Businesses are always attempting to capture customers’ attention with advertisements. One method often employed by them is to showcase the innovations and latest technologies embodied in the products. While this may reflect corporations’ long-term incentive to pursue technological advancement, I believe that this is largely a negative development as it will encourage wasteful purchasing habits among consumers.
Companies want their products to stand out and the most direct way they can achieve this goal is to advertise the unique selling points of the products to consumers. Modern society overwhelms people with a sea of information every single day. In order to grab potential customers’ attention and encourage them to make purchases, businesses have to differentiate themselves from their numerous competitors. By emphasizing the cutting-edge functions of what they sell, corporations create incentives for consumers to buy from them as opposed to other manufacturers.
However, this advertising strategy may change people’s consumption habits for the worse. When people are enticed with the exciting features of a new generation of products, they are more likely to abandon the existing ones they own, which probably are still able to adequately cover their daily needs. Moreover, when consumers are captivated by advertisements and make purchases impulsively, they may not consider whether the functions promoted will match their actual needs. As a result, a lot of people will be stuck with expensive gadgets and equipment that provide services they will never use in the products’ entire lifespan.
Nevertheless, some might argue that companies’ advertisements are actually a reflection of their motivation to continuously pursue technological breakthroughs. Since companies will keep relying on innovations to sell products, their dedication will bring long-term benefits to the society. What this argument misses, however, is the fact that businesses will still use the same marketing tactics even when they are not making progress. They can simply present minor changes and fixes as the next big update customers are looking forward to. Consequently, companies can still increase sales without actually striving for technological advancement.
In conclusion, corporations often put an emphasis on what is new about their products in advertisements, but these so-called new features may not reflect actual innovation. In addition, consumers may start to shop irresponsibly under the influence of this marketing strategy. Therefore, my opinion is that companies are in fact contributing to a mostly negative trend.