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The impact of advertising is a matter of continuous debate. For and against claims
about advertisement have been made in different contexts. Cigarette
manufacturers have been claiming that cigarette advertising does not encourage
smoking and their eventually successful opponents just the opposite. Children
under the age of four may be unable to distinguish advertising from other
television programs, as the faculty to judge a message
develops on attaining adolescence. There is, however, no doubt that
Advertisement-loaded media do influence our daily lives.
Marshall McLuhan, media thinker and philosopher of the electronic age, in his
Understanding Media observes: “The continuous pressure is to create ads more
and more in the image of audience motives and desires. The product matters less
as the audience participation increases.”
An observant netizen has culled a few nuggets from the currently popular
television advertisements that tellingly illustrate McLuhan’s point:
Before going to propose to a girl Believe in the best—BPL. Proposing to a girl
Vicks ki goli lo kich kich door karo—Vicks. For writing a love letter
Likho script apna apna—Rotomac. If you love someone Go get it—Visa power. Not
satisfied with your date Yeh dil mangey more—Pepsi. Have many girl friends The
Complete Man—Raymonds. Having many boyfriends Yeh hai hamara suraksha
chakra—Colgate.
Our tastes, our habits, our clothes, modes of travel, entertainment, our choices of
schools, colleges, universities, leave aside products, get decided by
advertisements. Our hopes and frustrations too are ordained by advertisement.
The electronic society is losing touch with reality, as did the industrial society with
nature. We now live, not in a real but virtual world. We care more for the
photograph than the face before us.
Perhaps the most pernicious effect of advertisements is on middle-class children
and their relations with parents. Some of them have become “couch potatoes”,
watching too much television, and unavoidably, too many advertisements. Craze
for fatty, fast foods among boys and girls is due to advertisements. This is
affecting children’s health and growth. Working couples do not have time and
give hefty pocket money to please their children who spend on chips and candies,
spoiling their teeth and digestive system.
Advertisers make viewer/consumer believe that their product will make them
achieve goals or fulfil desires. They are commercializing our festivals, religious
practices, sports and cultural events. Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Gurparb, all have
been tuned into commercial displays of saleable goods, bought, at times, beyond
means.