As a crucial part of economic growth, the advertising industry is becoming increasingly popular in contemporary world. While some people consider this trend as having a positive effect on economic prosperity due to competitiveness among various companies and awareness about new products, others argue that it has drawbacks as promotion of unrealistic lifestyle and encouragement to overconsumption. In my opinion, although advertisement has numerous negative aspects, its benefits outweigh any of them.
The necessity of launching new products that meet modern consumer demands is one of the inevitable parts of economic development of any country. Advertising is widely used to raise awareness of new products with the help of different types of adverts. This may lead to competitiveness of different companies regarding cost and quality. One good example can be rival companies such as Coca Cola and Pepsi competing with each other in terms of flavor diversity and actively promoting their products to the public. Consequently, this gives customers a good chance to select preferred flavor among various options.
However, some negative effects of advertising have emerged recently. Due to the development of social media the promotion of unrealistic lifestyle in order to promote self-brand products has become much easier. Hence, followers of such trends may feel dissatisfaction with their own life and subsequently, it influences people’s mental well-being. Moreover, advertisements encourage people to buy and eat more and this may lead to overconsumption. A good example is developed countries such as the United States, where the obesity rate is going up steadily.
In conclusion, while advertising has positive aspects such as economic growth and enhancement in competitiveness among companies, it can cause adverse effects such as the promotion of an unrealistic lifestyle and may lead to overconsumption. In my opinion, in spite of numerous demerits, advertising is far more beneficial for society.