The Flip Side of Advertising

                         THE  FLIP SIDE OF ADVERTISING

Advertising the moment we come across the word, we imagine a series of commercials

on radio, television ,magazines, newspaper ,online ,hoardings ,banners, mobiles, vehicles etc.
 Literally ‘advertise’ means ‘to draw attention of public. It means commercials

broadcasted on different media vehicles.

                            According to AMA- advertising means non personal presentation and

promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor. Advertising comprises of 3 A’s.
• Advertiser is the manufacturer or service provider who desires to promote his goods or service.
• Agency is the body or an organization which the seller hires to make ads and some agencies even book time slot on the media which the commercial is to be shown.
• Audience is the target group who is to be focused to promote the goods or services and who  later on becomes the consumer.

.                                       But I feel advertising in not all about promotion and presentation

of goods, ideas and services. I would rather define ‘advertising’ today - as a stimuli

which persuades the target audience to purchase or hire any goods or services by

striking at their cognitive level.
                                      If we look into the annals of history, we would find the prevalence of commercial messages and political campaign display in the ruin of ancient Arabia, Greece and even Rome. This shows advertising existed all round the world even in those times. Advertising has came a long way since its inception. It was used

for the first time  for making announcements and since then it has transformed drastically.
. If we go to the history of advertising we would find that advertising

was classified earlier on the basis of media vehicle which was used. Advertising in the

pre-printing era and printing era.

Advertising in printing era began in 17th century in England, when newspaper began to develop. In 1841,the first advertising agency was established in Boston by Volney Palmer.

However, the great break for advertising came only in the late 19th Century, when

 technology and mass production techniques were sufficiently developed, due to industrial revolution .

Today advertising is said to have entered its third phase. The third phase is the phase of

modern advertising, which began somewhere in 90’s,with the arrival of satellite television,

internet, web-marketing, e-biz, and e-commerce, has modified the very nature of advertising. In the modern era,

advertising is playing a multifarious role though it is neither education, nor journalism or

entertainment but it is playing the role of all three. Advertising  has become more 

become dynamic in nature.  Today it is used not only for informing

but also for reminding, guiding, persuading, competing etc .It is also used for building

brand image and sometimes companies image as  well. In the following diagram we can

see that how with passage of time, advertising role in the society also kept on changing.

                                              Changing roles of advertising

1st phase                                            2nd phase                                        3rd phase

Informs                                           Promotes                                          Misguides
Announces                                     Guides                                              Manipulates
Declares                                        Motivates                                           Persuades

                                                   
The changing role of advertising can also be noticed by its  classification into various era’s as follows:-

1.The personal selling era-in this era there was no medium for marketing

communication, the goods were exchanged with other goods. Barter system was

prevalent, the exchange of goods took place only for personal consumption.

2.The product era-during this period sellers tried to make products which attracted

consumers. During this era  consumers did not have much variety in products. It was that

period when in soft drinks we had only coca cola, in detergents we had nirma and surf.

3.The sales era-in this era there was a transition from information to persuasion, hard selling approach was used.

4.The consumer era-in this era sellers realized that  ‘Consumer is king’.  It was in this

era that marketers realized the need to study human behavior and consumer

psychographics.  In depth research, subliminal advertising, emerging of  concept of USP

 also came up in this era.

5.The positioning era-‘Half a mind is better than none’ with the device of USP, appeal
based on perceived value of product was used in ads. The goods were sold by linking

them   with emotions like self confidence, social status etc. Titan theme of gift of love for

daughters. Onida- neighbors envy, owners pride are some of the examples to be quoted.

6.The value marketing era- In this era advertisers realized that they are no more free to

promote their product without any substantiality and truth. They need to be responsible

for what ever they advertise.

7.The social awakening era- Since we have stepped in to the social awakening era,

where the society and the consumers both have become vivacious and are very well

aware of their rights and duties. This vivacious group of public is putting immense

pressure on the advertisers to become socially responsible. Since social responsibility is

an obligation  on every individual and business running in the society.

                                     The ‘sociological school ‘of jurisprudence very rightly says that law emerges from
people and society. This means that as society changes law also changes with them, and

this change is brought initially in the form of customs and practices which later on takes

the form of law. with the advancement of technology and quick knowledge acquisition

there is emergence of new issues in all walks of life and  to handle these new situations

laws are bound to be made and amended.. The  enactment of Consumer Protection Act

1986,Human Rights, cyber laws, RTI  Act 2000 the legal fraternity has not only strengthened

the hands of public and consumers but is a proof in itself that with changes in lifestyles

new rules and regulations are must. If we look around we would find that advertising is

 the only field which remains untouched and the claws of law otherwise are spread in

almost all spheres.

                             
                                        Effect of advertising on our society

The impact of advertising on our society is a fiercely debated topic. There are negative as well as positive aspects of advertising.  Impact of advertising  on society is noticed in several areas. Advertisements which are made as ‘Jan hit mein jari’ for consumer awareness as ‘jago grahak jago’ by consumer forum and state government, and ‘ek blood zindagi ki’ for polio eradication are definitely for public welfare and it  has a positive social impact on society, where as advertising promoting and portraying women as sex objects has negative social impact. The other positive economic impact on society such as providing funding for media and stimulating an active competitive economy. There are number of incidents to be quoted where it was seen that public is forced to buy products and services which they don’t need.
And it is pathetic to see that all commercials promote materialism in society. They incite  the public to buy product for esteem, popularity ,prestige, praise, social advancement, improved appearance etc. Even if we look at commercials of car instead of highlighting the true attributes of car, advertisers promote it by relating it with esteem and social recognition in society. This is further facilitated by use of celebrities in commercials. One of the major criticism received is because of the fact that it forces people to buy things which they don’t need in reality. This is ensured by creating fear, anxiety or loss of social recognition, loss of prestige in peer group etc. It is also said that ads play with our emotions and takes advantage of them, to sell their product and services.

  If we go a decade back, we can very easily recall that television which is the most
popular medium today, neither had so many channels nor there was an explosion of ads
as we see today.. There are around 130 television channels in India broadcasting over 3
million
television commercials each year in India. The media-explosion can thus be easily
demonstrated. The society that we live in can not only be called secular or democratic, it
should be more appropriately termed as over-communicated these days More over, people
forget 80% of the information in just 24 hours! this is the scenario only on one via media, can
we imagine the plight of all medias, when taken together.  Same is the case in print
medium, if we talk about newspapers alone 80% of its space is sold for advertising.
      
The ad promoting a particular good never gives a objective and neutral statement about it
because it is always made by the seller.

No one can deny that an unbelievable quantity of bad products are for sale which makes
high claims and fool the ignorant consumers.

In retrospect, after the sale in other words, we can find out that the ad failed to let us know any or all of the following:
• it's made of substandard materials
• it tastes bad
• it's badly made
• it's made from leftovers and rejected materials
• it's made by someone undergoing forced labor
• it's far too expensive and should cost 10% of what it does because it is made much  cheaper somewhere else
• some of its ingredients or additives such as preservatives, colorings, etc. have been banned in your country for at least 30 years because of their carcinogenic effects (cancer inducing)
• there's really nothing in the product that is in the least bit beneficial to your physical or mental health
• it could be dangerous to your children
• it's made up of animal by products
• they are destroying a rain forest to produce it
• it's been designed exclusively to use all those other bits and pieces they would otherwise be stuck with
• it would kill any insect better than any spray if you would feed it to them instead of eating it yourself
• it's made from organic materials, not mentioning that those organics are animal byproducts and leftovers, bio-material even an experimental laboratory would label bio-hazard etc. etc. and so forth.
The list is quite endless once you get going the reality of it is quite depressing. The only
thing we can do is learn from our failures, i.e., never buy a product or anything else
manufactured by that company, or use that service again, until we are absolutely sure it is
now really worth our hard earned money and time.  Advertising is not only confined to
the wastage of money, time and energy of the consumers but is deeply ruining our
cultural values, traditions ,etiquettes for which our nation was known world over.
 Advertising has several positive aspects, but on the contrary it is becoming a necessary
evil. It has its dark side as well. The only thing is that its potentially harmful side goes
un-noticed an un-detected, there are innumerable negative effects of advertising.

                                                Ill effects of advertising

. Here are some of its most dangerous effects to be mentioned:-

1. Hidden cost
2. Misleads, misguides
3. Conditioning
4 .Degradation of art
5. Brings materialism
6. Increases expense
7. Limits consumer choice
8. Increases brand consciousness
9. Targets kids
10. Throws small and local players out
11. Motivates to purchase what is not needed
12 .Intrudes individual privacy
13. Degrades women

The very fact that advertising is becoming more of a curse is strengthened by                      
 a recent survey conducted in seven states of north India Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himanchal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh ,Rajasthan, Haryana , Uttaranchal , Chandigarh and NCR region following results were found:-

• 52.3%-felt that targeting children through advertising is objectionable
• 71.2%-felt that it is unethical to use sex in advertising
• 75.5%-feel advertising degrades women
• 52%- feel that advertising persuades  people to buy things which they should not buy
• 57.4%-feel that advertising is promoting materialism in society
• 55.9%-it makes people buy unaffordable products simply to show off.
• 67.1%-a legal limit should be placed on the amount of money a company can spend on advertising
• 69.5%-law should prohibit sexually suggestive advertising
• 71.8%-feel a judicial body should be there to enforce ethics in advertising

 It is hailed as a capitalistic virtue, an engine of free market economy and a promoter
of consumer welfare. but its critics accuse it of an arrays of sin ranging from economic waste to purveying of harmful products from sexism to deceit and manipulation, from triviality to intellectual and moral pollution.
It is becoming the lingua franca for large segments of our society.

                                                     Conclusion

The foundation of any human society is the amicable relationship among its members. Without harmony, a
society will collapse. So all the institutions within a society have some responsibility for helping to maintain
social harmony through proper , adherence to accepted ethical standards, willingness to assist various segments of the society, and
the courtesy to respect the privacy of others.
Advertising plays an important role in developed countries. It influences a society’s stability and growth. It
helps secure large armies, creates entertainment events attracting hundreds of thousands of fans, and often affects
the outcome of political elections. Such power places a burden of responsibility on those who sponsor, buy,
create, produce, and sell advertising to maintain ethical standards that support the society and contribute to the
economic and social system.

It has been very rightly said that  excess of everything is bad, so is the case with advertising. Next time you go for shopping or see an advertisement, ask yourself do you really need that product. Ask yourself what it really costs? Who is deciding your fate? Do you really need commodities to elevate your esteem in society? Can this same amount benefit a needy, a destitute ?. How many times we purchased a fairness cream, though we knew that claims made would rarely be true? How many times we bought things at sale and discount, when it was not needed at all. November 29th will be celebrated as BUY NOTHING DAY all over the world.