Advertisements are an attempt to con into buying a product based on it’s image Advertisement was developed in the early 19th century when merchants began to communicate their services and products one-on-one to their potential customers. When their business was growing bigger, this became an ineffective way of communication. Thanks to the proliferation of the print media, traders could then convey their messages in a much bigger scale. Later came the radio, the TV and even the Internet which all have a significant influence on the customers’ purchase decision and behaviour.
As advertisements have became more popular, its use in boosting a product becomes very common. Consumers are now easily tricked by unscrupulous advertisers do not keep what they have promised in their advertisements. An example of this would be the manufacturer of Carbonic Smoke Balls. They promised in their advertisement of offering i?? 100 to anyone-who caught influence after using their product. When a woman go and claim the i?? 100 the company refused. Furthermore there are instances that advertisers include false claims such as saying that using a specific product it would help you to grow your hair back when you are bald.
Some adverts project wrong images to the target audience such as drinking and smoking are cool or are a sign of success. One example of this is from Carlsberg’s television advert whereby a handsome man drinks Carlsberg and attracts a lot of beautiful ladies around him. Another example of presenting wrong images includes Perrier’s advert, where it’s company is advertising its product which is nothing more than bottled water, but it is projected as a way of life and for people with a style. Advertisers use other methods to draw consumers attention they use large bold word, humors, comics scripts and images that are large, bright, colorful.
Also in some cases they use models that are handsome or pretty to let the reader continue reading their advertisements. These are usually costly to the advertisers but when the consumers are “tricked” into buying the product these costs are being trickled down to them as these costs are usually added towards the total cost of the products. This means that consumers are paying far more than what they need to pay for a specific product. In another words, image advertisements add nothing to the buying process but will just add to the total cost of the product.
Most consumers would rather have to pay less than look at the advertisements. The images that advertisements project are very misleading. They usually only emphasize the positive side of the products or even claiming results which will never realized at all. This attracts people using the advertised products. There are no strict guidelines or laws to restrict the contents in the advertisements. For this reason advertisers very often use advertisements as a means to project a false image to woo the consumers in buying a specific product
Generally, I agree to the statement that advertisements are an attempt to con the consumer with buying a product based on its image. Instead of being used as a vehicle to give new and additional information about the products, advertisements are mostly used to project a desired image to attract more customers in buying the products. Tactics like using celebrities and other pop stars to tap into the youth market are common places that advertisers aim at, and that market itself has proved to be the most successful.
