Band 5+: Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things.Other people think advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it.

Many people consider advertisements as a successful means to purchase products. While this may be debatable, there is no doubt that a well produced advertisement does play a role in the consumer’s thought process. But is that applicable to all advertisements? Perhaps not. There are various ways to make an advertisement stand out amongst others. The best adverts are those that enter the consumer’s psyche in very subtle ways. For example, Apple had run a series of ads in the late 90s which represented the Macbook as the ‘cool’, young college student while the window’s PC was made to wear a suit and tie and had a notably disheveled appearance.On the other hand, in the era of smart phones, the widespread use of technology has consequently led to a surge in advertisements aimed directly at your phones. Subsequently, many have suggested that this excess may have caused a reduced interest in advertisements. There is data to suggest that ads played on the popular video sharing website ‘YouTube’ are most commonly skipped as soon as it’s allowed. However, this does not suggest that smart advertising does not exist today. A notable example of this is the bagpack campaign run by a company called Mokobara, which has led to considerable sales through the use of instagram based adverts. In conclusion, there are a plethora of consumerist possibilities available to an average user in the 21st century.