for the promoted commodity when customers think of it as the sole thing that can satisfy their craving. For this reason, advertisements should initially reflect needs of the society so as to build a strengthening impact on prospective consumers and sell commodities; by refreshing the memory of existing clients of their needs and maintaining their awareness (Rotzoll & Haetener, 1996). One misapprehension of product promotion is that it equals consumer-centeredness which is considered improvidence and the ultimate disintegration of society (Olguin Et Al, 2008). However, sales promotions aren’t limited to consumerist states. In actual fact, many other states hold the point of view that the Australia’s way of life is the perpetrator of improvidence instead of advertising. Another misunderstanding of advertising is that organizations conduct sales promotions for the simple reason that they work. However, if no firms publicize then it would amount to leaving the decision to purchase fully to the consumer. Time and again organizations are compelled into promotions by the concept of the prisoner’s predicament popularly known as the prisoner’s dilemma. This concept explains a position where individuals or organizations are compelled to take action even if they are at an advantage doing nothing. They are compelled into acting for the simple reason that they cannot have confidence the other parties. Conclusion From the foregoing, advertisements indeed do reflect the ways, norms and standards of society. It is noteworthy that promotions not only reflect the society as it is but also the way the society desires to be. Advertisements reflect the wishes of the various groups that make up the society. Any commercial has to mirror the preferences, attitude and approaches of contemporary society to move along with its highly dynamic features to keep being significant. Other business analysts are in favor of the view that advertisements, in point of fact, aspire to breed innovative desires within a customer and do not at all mirror the desires of the society (Mueller & Frith, 2010). This is particularly so with commercials whose objective is to appeal to a new section in the current market or launch an original brand name or item for consumption. Advertisements create a sense of longing for the commodities in focus by giving the prospective consumer a sense of wanting, or by connecting the commodity with encouraging characteristics. By reflecting the society, it means that advertisements reflect all aspects of the society. It reflects the demographic dynamics, technological advancements, contemporary preferences and tastes, and developments in the business world with regard to the function of advertisement (Horland & Wolburg, 2010). References Horland, R. & Wolburg, J. M (2010). Advertising, Society & Consumer Culture. New York. M.E Sharpe, Inc Mueller. B & Frith, K. T (2010) Advertising And Societies: Global Issues 2nd Edition. New York. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc Olguin Et Al (2008). Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. New York. Cengage Learning. Rotzoll, B.K & Haetener, J.E (1996) Advertising In Contemporary Society 3rd Edition:Perspectives Towards Understanding. New York. University Of Illinois Sheehan, K. (2004). Controversies in Contemporary Advertising. London. Sage Publications Strachan, J. R. (2007). Advertising and Satirical Culture in the Romantic World. New York. 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