Band 7+: These days consumers are faced with an increasing amount of advertising from various companies. To what extent do you think consumers are influenced by advertising? What measures should be taken to protect them?

Commercialization is a big part of today’s world. Customers are deeply influenced by marketing, and firms sometimes exploit this. There are several steps that ought to be considered to preserve buyers from being misled.

In my view, purchasers are strongly impacted by merchandising. The reason is that marketers, who are creating brandings are using different tricks to appeal more people. One of the methods is phycological impact on audience. For example, they use emotions such as happiness, fear, and nostalgia to influence audience’s decisions. The other strategy is creating flashy ads and discounts to encourage people to buy things they do not necessarily need. Also, companies use social media influence to attract more clients. By using algorithms to show personalized ads based on community’s browsing history they offer more suitable campaigns for each person. For instance, while using popular social websites as Instagram, TikTok individuals encounter promotion of the things that they searched about recently. Last but not least, some brands use deceptive advertising, as manipulation: some endorsements exaggerate product benefits, misleading society. For example, promising instant weight loss without a proper diet or exercise.

There are various methods that could be taken to defend buyers. Firstly, government should ban exaggeration in advertising and prohibit claims that do not actually exist in product. To illustrate, in Japan there is a law due to which it is mandatory for a product to be exactly the same as shown on of its packaging. Next, government can hire people who will work in the area of buying and reviewing goods, so if the quality is not as good as it was stated in the commercialization process before, they will limit the product’s export to stores, oblige the head company to regulate its condition, and only after this, they will allow the product to enter the consumer market.

In conclusion, I believe that shoppers are severely influenced by promotions, and there is a plethora of steps that ought to be taken to shield them.