naturelover17

Indefinitely, there are pros and cons to advertising. Often it's to simply advertise the product created by someone or a company, explaining what it's all about and leaving it at that. On the other hand, they could be flaunting it, exaggerating it, making it seem too good to be true in order to make more money.

It's very degrading how they advertise certain products, preferably shampoo or various cosmetics. They show such unrealistically beautiful models advertising the product, making the consumers think that they will look like that if they buy the product. It isn't just that, it's also part of the whole “idealistic beauty” fiasco. It's almost false advertising. Especially since women could never look like the models from the commercials. They have teams of makeup stylists, hair stylists, fancy lighting, and of course, Photoshop. It takes all of that to create the unrealistically “perfect” models.

As far as I am concerned, I think advertising should be done as realistically and efficiently as possible. Instead we're always being flaunted and above all, scammed. And the people creating them make money off of us for their scams. It's deplorable and absolutely disgusting. We are at fault for falling into it, yes, but people who make money from scamming others just don't deserve it in the least.

As stated before, there are pros and cons to advertising. It's also not always a scam either. Some companies may lean to advertise more realistically and when you buy the product, it's just exactly that. Honesty should always be included in advertising. After all, if we're scammed somehow or someone suffers damage from the product, the companies could end up facing a lawsuit.

There is also the issue of those small print disclaimers, or “fine print” as most would call it. You often see those in medication commercials, sometimes car commercials, and other various commercials or advertisements in magazines, and most especially for contests. As much as they state the true honesty of the product, why do they make it so small? Simple, to sell the product and so we'd listen to the sales pitch, bypass the small print, buy the product and face the small print consequences. That is also incredibly deplorable. Here they are advertising “how wonderful” the product is, and yet there's a small print disclaimer stating otherwise somehow. Makes sense, right?

When it comes to people seeing advertisements somehow, whether or not they buy it is really up to them. As much as the images portrayed from the advertisement may be appealing, it's not that simple in drawing people in. Often you may see that one person who will just do it, or the person who will think it over, and then the one person who bypasses it without a second glance. Portrayed realistically or not, whether or not it's bought is up to the consumers. It goes two ways, they buy it or they don't. Simple as that. So you can make a product completely exaggerated, amazing, and seem too good to be true, and there will always be Bob who will buy it, or Harry who won't buy it.

So it's also win or lose. As TV talk show psychologist Dr. Phil once said, “No matter how flat you make a pancake, it still has two sides.”, and so with every product, there are people who will buy it, and people who won't. It can be any product in the world, there will always be those two groups of people.

As stated before, most products advertised also face the exaggeration of what it really is. This is called using weasel words. A small print disclaimer may be involved as well, but the point is, they are using weasel words to make the product appear so much more than it really is. That trick is used to lure people in, thinking they're in for quite a ride. 9 times out of 10, it's the complete opposite.

Like weasel words, there is also puffery. Which is the imaging counterpart of weasel words. As I said before, products and/or the models will be portrayed in such an unrealistically perfect way, thinking what we get will turn out like that. An example is all the restaurant commercials, such as maybe Taco Bell or McDonald's and the like, they make their food appear so perfect and well put together, and yet when you order them in real life, they look almost nothing like how they're portrayed on the advertisements. They may still taste good, yes, but that is beside the point. It is all an exaggeration, making the product appear more than it really is.

As I stated before, there are pros and cons when it comes to advertising. The cons definitely involve the puffery and weasel words, whereas the pros include the honesty and realism of the product.

If all advertisements sent out an honest and realistic image of the product, and actually work hard to make sure it will work out, I think it would definitely prove beneficial for everyone. Scamming others is absolutely wrong and just because they make money off it does not justify it at all.

In all, advertising is both good and bad, depending how it's put together. Although it's believed that if they don't “glamourize” the product, they won't sell it. But as I said before, no matter how a product is advertised, there will always be the two groups of people, the ones that buy it and the ones that don't.

One most appealing way of advertising is celebrity endorsements. Often, if you see a celebrity you like advertising a product, that will really grab your attention. That's why some companies use celebrities to endorse their product, because we all know how much it would lure people in. It's not always the “scandalous” products, there are some honest products being endorsed by celebrities, such as the “Got Milk?” advertising. Sure it looks kind of silly with the unrealistic milk mustache, but milk is great to be advertised, and it adds humour to it.

To conclude, as I have stated before, there are pros and cons to advertising. Two sides of the same pancake. Just like with the two groups of people, that either buy it or don't. You just have to know what product you need or would like, and to do some quick research on it, and even ask people you know that have it or have tried it to get a second opinion. Just know what you're going to be in for.