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The life in the modern world is practically impossible without constant getting hold of, retrieving and up-dating information. At great speed of today's life, there exists the continuous need for reliable information, presented preferably in the quickest possible way and in maximally condensed form. Advertising, as one of the media serving that purpose, becomes one of the strongest forces ruling the market today. Those, who cannot afford advertising campaigns led on a large scale, have no chances of achieving success in any kind of business .
The aim of this essay is to present and discuss some most obvious benefits and unquestionable evils connected with modern advertising. Is that phenomenon more harmful or perhaps its advantages prevail over disadvantages? The answer to this question will be offered in that work .
The phenomenon of expansive growth and virtual omnipresence of advertisements has become noticeable only lately (in the last few years) in Poland. The appearance of the new kind of market and changes in Polish economy brought about the boost for foreign investments and, what is connected with it, the strong competition between companies manufacturing similar products. To gain customers and to tie them to a particular firm (and product), advertising campaigns were initiated and led by skilful, young people with bright ideas. The rivalry between such companies as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola becomes here almost proverbial. When one of them launches a new product, the other one presents something very similar. The choice customers make depends on the quality of TV commercials, the frequency of their appearance on mass media, etc.. Huge sums of money are being invested in advertising campaigns but it is the matter of survival on the market these days; the product not advertised does not exist for customers, which means it brings no profits .
Advertisements fulfil a very important informative role. They appear almost everywhere: on television and radio; they are printed in the papers, hung in shop windows or underground subways in the form of posters and so on. The omnipresence is their greatest advantage. They act as a kind of a guide in the mass markets, promoting new articles and reminding of the forgotten ones. Otherwise, without proper advertising, new goods would pass unnoticed and a customer would have to make guesses (not always lucky ones).
Moreover, the TV commercials present the latest trends in fashion, make-up plus trendy leisure activities. They answer the dilemmas what to eat, how to eat, where to eat and with whom. Sometimes, when an unexpected and seemingly difficult problem crops up, one is given a ready and unusually simple solution. More than that: commercials offer practical pieces of advice to housewives (how to bake a good cake; cook a wonderful dinner; wash the husband's colourful shirt to become snow-white?), present the latest cinema productions, help to choose the best things available on the market at present: a new car, a new washing machine, a new girlfriend .
However, it is not possible to speak about advertising in superlatives only. The main objection is the fact that it creates the demand for things that people do not need. The mechanism of creating such artificial needs is simple: showing a woman /man becoming more attractive for the other sex through using certain cosmetics, drinking certain brand of coffee or eating kind of sweets. The effect is even stronger if a commercial is repeated over and over again, according to the rule that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. Those factors persuade guileless people into buying products they would not even think of buying before. Of course their life does not improve or change at all, but for several zlotys less in the wallet .
Some commercials appeal to basic human instincts as family, fear or greed. Thanks to this technique people buy consumer goods or insurance, fashionable clothes and cosmetics, they eat more than necessary .
Another disadvantage of modern advertising is the use of stereotypes. It is true that in each culture there are some criteria of beauty according to which a man must be tall and muscular, while a woman must be a fragile blonde. Such characters appear in commercials and appeal to potential consumer by the power of archetype. But in the reality nobody is perfect and will not become ideal by using advertised products .
The most dangerous of the techniques used by advertising agents are the operations performed directly on the psyche, outside the control of the consciousness. People do not realise that in some commercials there is a message which they unconsciously absorb. Very often they repeat slogans and clichés and gradually come to think that all those words are true. That is perhaps the most dangerous of all the influences advertising exercises upon us. One is not able to control one's subconscious actions .
On the other hand, however, there are advertisements which have positive effects. There are certain artistic qualities present in TV commercials. Witty dialogues, humorous story, interesting idea, good music or visual effects, etc . - those components would make any advertisement a pleasure to watch and digest .
To sum up: the omnipresence of advertising in the modern world is unavoidable. As a result of competition between the companies it serves noble purposes: to satisfy the customer with the best products. Unfortunately, this noble idea got corrupted on its way to realisation and potential customers are attracted by the product not because it is good but because of the persuasive way of its advertising. Sometimes it is hard to resist the temptation and not buy a product that is said to be the No . 1 in Europe .
The power of advertising is undeniably very strong. It demands much psychical strength and common sense so as not to fall under the spell of the fake world of non existing perfections. One has to make wise choices and be moderate in watching commercials as well as in believing in them .
