the role of advertising in society essay

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The Role of Advertising in Society: Functions and Effects

Table of contents, functions of advertising, effects on consumers, broader cultural and economic implications, ethical considerations.

• Wells, W., Spence-Stone, R., & Moriarty, S. (2017). Advertising Principles and Practice. Pearson.
• Williamson, J. (2017). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. Routledge.
• De Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M., & Anckaert, P. (2007). Media context and advertising effectiveness: The role of context appreciation and context/ ad similarity. Journal of Advertising, 36(4), 53-67.
• Schudson, M. (1984). Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society. Basic Books.
• Kilbourne, J. (1999). Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. Simon & Schuster.

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Chapter 11: Advertising Industry

61 The role of advertising in society

Advertising is the paid promotion that uses strategy and messaging about the benefits of a product or service to influence a target audience’s attitudes and/or behaviors. Between online, television, radio, and print platforms, the average American sees hundreds, even thousands of advertisements daily.

Although many consumers find them annoying, advertisements play a prominent role in shaping opinions about everything from products to politics. A Forbes article (2012) stated: “Advertising plays the same role in your media diet that vegetables play in your regular diet; most of us would prefer to skip that course and go straight to dessert. But, just like veggies, advertising plays an important role in sustaining a body; in this case, a diverse body of content” (para. 1). Advertising heavily supports many institutions, including news media outlets, the television industry, search engine companies, and social media websites. For example, advertising contributes up to 80 percent of revenue for newspapers and therefore is critical to maintaining the circulation of the press (Newspaper Association of America, 2014).

The advertising industry is also lucrative. According to eMarketer (2016), the United States spent approximately $190 billion on advertising in 2015. About a third of that figure went to television advertisements, and another third went to digital advertising. With its economic and cultural function in society, the advertising industry has an expansive reach.

Writing for Strategic Communication Industries Copyright © 2016 by Jasmine Roberts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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9 (page 122) p. 122 The Role of Advertising in Society

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Can advertising be moral? The tripartite of advertising (advertisers, media, and agencies) ought to include a fourth element: the public. This is the group the critics of advertising are concerned about when they question the morality and benefits of advertising. The public should be viewed as overlapping and interacting with the other three groups. To explore the morality of advertising it is necessary to explore how advertising affects people. What is the role of advertising in society? It creates employment, provides the public with free and inexpensive media, it supports media independence, it provides information, it pushes prices down and quality up, and it spreads awareness of brands.

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11.1: The Role of Advertising in Society

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• Page ID 25185

• Jasmine Roberts
• The Ohio State University

Advertising is the paid promotion that uses strategy and messaging about the benefits of a product or service to influence a target audience’s attitudes and/or behaviors. Between online, television, radio, and print platforms, the average American sees hundreds, even thousands of advertisements daily.

Although many consumers find them annoying, advertisements play a prominent role in shaping opinions about everything from products to politics. A Forbes article (2012) stated: “Advertising plays the same role in your media diet that vegetables play in your regular diet; most of us would prefer to skip that course and go straight to dessert. But, just like veggies, advertising plays an important role in sustaining a body; in this case, a diverse body of content” (para. 1). Advertising heavily supports many institutions, including news media outlets, the television industry, search engine companies, and social media websites. For example, advertising contributes up to 80 percent of revenue for newspapers and therefore is critical to maintaining the circulation of the press (Newspaper Association of America, 2014).

The advertising industry is also lucrative. According to eMarketer (2016), the United States spent approximately $190 billion on advertising in 2015. About a third of that figure went to television advertisements, and another third went to digital advertising. With its economic and cultural function in society, the advertising industry has an expansive reach.

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Advertising Functions and Strategies

Advertising: pay to play.

Advertising is any paid form of communication from an identified sponsor or source that draws attention to ideas, goods, services or the sponsor itself. Most advertising is directed toward groups rather than individuals, and advertising is usually delivered through media such as television, radio, newspapers and, increasingly, the Internet. Ads are often measured in impressions (the number of times a consumer is exposed to an advertisement).

Advertising is a very old form of promotion with roots that go back even to ancient times. In recent decades, the practices of advertising have changed enormously as new technology and media have allowed consumers to bypass traditional advertising venues. From the invention of the remote control, which allows people to ignore advertising on TV without leaving the couch, to recording devices that let people watch TV programs but skip the ads, conventional advertising is on the wane. Across the board, television viewership has fragmented, and ratings have fallen.

Print media are also in decline, with fewer people subscribing to newspapers and other print media and more people favoring digital sources for news and entertainment. Newspaper advertising revenue has declined steadily since 2000. [1]  Advertising revenue in television is also soft, and it is split across a growing number of broadcast and cable networks. Clearly companies need to move beyond traditional advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital media outlets have happily stepped in to fill this gap. Despite this changing landscape, for many companies advertising remains at the forefront of how they deliver the proper message to customers and prospective customers.

The Purpose of Advertising

Advertising has three primary objectives: to inform, to persuade, and to remind.

• Informative Advertising  creates awareness of brands, products, services, and ideas. It announces new products and programs and can educate people about the attributes and benefits of new or established products.
• Persuasive Advertising tries to convince customers that a company’s services or products are the best, and it works to alter perceptions and enhance the image of a company or product. Its goal is to influence consumers to take action and switch brands, try a new product, or remain loyal to a current brand.
• Reminder Advertising  reminds people about the need for a product or service, or the features and benefits it will provide when they purchase promptly.

When people think of advertising, often product-focused advertisements are top of mind—i.e., ads that promote an organization’s goods or services. Institutional advertising  goes beyond products to promote organizations, issues, places, events, and political figures.  Public service announcements (PSAs) are a category of institutional advertising focused on social-welfare issues such as drunk driving, drug use, and practicing a healthy lifestyle. Usually PSAs are sponsored by nonprofit organizations and government agencies with a vested interest in the causes they promote.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising

As a method of marketing communication, advertising has both advantages and disadvantages. In terms of advantages, advertising creates a sense of credibility or legitimacy when an organization invests in presenting itself and its products in a public forum. Ads can convey a sense of quality and permanence, the idea that a company isn’t some fly-by-night venture. Advertising allows marketers to repeat a message at intervals selected strategically. Repetition makes it more likely that the target audience will see and recall a message, which improves awareness-building results. Advertising can generate drama and human interest by featuring people and situations that are exciting or engaging. It can introduce emotions, images, and symbols that stimulate desire, and it can show how a product or brand compares favorably to competitors. Finally, advertising is an excellent vehicle for brand building, as it can create rational and emotional connections with a company or offering that translate into goodwill. As advertising becomes more sophisticated with digital media, it is a powerful tool for tracking consumer behaviors, interests, and preferences, allowing advertisers to better tailor content and offers to individual consumers. Through the power of digital media, memorable or entertaining advertising can be shared between friends and go viral—and viewer impressions skyrocket.

The primary disadvantage of advertising is cost. Marketers question whether this communication method is really cost-effective at reaching large groups. Of course, costs vary depending on the medium, with television ads being very expensive to produce and place. In contrast, print and digital ads tend to be much less expensive. Along with cost is the question of how many people an advertisement actually reaches. Ads are easily tuned out in today’s crowded media marketplace. Even ads that initially grab attention can grow stale over time. While digital ads are clickable and interactive, traditional advertising media are not. In the bricks-and-mortar world, it is difficult for marketers to measure the success of advertising and link it directly to changes in consumer perceptions or behavior. Because advertising is a one-way medium, there is usually little direct opportunity for consumer feedback and interaction, particularly from consumers who often feel overwhelmed by competing market messages.

Developing Effective Ads: The Creative Strategy

Effective advertising starts with the same foundational components as any other IMC campaign: identifying the target audience and the objectives for the campaign. When advertising is part of a broader IMC effort, it is important to consider the strategic role advertising will play relative to other marketing communication tools. With clarity around the target audience, campaign strategy, and budget, the next step is to develop the creative strategy  for developing compelling advertising. The creative strategy has two primary components: the message and the appeal .

The message comes from the messaging framework discussed earlier in this module: what message elements should the advertising convey to consumers? What should the key message be? What is the call to action? How should the brand promise be manifested in the ad? How will it position and differentiate the offering? With advertising, it’s important to remember that the ad can communicate the message not only with words but also potentially with images, sound, tone, and style.

Marketers also need to consider existing public perceptions and other advertising and messages the company has placed in the market. Has the prior marketing activity resonated well with target audiences? Should the next round of advertising reinforce what went before, or is it time for a fresh new message, look, or tone?

Along with message, the creative strategy also identifies the appeal , or how the advertising will attract attention and influence a person’s perceptions or behavior. Advertising appeals can take many forms, but they tend to fall into one of two categories: informational appeal and emotional appeal.

The informational appeal offers facts and information to help the target audience make a purchasing decision. It tries to generate attention using rational arguments and evidence to convince consumers to select a product, service, or brand. For example:

• More or better product or service features: Ajax “Stronger Than Dirt”
• Cost savings:  Walmart “Always Low Prices”
• Quality: John Deere “Nothing runs like a Deere”
• Customer service: Holiday Inn “Pleasing people the world over”
• New, improved: Verizon “Can you hear me now? Good.”

The following Black+Decker commercial relies on an informational appeal to promote its product. (Note: There is no speech in this video; only instrumental music.)

Text alternative for “Black and Decker 20V MAX” (opens in new window).

The emotional appeal targets consumers’ emotional wants and needs rather than rational logic and facts. It plays on conscious or subconscious desires, beliefs, fears, and insecurities to persuade consumers and influence their behavior. The emotional appeal is linked to the features and benefits provided by the product, but it creates a connection with consumers at an emotional level rather than a rational level. Most marketers agree that emotional appeals are more powerful and differentiating than informational appeals. However, they must be executed well to seem authentic and credible to the the target audience. A poorly executed emotional appeal can come across as trite or manipulative. Examples of emotional appeals include:

• Self-esteem: L’Oreal “Because I’m worth it”
• Happiness: Coca-Cola “Open happiness”
• Anxiety and fear: World Health Organization “Smoking Kills”
• Achievement: Nike “Just Do It”
• Attitude: Apple “Think Different”
• Freedom: Southwest “You are now free to move about the country”
• Peace of Mind: Allstate “Are you in good hands?”
• Popularity: NBC “Must-see TV”
• Germophobia: Chlorox “For life’s bleachable moments, there’s Chlorox”

The following Heinz Ketchup commercial offers a humorous example of an ad based entirely on an emotional appeal:

Developing the Media Plan

The media plan is a document that outlines the strategy and approach for an advertising campaign, or for the advertising component in an IMC campaign. The media plan is developed simultaneously with the creative strategy. A standard media plan consists of four stages: (a) stating media objectives; (b) evaluating media; (c) selecting and implementing media choices; and (d) determining the media budget.

Media objectives are normally stated in terms of three dimensions:

• Reach: number of different persons or households exposed to a particular media vehicle or media schedule at least once during a specified time period.
• Frequency: the number of times within a given time period that a consumer is exposed to a message.
• Continuity: the timing of media assertions (e.g. 10 per cent in September, 20 per cent in October, 20 per cent in November, 40 per cent in December and 10 per cent the rest of the year).

The process of evaluating media involves considering each type of advertising available to a marketer, and the inherent strengths and weaknesses associated with each medium. The table below outlines key strengths and weaknesses of major types of advertising media. Television advertising is a powerful and highly visible medium, but it is expensive to produce and buy air time. Radio is quite flexible and inexpensive, but listenership is lower and it typically delivers fewer impressions and a less-targeted audience. Most newspapers and magazines have passed their advertising heydays and today struggle against declining subscriptions and readership.  Yet they can be an excellent and cost-effective investment for reaching some audiences. Display ads offer a lot of flexibility and creative options, from wrapping buses in advertising to creating massive and elaborate 3-D billboards. Yet their reach is limited to their immediate geography. Online advertising such as banner ads, search engine ads, paid listings, pay-per-click links and similar techniques offers a wide selection of opportunities for marketers to attract and engage with target audiences online. Yet the internet is a very crowded place, and it is difficult for any individual company to stand out in the crowd.

The evaluation process requires research to assess options for reaching their target audience with each medium, and how well a particular message fits the audience in that medium. Many advertisers rely heavily on the research findings provided by the medium, by their own experience, and by subjective appraisal to determine the best media for a given campaign.

To illustrate, if a company is targeting young-to-middle-aged professional women to sell beauty products, the person or team responsible for the media plan should evaluate what options each type of media offers for reaching this audience. How reliably can television, radio, newspapers or magazines deliver this audience? Media organizations maintain carefully-researched information about the size, demographics and other characteristics of their viewership or readership.

Cable and broadcast TV networks know which shows are hits with this target demographic and therefore which advertising spots to sell to a company targeting professional women. Likewise newspapers know which sections attract the eyeballs of female audiences, and magazines publishers understand very well the market niches their publications fit. Online advertising becomes a particularly powerful tool for targeted advertising because of the information it captures and tracks about site visitors: who views and clicks on ads, where they visit and what they search for.

Not only does digital advertising provide the opportunity to advertise on sites that cater to a target audience of professional women, but it can identify which of these women are searching for beauty products, and it can help a company target these individuals more intensely and provide opportunities for follow-up interaction.The following video further explains how digital advertising targets and tracks individuals based on their expressed interests and behaviors.

You can view the transcript for “Behavioral Targeting” here (opens in new window) .

Selection and Implementation

The media planner must make decisions about the media mix and timing, both of which are restricted by the available budget. The media-mix decision involves choosing the best combination of advertising media to achieve the goals of the campaign. This is a difficult task, and it usually requires evaluating each medium quantitatively and qualitatively to select a mix that optimizes reach and budget. Unfortunately, there are few valid rules of thumb to guide this process, in part because it is difficult to compare audiences across different types of advertising media. For example, Nielsen ratings measure audiences based on TV viewer reports of the programs watched, while outdoor (billboard) audience-exposure estimates are based on counts of the number of automobiles that pass particular outdoor poster locations. The “timing of media” refers to the actual placement of advertisements during the time periods that are most appropriate, given the selected media objectives. It includes not only the scheduling of advertisements, but also the size and position of the advertisement.

There are three common patterns for advertising scheduling:

• Continuous  advertising runs ads steadily at a given level indefinitely. This schedule works well products and services that are consumed on a steady basis throughout the year, and the purpose of advertising is to nudge consumers, remind them and keep a brand or product top-of-mind.
• Flighting  involves heavy spurts of advertising, followed by periods with no advertising. This type of schedule makes sense for products or services that are seasonal in nature, like tax services, as well as one-time or occasional events.
• Pulsing mixes continuous scheduling with flighting, to create a constant drum-beat of ads, with periods of greater intensity. This approach matches products and services for which there is year-round appeal, but there may be some seasonality or periods of greater demand or intensity. Hotels and airlines, for example, might increase their advertising presence during the holiday season.

When considering advertising as a marketing communication method, companies need to balance the cost of advertising–both of producing the advertising pieces and buying placement—against the total budget for the IMC program. The selection and scheduling of media have a huge impact on budget: advertising that targets a mass audience is generally more expensive than advertising that targets a local or niche audience. It is important for marketers to consider the contribution advertising will make to the whole. Although advertising is generally one of the more expensive parts of the promotion mix, it may be a worthwhile investment if it contributes substantially to the reach and effectiveness of the whole program. Alternatively, some marketers spend very little on advertising because they find other methods are more productive and cost-effective for reaching their target segments.

Anatomy of an Advertisement

Advertisements use several common elements to deliver the message. The visual is the picture, image, or situation portrayed in the advertisement. The visual also considers the emotions, style, or look-and-feel to be conveyed: should the ad appear tender, businesslike, fresh, or supercool? All of these considerations can be conveyed by the visual, without using any words.

The headline is generally what the viewer reads first—i.e., the words in the largest typeface. The headline serves as a hook for the appeal: it should grab attention, pique interest, and cause the viewer to keep reading or paying attention. In a radio or television ad, the headline equivalent might be the voice-over of a narrator delivering the primary message, or it might be a visual headline, similar to a print ad.

In print ads, a subhead is a smaller headline that continues the idea introduced in the headline or provides more information. It usually appears below the headline and in a smaller typeface.

The body copy  provides supporting information. Generally it appears in a standard, readable font.  The call to action may be part of the body copy, or it may appear elsewhere in a larger typeface or color treatment to draw attention to itself.

A variety of brand elements  may also appear in an advertisement. These include the name of the advertiser or brand being advertised, the logo, a tagline, hashtag, Web site link, or other standard “branded” elements that convey brand identity. These elements are an important way of establishing continuity with other marketing communications used in the IMC campaign or developed by the company. For example, print ads for an IMC campaign might contain a campaign-specific tagline that also appears in television ads, Website content, and social media posts associated with the campaign.

Ad Testing and Measurement

When organizations are poised to make a large investment in any type of advertising, it is wise to conduct marketing research to test the advertisements with target audiences before spending lots of money on ads and messages that may not hit the mark. Ad testing may preview messages and preliminary ad concepts with members of a target segment to see which ones resonate best and get insight about how to fine-tune messages or other aspects of the ad to make them more effective. Organizations may conduct additional testing with near-final advertising pieces to do more fine-tuning of the messages and visuals before going public.

To gauge the impact of advertising, organizations may conduct pre-tests and post-tests of their target audience to measure whether advertising has its intended effect. A pre-test assesses consumer attitudes, perceptions, and behavior before the advertising campaign. A post-test measures the same things afterward to determine how the ads have influenced the target audience, if at all.

Companies may also measure sales before, during, and after advertising campaigns run in the geographies or targets where the advertising appeared. This provides information about the return on investment for the campaign, which is how much the advertising increased sales relative to how much money it cost to execute. Ideally advertising generates more revenue and, ultimately profits, than it costs to mount the advertising campaign.

• Weissman, J. (2014, April 28). The decline of newspapers hits a stunning milestone. Slate. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/04/28/decline_of_newspapers_hits_a_milestone_print_revenue_is_lowest_since_1950.html ↵

Advertising Functions and Strategies Copyright © by Enyonam Osei-Hwere and Patrick Osei-Hwere is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The term ‘to advertise’ originally meant ‘to call attention to’, ‘to notify or warn’, or to ‘give advice’ of something, a conception gradually narrowed to the idea of ‘making publicly known’, particularly through some journal, placard or bulletin. Many of the first newspapers included the word ADVERTISER in their title — they were journals that advised or gave notice of things. And in the beginning they advised potential buyers of where they might obtain goods and services as part of the news. ‘In other words these original publications of the seventeenth century regarded the desire of someone to buy or sell something as news just as much as other events of the week, even the reporting of a battle’. 1 Eventually the concept was restricted to the giving of notice about things for sale, and finally it evolved into the present sense of systematic persuasion to buy the things offered for sale.

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Notes and References

Colin Cherry, World Communication , 1978, 37.

Google Scholar  

Raymond Williams, ‘Advertising: the Magic System’, in his Problems in Materialism and Culture , 1980, 185.

See L. N. Reid and L.C. Soley, ‘Generalized and Personalized Attitudes Toward Advertising’s Social and Economic Effects’, Journal of Advertising , 11(3), 1982, 3–7

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William Leiss et al ., Social Communication in Advertising , 1986, 15.

See R.W. Pollay, ‘The Distorted Mirror: Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of Advertising’, Journal of Marketing , 50(2), 1986, 28

C. J. Brown et al ., The Media and the People , 1978, 62.

Gillian Dyer, Advertising as Communication , 1982, 3.

Book   Google Scholar  

See R. M. Durand and Z.V. Lambert, ‘Alienation and Criticisms of Advertising’, Journal of Advertising , 14(3), 1985, 9–17

John Gloag, Advertising in Modern Life , 1959, 6. Note that the consumer is ‘she’ — a fairly common convention in advertising literature.

See Gillian Dyer, Advertising as Communication , 1982, 8–9.

See Fred Inglis, The Imagery of Power , 1972, 18.

See Mason Griff, ‘Advertising: The Central Institution of Mass Society’, Diogenes , 68, 1969, 120–22

D. M. Potter, People of Plenty , 1954, 177.

Vance Packard, The Waste Makers , 1960, 319.

Ronald Berman, Advertising and Social Change , 1981, 103.

Robin Wight, The Day the Pigs Refused to be Driven to Market , 1972, 196.

Daniel Boorstin, The Image , 1961, 204.

H. I. Schiller, The Mind Managers , 1973, 1.

K. B. Rotzoll et al ., Advertising in Contemporary Society , 1986, 25.

J. S. Coleman, The Asymmetric Society , 1982, 132.

Michael Schudson, ‘Criticizing the Critics of Advertising’, Media, Culture and Society , 3(1), 1981, 11

See Frank Whitehead, ‘Advertising’, in Denys Thompson (ed.), Discrimination and Popular Culture , 1964, 31.

See R. C. Quarles and L.W. Jeffres, ‘Advertising and National Consumption’, Journal of Advertising , 12(2), 1983, 13

David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising , 1983, 207.

Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream , 1985, 189.

D. L. Paletz and R. M. Entman, Media—Power—Politics , 1981, 179.

Rosemary Scott, The Female Consumer , 1976, 224. Note also

Alladi Venkatesh, The Significance of the Women’s Movement to Marketing , 1985.

Dorothy Aaron, About Face: Towards a Positive Image of Women in Advertising , 1975, 8.

Erving Goffman, Gender Advertisements , 1979, 45.

See Rena Bartos, The Moving Target: What Every Marketeer Should Know About Women , 1982, 228ff.

Denise Warren, ‘Commercial Liberation’, Journal of Communication , 28(1), 1978, 169

Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream , 1985, 169–70.

Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism , 1978, 74. See also

D. L. Paletz and R.M. Entman, Media Power Politics , 1981, 178–9.

Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schroeder, The Language of Advertising , 1985, 108.

See A. E. Courtney and T.W. Whipple, Sex Stereotyping in Advertising , 1983, 10–12.

See, for example, Mark Snyder, ‘On the Self—Perpetuating Nature of Social Stereotypes’, in D.L. Hamilton (ed.), Cognitive Processes in Stereotyping and Intergroup Behavior , 1981, 204.

A. E. Courtney and T. W. Whipple, Sex Stereotyping in Advertising , 1983, 191.

See Cyndy Scheibe, ‘Sex Roles in TV Commercials’, Journal of Advertising Research , 9(1), 1979, 23

J. K. Galbraith, Economics and the Public Purpose , 1974, 37.

David Reisman, Galbraith and Market Capitalism , 1980, 78.

Robert MacNeil, The People Machine , 1968, 79–80.

Quoted by Michael Botein and D.M. Rice, Network Television and the Public Interest , 1980, 193.

R. W. Jencks, ‘How Network Program Decisions are Made’, in Michael Botein and David Rice (eds.), Network Television and the Public Interest , 1980, 37. See the other papers in this collection for a wider treatment of network sponsoring.

See G.W. Goldie, Facing the Nation , 1977, 20.

For a lengthy discussion of this theme see James Curran, ‘The Impact of Advertising in British Mass Media’, Media, Culture and Society , 3(1), 1981, 43–69

See Eric Clark, The Want Makers , 1988, 38–40.

Giancarlo Buzzi, Advertising: Its Cultural and Political Effects , 1968, 121.

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Role of Media in Society Essay

Introduction, overview of the role of media in society, works cited.

In today’s society, the flow of information among the citizenry plays an important role towards the development of an informed society. To this effect, the media has been instrumental in ensuring that the population gets current news and information on different issues affecting various societies.

Arguably, without the media, the world would consist of an ignorant population devoid of any relevant information relating to issues affecting their environment. With this in mind, it could be argued that the media provides the backdrop against which we make sense of any new conditions and information that we encounter in a world that is increasingly becoming globalized.

Since its conception, the media has been hugely influential in the development of the society. The media can be used to drive public opinion, report on current news and advance some social values. The media is at best a complex genre which may be broken down into a large number of sub-genres such as news stories, opinion columns, advertisements, sports and horoscopes to name but a few.

As such, the role of the media in today’s society is important because it essentially helps individuals get access to valuable information, educate the people in the communities and is a useful, affordable and an economical tool for entertainment.

In today’s society, the social issue that has particularly struck individuals through the decades is that of the media. In this study, the various opinions held in regard to the media and how it operates shall be provided. Through the analysis of relevant literature, a brief yet informative discussion of the various benefits that have been enjoyed as a result of the media shall be presented. This shall be done by highlighting key areas where the media has been instrumental.

These areas include but are not limited to: provision of information, a source of education and knowledge, link between members of the global community and a source of entertainment. The differing opinions propagated by media critics shall also be presented. This shall at the end help us understand the roles that the media plays in society as well as the extent to which the media has been successful in performing its duties.

As such, it shall be a worthwhile endeavor to shed some light on the benefits as well as the costs that have risen due to the presence and effects of the media in our societies. This analysis shall help in the provision of a clearer understanding on how the media affects society.

The media is arguably one of the most powerful agents for change and the betterment of society. Its role as the society’s eyes; indeed a ‘watchdog’ constantly monitoring and critiquing the actions of those in authority for the betterment of society are some of the attributes that previously made the media seem as a positive influence to society.

The ability of media to so accurately reflect the mood of the society and advocate for people to fight against social injustices and vices portrays the media as a tool for promoting justice, equality and harmony among the masses.

In regards to this statement, the current states of affairs indicate that societies are ridden with selfishness and actions aimed at advancing individual goals. This can be derived from the argument raised by Michael Meyers who claims that today’s media does not educate the audience but train them (Kramer, Meyers and Rothstein 582).

This he attributes to the fact that the media outlets no longer providing credible information. In this regard, the audience does not buy the truth, but what prominent figures want them to believe. The author is trying to bring out the fact that media is biased.

The proposed biasness has its root in the anti-intellectual and anti-democratic media. In addition, the media’s advertisement of products and services is an act aimed at enabling the consumers to make informed choices. As Bernt explains, the skills and artistic nature used to present persuasive advertisements help consumers relate products to their lifestyle and preferences (193).

Texts and images represented in advertisement can signify a myriad of meanings to the viewer. All this is in an attempt by the creator of the advert to persuade the consumer to think, feel or act in a predetermined manner (Bernt 194). Advertisement is therefore more of an educative venture than a deliberate attempt to sway the consumer in any predetermined direction since in the end; the consumers are better informed of the variety of brands that are at their disposal.

Bernt suggests that the heavy emphasis of advertisements in media is due to the fact that advertisers are the dominant sources of revenue for most modern media (193). The influence that advertisements have on the people is colossal as can be inferred from the rise in sales for corporations that engage in large-scale advertisement.

Bernt further asserts that the persuasive nature of advertisements has had a great effect on American culture in regards to the relationship between working hard and purchasing power (193). Bernt asserts that advertisements have “replaced Puritanism or the Protestant work ethic as the driving force in American society that causes people to work hard in order to shop even harder (193).”

The various forms of entertainment availed e.g. Movies, sports, interactive programs and Music productions are very important means of relieving stress after a long day at work. In addition, they help alleviate boredom. As such, the sole agenda of such products is recreational and providing means for people to enjoy themselves and connect (Bellah et al 67).

For example, through satellite television providers like DSTV people all over the world are able to enjoy the entertainment genre that best suit their preferences. Examples include movies, sports, music and news. Truth be told, football clubs would never have gained such a strong and wide fan base were it not for the media.

In regards to change in journalism, Pavlik highlights on how journalism has been affected by the transformation of the new media (Fernback 163).

In his opinion, new media technologies have greatly affected the traditional perspective of journalism. This he explains by expounding on the new journalistic trends such as changes in the contents provided to the audience as news, changes in how journalists work, structural changes in news organizations and changes that have occurred in the correlations between media outlets, journalists and different audiences (Fernback 163).

These changes brought about by new media technologies have to a large extent led to the contextualization of journalism; a situation whereby journalism has become less objective and practical.

On the same note, Palvik (as cited by Fernback 163) further notes that these new trends perceive journalists as interpreters of current events who in their efforts “empower the audience and reconnect communities (Fernback 163).”

According to Palvik, the new transformations being experienced in media outlets can be attributed to the availability and emergence of online infrastructure, high degree of customization, instantaneity and interactivity that characterize new media. In his point of view, Palvik believes that such developments will at the end make journalism a better tool to promote democracy (Fernback 163).

Evidence of such developments can be derived from the emergence of the internet and the online architecture that supports this vast source of information. Through online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia and the various search engines, people are able to access information and learn about different issues that affect their lives.

In addition, students in all academic fields are able to do more research in their designated fields and as a result, they become more knowledgeable in these areas than they would have been while using the traditional means of acquiring knowledge. Similarly, the internet has also provided people with a global means of communicating and learning about each other through websites like “facebook” and “twitter”.

People from different countries globally are able to interact and socialize in the comfort of their homes without the inconveniencies caused by travelling as well as the enormous costs that would have otherwise been incurred. These facts prove Palvik’s assertion that new media is at the forefront in empowering the masses (by providing useful information) and connecting communities (interactive nature of the internet, radio and TV talk shows e. t. c.).

On the other hand, Preston (as cited by Fernback 163) contends that the transformations being experienced in media are as a result of political, social, economical and communication patterns rather than technological developments.

Preston asserts that the interrelation that exists between social and informational sciences accompanied by non-academic and industrial literatures can be used by media so as to develop an equitable society and ensure social order (Fernback 163). In his book reshaping communication , Preston uses the aforementioned aspects to develop a model that explores the social role of information and communication in societies today (Fernback 163).

In his opinion, Preston argues that our cultural, informational and social bearings are hinged not on technological advancements, but on the socioeconomic, political and communication trends that we adapt (Fernback 164). In this regard, it can arguably be stated that the role of the media in society is not determined by technological advancements, but by the socio-technical paradigm (Fernback 164).

The positive view of the media has greatly been challenged with time. No longer do the various media outlets stand out as the ‘last front were nobility and idealism still had a foothold.’ Instead, the media just like any other business has been influenced by competition and ratings. As such, it has been noted for a fact that media outlets do at times express their own biased opinions which may not always be ideal or noble at that.

For example, Gay Talese attests to the fact that the New York Times editor Gerald Boyd refused to print a story about an interracial wedding simply because it never emphasized on Black victimization (Kramer, Meyers and Rothstein 575). According to Gay Talese, any story that would soften the perception people had on such issues was disallowed and could not be printed (Kramer, Meyers and Rothstein 575).

In this case, the Media’s actions which were previously perceived as being selfless and socially motivated have been exposed to not always have been driven by benevolence. These actions are at times resounded with self interests and personal gains for the media houses and the corporations that sponsor them.

The previous view of the media’s ability to correctly reflect on the society’s mood has also been greatly questioned as the media does at time appear to affect the set the society’s mood as opposed to reflecting it through the use of propaganda. (Kramer, Meyers and Rothstein suggest that the one of the media’s greatest power is in its ability to subtly influence our opinion (575).

They further assert that in events that elicit a lot of public opinion, propaganda plays a great role and polarizes people along lines that they may not necessarily have taken had they not been “persuaded” to do so.

This subtle psychological nudges can be used to further the cause of big corporations in the form of advertisements or by politicians who want to sway public opinions for their own good. To this effect, the people’s previous trust in the media report has therefore been greatly clouded by this realization.

In terms of the unbiased reporting which had for a long time been viewed to be the hallmark of the popular media, it has been noted that some media reports are actually aimed at making the recipient of the information form a certain pre-determined opinion thus destroying any illusion of un-biasness (Kramer, Meyers and Rothstein 575).

Media outlets can therefore set out to further some social cause which they believe in. Using the cultivation theory, Burton propose that exposure to some kinds of media often cultivate certain attitudes and values (Steffen 455). As an example, Steffen sheds some light on how Arab media has in the recent past adopted the western form of journalism and media presentation (455).

In this regard, the author states that even journalists from countries such as Egypt and other Arabic countries which has stringent media policies accept western media values such as accuracy and balance (Steffen 455). As such, the reporter’s opinions and attitude will rub on the general population thus coloring their view of some events.

In addition, the aforementioned assertion that advertisement aired in different media outlets is aimed at making the consumer better informed has been changed by evidence which strongly suggests that advertisements are aimed at actively influencing the decision that the consumer makes or may make in future (Steffen 456).

What this means is that advertisement is no longer a primary tool for marketing, instead, it has been used to combat the aggressive competition. To this effect, only the consumers suffer because the advertisements no longer help them make informed decisions about the products but instead, the advertisements influence their judgments by giving half-truths.

An especially troubling fact that revealed through various research efforts is that uncontrolled media in some instances leads to desensitization of the population on issues such as violence.

Continuous exposure to media violence especially on the young and impressionable segment of the population can lead to catastrophic results as has been witnessed before in the various random shootouts that occur in our schools. Research shows that media violence encourages aggressive behavior and leads to pessimism in children (Burton 123; Steffen 456).

This information contradicts the aforementioned perception of the media as a guardian and propagator of social values since the compelling evidence presented by research showed that media also leads to breaking of social values and leads to a disruption of harmony through the violence it encourages.

On the same note, rampant advertisements through media outlets have in the recent past characterized modern media. These advertisements aim at influencing the consumer to maintain or develop some form of ideology (Bernt 194). This close relationship that media and advertising have developed raises concerns over the influences that the media may be willing to wield so as to achieve the advertising objectives.

A closer observation of the movies and other entertainment forms presented by the media revealed heavy advertisements therein. These rampant acts of branding were previously unknown to many and their effect though unconsciously administered is substantial.

The media’s promotion of social values is also at times only used as a cover to influence consumers by use of advertisement (Fernback 164). Due to these advertisements, naive recipients of the information presented are unwittingly influenced into buying the products that the particular advertisements promote.

This is at best a very irresponsible behavior by the media since most people are favorably disposed to agree with sentiments that are projected by the media. These misuses of social issues as a marketing tool have also changed the positive role that the media was supposed to deliver. This is mainly due to the fact that the media is being used as a tool for furthering the objectives of corporations at the cost of an unsuspecting population.

The role played by the media in today’s society cannot be understated. However, caution should be taken because as expressed in this study, not all media is healthy. Through this research, the knowledge that has been transferred herein should not make the public skeptical of the media but should help them become more skeptical about the issues being addressed through various media outlets.

This will invariably transform them from being passive, unquestioning and all-believing recipients, to active and questioning recipients of the information which is provided by the media. Nevertheless, a free and vibrant media is necessary for the good of the society. An unfettered media is the hallmark of a truly unbiased society. However, one should adopt a more questioning stance when dealing with any information provided by the media.

Bellah, Robert. ET AL.”Community, Commitment, and Individuality.” Literacies: Reading, Writing, Interpretation. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. 65-74. Print.

Bernt, Joseph. P. “Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture: Advertising’s Impact on American Character and Society.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 78.1 (2001): 193-194. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.

Fernback, Jan. “Journalism and New Media / Reshaping Communications: Technology, Information and Social Change.” Journalism & Mass Communication Educator 57.2 (2002): 162-164. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.

Kramer Hilton, Michael Meyers and Edward Rothstein. “The media and our country’s agenda.” Partisan Review 69.4 (2002): 574-606. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.

Steffen, Brian. J. “Media and Society: Critical Perspectives.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 83.2 (2006): 455-456. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2019, October 23). Role of Media in Society. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-media/

"Role of Media in Society." IvyPanda , 23 Oct. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-media/.

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1. IvyPanda . "Role of Media in Society." October 23, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-media/.

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The role of advertisement in modern world | essay.

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Essay on the Role of Advertisement in Modern World!

In the competitive and capital-intensive world of television shows, advertising plays an important role by financing many programmes. Unfortunately, sponsorships come more easily for entertainment programmes perceived as ‘popular’ with wide reach. So we have a glut of the same kind of programmes on most channels even as ‘serious’ kind of entertainment— classical music, dance, drama, documentaries—or programmes of socio-economic concerns are minimal because advertisers do not consider these to be widely watched. This approach seriously limits the scope of media in disseminating cultural awareness and values.

Advertising is a way to showcase one’s products or services and offer consumers a vast choice in terms of what they are offered and what they can choose to buy. For the consumers, advertising offers them a choice to get at the best in the market at the best price.

Today, it is unimaginable to expect people, especially in urban areas, to spend their money buying products of which they haven’t heard a thing. People know what is in the market and then choose what they want. Nothing can be more satisfying than this, for then one gets his or her money’s worth. But advertising has been not only a boon, but also a bane in many ways.

Advertising relies on consumerism to succeed and consumer’s judge by materialistic standards. Moreover, successful advertising means emerging triumphant in the face of tough competition, often without consideration of high standards or aesthetic tastes.

Advertising being crass and opportunistic in its very basis, the overemphasis on advertising today is a bane. Advertisers tend to appeal to popular (even ‘low’) tastes to appeal to a larger section of the population. Images of sex and violence are used to attract viewers’ attention—a kind of ‘negative’ appeal is produced to sustain interest.

Products become ‘known’ then because of the ‘hype’ or ‘advertising’ appeal that they have, even though the products themselves may not be of the required standard. Lies are resorted to when advertising, and with time no one objects to the trend.

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The Role Of Advertising In Society Marketing Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Disclaimer: This essay has been written and submitted by students and is not an example of our work. Please click this link to view samples of our professional work witten by our professional essay writers . Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssayCompany.

In this essay I would like to consider two schools of thought on the role of advertising in society. The first - advertising stimulates demand and is good for the economy in general; the second - advertising creates "false needs" and generally contributes to the over consumption of social and natural resources. As a matter of fact, life of modern society is unthinkable without the advertising. Advertising - is a dynamic, rapidly transforming sphere of human activity. For many centuries, being the constant companion of man, it changes along with us. The nature of advertising, its content and form are undergoing drastic metamorphosis with the development of the productive forces of society, changing socio-economic formations. The role of advertising in modern society is not limited to any outside commercial communications, or even the entire market activity. The value of advertising is increasing in almost all areas of economic and social life, as described in Advertising and the big society.

As a fact, today, there is no doubt that advertising plays a key role in the development of market economy. Advertising stimulates demand and economy in general. That is why countries with high living standards spend huge amounts of money on advertising. Cliché that advertisement - is the motor trade, adequately discloses the basic function of advertising: transmission of product information, familiarity with potential buyers and their belief in the need to purchase. It is not just the study of information and learning with a certain, very specific purpose - to increase demand for goods. Advertising is just a tool of the market like trading or any other. As a rule, advertising provides an opportunity to sell potential consumer a message about your product or service. And so, to make buyers choose this product, the service all others. At the core of advertising - is information and beliefs. Advertising in the media contributes to the development of mass market goods and services and, ultimately, the investments of entrepreneurs in production are warranted. The value of advertising is still in the fact that it attracts many talented people - artists, writers, directors, actors, singers, etc. All together they make advertising like an art. Advertising, in turn, provides them with ongoing training, as well as comfortable existence. As a rule, many people believe that advertising - is the best guarantee of product/services quality. Only satisfied customer allows manufacturers to stay on market and develop product/service quality. I do not think that successful businessman would risk their money by advertising products with poor quality. It can be said that advertising is an industry that responds to society mood requests and, therefore, is consistent with the state of society and its standards, as described in The Role of Advertising in Our Economy.

                Advertising - is a dialogue between seller and consumer, where the seller expresses his intent through the advertising media, and consumers - his interest in this product. If interested buyer did not appear, hence, the dialogue has not taken place, and purpose of the advertiser is not reached. 

Advertising follows several interrelated goals, among them:

Formation consumer's certain level of knowledge about the goods and services; 

Formation consumer's certain image of the company; 

Development needs in the product and services; 

Formation of a benevolent attitude towards to sellers; 

Encouraging consumers to apply to certain company;

Inducement to purchase certain product just for certain company; 

Sales promotion of goods or services operation;

Acceleration of trade; 

Formation from other firms of the image a reliable partner; 

Assisting consumers in choosing products and services.

Quite naturally, the goals can be interlinked with each other. For example, if you are invited for dinner, for most people it is associated not only with food, but with communication, conversation and an opportunity to escape from everyday affairs. The main task of advertising to make message about your product or service is not only understandable but also enjoyable. Functional orientation of advertising is to intelligibly convey the image of the goods to the buyer and the benefits of this particular product, call interest and lead to its acquisition. Advertising information helps create accessible descriptions, helps in finding the necessary goods and services, as described in What Is The Importance Of Advertising?

I would like to consider types of advertising more closely:

Image advertisement. Basically, this type of advertising creates a favorable image of the firm and its goods/services. Its primary role - is to familiarize potential buyers or customers with products/services, its characteristics, as well as activities with those benefits that accrue to the buyer, certain product/service. The second role of image advertising - is to create a favorable impression of it this product or service of the company. In general, the main purpose of image advertising - is in fixing in consumer's minds a positive image of the goods or service that provides a certain company. Image advertising aims not only to direct purchasers, but to all population in order to expand the list at products and activities that a firm or product has already caused positive emotions in buyers.

Stimulating advertisement. This type is aimed primarily at promotion needs of customers. Its main task is in stimulating the need to acquire goods or use services of a particular company. Its focus should be addressed to a specific user or purchaser of the company. In most cases is difficult to strictly delineate the range of potential buyers or identify only read their publications. Advertising - is a reflection of market conditions. 

Stability advertisement. Even with the streamlined sales of goods and services, and full orders portfolio, from time to time any company should consolidate reached results by advertising. It can be: hidden advertising in the form of articles on company's activities and its products, participation in exhibitions; direct mail to permanent partners with the prospects (reports) on the annual activities of the firm, as stated in Advertising and the big society.

It should be mentioned, that not everybody is recognizing the role of advertising as a positive. Many people consider that advertising creates "false needs" and generally contributes to the over consumption of social and natural resources. By some economists, the most frequent accusations of advertising are that it requires large sums of industrial and commercial areas to promote products. As a consequence, it contributes significantly increase in commodity prices. Critics have even called this phenomenon "advertising tax", which indirectly pays each family. For example, in the United States, experts said that the amount of the range is $2.5 thousand per family annually, as described in Social criticism of advertising: on the role of literary theory and the use of data. I think that it is a serious problem. Indeed, advertising stimulates consumption and very often people buy goods or services that they do not need at all. Scientists call this behavior unmotivated purchase. Moreover, everybody knows that nowadays appeared so-called "shopaholics" - people, that can not resist buying new thing (often clothes) a certain period of time (week or even day) and spend all their money on goods that they really do not need. Of course, this situation caused not only advertisement but modern marketing tricks, like sales and so on.

As a rule, there are entire industries which depend on demand, which in turn fueled by advertising. For example, today deforestation in Brazil and Russia is distributed in view of huge demand for modern furniture all over the world. Everybody knows a lot of such examples and of course, all these factors do not contribute to planet's ecological situation improvement.

Moreover, advertising for a long time has not been just a word in the trade. This word is in politics, in the word in public relations, in the word of morality. It is difficult to overestimate the social role of advertising. Advertising daily and massively affects the vast majority of the population. Daily effects of advertising on billions of potential consumers not only promotes the formation of consumer preferences, but includes the social environment, which is involved in the formation of certain standards of thinking and social behavior of different segments of the population in each country and throughout the world.

It should be noted that scientists have repeatedly declared the important role of advertising in the development of society itself. Modern American advertisement theorist Per Martino in his book "Motivation in Advertising" says: "Its second job - is selling goods. But its first task - is to join the people in our American system. Advertising can help people feel that they are part of society, which offers all the best, help them to feel the inspiration and work with the highest performance", as stated in Social criticism of advertising: on the role of literary theory and the use of data.

In modern society, advertising tools are increasingly used to solve acute social problems. As a rule, in developed countries independent press is essential for a democratic state. So, there is no wonder that press got the definition of "fourth authority". In this regard it can be said that in many countries with post-industrial society, the definition of advertising is the "fifth power", which fully reflects its social role in the modern world. It should be noted that advertising plays important role in ensuring the independence of the media.

As a matter of fact, advertising closely linked with politics and has its ideological role; it is not surprising, because in modern society, advertising is becoming one of the most important factors in developing a human vision. We can give many examples of the place occupied by advertising in strengthening and spreading of communist ideology in the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that the influence of "Western" advertisement (at least for those samples that leaked through the "Iron Curtain") has played not last role in destruction of socialist ideals. Modern American sociologist Giancarlo Buzzi said on this occasion: "The advertising message is trying to unify the attitudes and behavior, serving to a certain ideology".

However, I would like to note a significant educational role of advertising in the process of introducing new advanced products and technologies that promotes the spread of knowledge from different spheres of human activity, instills consumers certain practical skills. As a fact, advertising effect is realized by acting on human psychology. As a result it has been actively involved in shaping the attitudes of human systems, its environmental assessment and self-esteem, character reactions to various stimulations and creating some of the psychological climate, etc. In this regard, it can be mentioned and fully justified the selection of psychological role of advertising, according to Erich Fromm: "Advertising appeals not to mind but to feelings; as any hypnotic trend, it tries to influence on its objects intellectually. In this advertisement there is a dream element, and thus it brings some pleasure to a man (like a movie), but at the same time strengthens his sense of insignificance and impotence", as stated in The Role of Advertising in Our Economy.

It can be said that assessing the significance of advertising would be incomplete if we miss its important aesthetic role. The best samples of advertising appeals since their first appearance to the present day can be rightly regarded as works of applied art. 

To sum it up, I would like to express my own behavior to advertisement. Does advertising stimulates demand and is good for the economy in general or advertising creates "false needs" and generally contributes to the over consumption of social and natural resources. Of course this is a debate question and it is impossible to answer unequivocally. From one hand, company owner should spend a lot of money on developing new technologies, manufacture new products, but not on advertising. But whereas recognize the potential buyers of these products, the firm that they produce? Who will carry this information to other companies? After all, advertising has not only informational but also a stimulating functions. It broadens the market. Marketing brings new customers, and that naturally raises producer's income. From the other hand modern advertising become so annoying that there is no way to hide from it. Radio, TV, Internet, outdoor, political, economic, social advertising - it is everywhere. Today, advertising make people purchase goods they do not need to, it indirectly influences on environmental degradation. It is all true, but I strongly believe that without advertising the manufacturer will not be operate in full force, producers, sellers and dealers will not make high profits, pay high taxes, improve standard of living etc. In general, it is impossible imagine modern, developed market without advertising. 

I can propose only one exit in this situation. It is a legislative restriction some kinds of advertising or prohibition of broadcast advertising at certain hours. I understand that these proposals can not change the situation, but they can mitigate exist contradictions. We must have will power to change this situation. Finally, like said one wise man, even the biggest trip begins with a small step.

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61 The role of advertising in society

Advertising is the paid promotion that uses strategy and messaging about the benefits of a product or service to influence a target audience’s attitudes and/or behaviors. Between online, television, radio, and print platforms, the average American sees hundreds, even thousands of advertisements daily.

Although many consumers find them annoying, advertisements play a prominent role in shaping opinions about everything from products to politics. A Forbes article (2012) stated: “Advertising plays the same role in your media diet that vegetables play in your regular diet; most of us would prefer to skip that course and go straight to dessert. But, just like veggies, advertising plays an important role in sustaining a body; in this case, a diverse body of content” (para. 1). Advertising heavily supports many institutions, including news media outlets, the television industry, search engine companies, and social media websites. For example, advertising contributes up to 80 percent of revenue for newspapers and therefore is critical to maintaining the circulation of the press (Newspaper Association of America, 2014).

The advertising industry is also lucrative. According to eMarketer (2016), the United States spent approximately $190 billion on advertising in 2015. About a third of that figure went to television advertisements, and another third went to digital advertising. With its economic and cultural function in society, the advertising industry has an expansive reach.

Writing for Strategic Communication Industries Copyright © 2016 by Jasmine Roberts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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