Advertising encourages people to buy things or not

Appreciate if you could provide me with a feed back on the following;

Question: Do you think that advertising encourages people to buy things
that they don't want?

Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience such as viewers, readers or listeners to purchase or perform some action upon products, ideals, or services. It has become a very powerful marketing tool today due to its ability to communicate an idea to a mass audience using the mass media. Therefore many businesses today use advertising to increase consumption of their products or services, to build their brand image among consumers and to face the competition. Advertising is an effective tool to keep people aware of the facts and details about the products/ services available in the market. However the way it is used by the businesses is subjected to high criticism.

Businesses operate with the motive of profit maximization. Therefore we can often see that they tend to exploit the power of advertising to convey misleading ideas merely to capture the market and make profits. The weaknesses of human mind are frequently exploited by such advertisers to influence people to purchase things they actually do not wish to buy. For example consider the product that is deemed undesirable for health such as cigarettes. Obviously everybody knows smoking can cause serious illnesses. However when a cigarette company sponsors a popular sporting , it inadvertently promotes smoking to the public. Even a person who is determined to stop smoking due to its ill effects on his health would be reminded by such advertising and thereby tempted to smoke.

Children are another most vulnerable segment in the society who gets carried away by advertisements. Advertisers tap young minds very cleverly and the parents find it very hard to prevent their children from this danger. For example, fast foods are becoming increasingly popular among children today mainly because of advertising. Although the parents know that fast foods do not provide a balanced nutritious diet, they are helpless before the demands of their children on food.

Advertising impacts on decisions taken by adults on their day to day lives as well. Many companies carry out sales promotions either to penetrate into the market or to face severe competition. They communicate such promotions to the public using advertisements. When such promotions take place adults too are prone to change their decisions or to take new decisions. For example, when an airline announces an attractive cut-rate on air travel, some adults may suddenly plan trips to take advantage of that promotion. However such a trip would have not been made unless the promotion would have not been there.

Considering the power of advertising and the way it has been used by the businesses, I conclude that the statement, "Advertising encourages people to buy things they do not want", is true. However I must also stress that advertising also favor the public by making awareness about the products and services in the market.

From this essay, I think someone from essay review department would say," So what's new?"
See, Kalhari I think you need to add something different to make a change or add a twist to the same monotonous essay.
1. First of all, a clean and simple essay. Good. Nice to see clear writing.
2. Add something about or( fake it). But I think one doesn't need to fake. You must have encountered an incident when you brought probably something cool and it turned out to be a total junk or waste of money. So that adds a personal touch to the essay that helps one relate to you. Plus it makes essay a little interesting.

3. Mention a case when due to advertisement some case happened. Makes you sound well-read. In India, recently a kid committed suicide when he brought the health drink that claimed to boost up the height, which did not give desired results. Small kid who did not understand what and why...so you need to add with your idea of children being targeted that hard fact that makes the idea stronger.

Hope this helps... :)

I suggest rewriting this sentence. It does not take a stance on the issue. Saying it is subject to criticism does not say what you actually think about it. If this was my essay, I would end the first para with a sentence that answers the question they asked: "The weaknesses of human mind are frequently exploited by such advertisers to influence people to purchase things they actually do not wish to buy."

Hey, I am impressed by Donrocks' critique. It is true: this essay does not say anything that is not obvious.

Your point about children is very good! I think you could take a stance on the issue in para #1, write about the impressionable young minds in para #2, and then write about the way even adults (not just children) can be impressionable. You can write about the need to get some relief from boredom, the desire for rewards, and even the fact that subliminal messages are used in advertising.

One rule to follow, though: Do not waste a single sentence telling the reader something they already know. :-)