This Ad Is Full Of Lies

W

hat is advertising? An American is exposed to about 1000 advertisements per day. That means if anything that people are supposed to know most about, then it is none other than ADVERTISING. But often a large fraction of people hold myths on it. They have misconceptions about advertising. They think an ad is full of lies.

By the way if you want the best definition of ADVERTISING, it is informally given by AAAA: Advertising is another word for freedom of choice. I suppose that’s their slogan!

Talking about myths… myth is generally understood as something that seems very true and credible, but deep down inside the real face value is completely somewhat different, usually at the extreme opposite of what is held to be true. Now I admit that I don’t know how the Oxford or the Webster defines “myth” but that’s what I think MYTH is. Just check out the home address of the website you are in. It is a myth… The LINKINMYTH.

Let me get to the point! Consider this article an advertisement. Of course, everything is an advert. You write a love letter (or Lov-e-mail or Lov-tw-eeeT). That is not just Love stuff. That’s an ad… you are trying to sell yourself to your target… your beloved. The father of Modern Advertising, David Ogilvy (He’s the LEGEND for me) once said: “Treat your customer as your wife… Now would you lie to your wife?” I don’t know whether the modern husbands lie to their modern wives or not, but I am sure you got the idea. Everyone is an ad man! Deal with it!

Advertising, as seen by general public, is intellectual and moral pollution. It trivializes, manipulates, is insincere and vulgarizes. “Holy Smoke”, said Ogilvy “Is that what I do for a living?” Holy Hell… Is that what I am gonna do as my career? I ask to myself.

In order to clear these misconceptions about the “advertising”, back in 20^th century, I suppose, 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies) published an ad full of lies and myths. The ad was somewhat more or less as the following:

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LIE #1: ADVERTISING MAKES YOU BUY THINGS YOU DON’T WANT. Advertising is often accused of inducing people to buy things against their will.

But when was the last time you returned home from the local shopping mall with a bag full of things you had absolutely no use for? The truth is, nothing short of pointed gun can get anybody to spend money on something he or she doesn’t want.

No matter how effective an ad is, you and millions of other American consumers make your own decisions. If you don’t believe it, ask someone who knows firsthand about the limits of advertising. Like your Edsel dealer.

LIE #2: ADVERTISING MAKES THINGS COST MORE. Since advertising costs money, it’s natural to assume it costs you money. But the truth is that advertising often brings prices down.

Consider the electronic calculator, for example. In the late 1960s, advertising created a mass market for calculators. That meant more of them needed to be produced, which brought the price of producing each calculator down. Competition spurred by advertising brought the price down still further.

As a result, the same product that used to cost hundreds of dollars now costs as little as five dollars.

LIE #3: ADVERTISING HELPS BAD PRODUCTS SELL. Some people worry that good advertising sometimes covers up for bad products.

But nothing can make you like a bad product. So, while advertising can help convince you to try something once, it can’t make you buy it twice. If you don’t like what you have bought, you won’t buy it again. And if enough people feel the same way, the product dies on the shelf.

In other words, the only thing advertising can do for a bad product is help you find out it is a bad product. And you take it from there.

LIE #4: ADVERTISING IS A WASTE OF MONEY. Some people wonder why we don’t just put all the money spent on advertising directly into our national economy.

The answer is, we already do.

Advertising helps products sell, which holds down prices, which helps sell even more. It creates jobs. It informs you about all the products available and helps you compare them. And it stimulates the competition that produces new and better products at reasonable prices.

If all that doesn’t convince you that advertising is important to our economy, you might as well stop reading.

Because on top of everything else, advertising has paid for a large part of the newspaper you’re now holding.

And that’s the truth.

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 © Linkinmyth: This Ad is full of Lies by AAAA.