Advertisement is a skilful way
of blowing one’s own trumpet. To speak of one’s goods has been raised to the
level of fine art. The most successful businessman is he who knows the secret
of effective advertisement. The real worth of an article is of little
importance; what matters is the way in which public attention is drawn towards
it. Men do not part with their money easily, but the clever advertiser can draw
it out of the pockets of the even most cautious and miserly customers.
Manifold are the means by which
advertisements are relayed. The press is the most efficient and penetrating
medium of advertisement as it can reach the largest readership. Among other media
of advertisement may be mentioned the radio, the cinema, the television, show
cards, electric flashlights, etc. Newer devices are being adopted every day for
the purpose of advertisement.
There is a great need to
advertise one’s goods. In an age of commercial competition, goods cannot be
sold without proper advertisement. If properly done, advertisement can help the
public in choosing and buying the best in the market. As we advance, we make
new discoveries and inventions. We bring out devices for good and comfortable
living and we should tell the public what they are. Advertisements play a very
important part in this respect. They bring profit to the producers and offer a
wide choice for the public. Without advertisement our trade and commerce would
never flourish.
During the last fifty years or
so advertisements have become aggressive, seductive and deceitful, so much so
that they can literally induce an Eskimo to buy a refrigerator. The new
methods, means and tricks of advertising enable the unscrupulous traders and
manufacturers to prey upon the credulity of lay public, thereby effecting huge
sales and pocketing heavy profits. In competitive advertising, the advertiser
tries to impress upon the readers the superiority of his own products over
those of his rival producers and thus casts a spell on the minds of the target
group to buy his wares in preference to his rivals. Once the market for his
products is established, he secures a steady clientele, a constant demand for
his products and an assured income from its sales.
Today’s advertising methods have
a marvellous effect on the sales of goods and services thus advertised. But
advertisements for harmful products have their baneful effects on the buyers.
Hence people have started feeling the need for protecting themselves from the
evil effects of exploitative and misleading advertisements. Destructive
advertising is designed to secure public patronage through false and misleading
statements in an exaggerated manner.
The most fashionable method of
present day advertising campaigns is to show the images of very young and very
beautiful women in the ads. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that the
display of the body of a woman has become an integral part of today’s
advertising, even if the goods and services advertised are not even remotely
concerned with women. The most important and attractive feature of the
advertisement is the picture of a young and beautiful woman prominently
displayed on the left. Perhaps the idea is that the reader will be irresistibly
tempted to look at the picture and while doing that, will also incidentally
read the message. For instance, in newspapers and magazines, have a look at the
front page of any fast-selling ones, you will see semi-nude pictures of young
and beautiful actresses in ‘inviting’ poses. Well, let me not be too gender
specific, we can add handsome and well build male actors there, for that
matter. For these newspapers and magazines, the time-honoured Indian morality
and values are, no doubt, noble things, but the paper sells well only if it
carries semi-nude colour photos of fetching girls and the newspapermen have
also to earn their two square meals. The display of lingerie-clad beauties can
bring these meals most easily. Therefore, a compromise on values becomes
unavoidable.
It is universally agreed that
the consumer is often a very incompetent judge of the quality goods. Taking
undue advantage of this weakness of his, the cleverly laid out advertisements
can induce him to purchase goods of doubtful value. But this creates brand
monopolies, which stand in the way of free competition in respect of price and
quality. Since the brand has established itself as the beauty soap of film
stars and not any particular star, it is not dependent on the waxing and waning
of a star’s fortune. Thus, the businessmen use whosoever is in the limelight at
a particular time, be it Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, or Katrina Kaif. Having
thus been hypnotised by these brand monopolies, the consumer refuses to accept
any substitute even a better quality and is ready to pay a higher price for
inferior quality goods (I do not intend to directly imply that these actors
advertises for low products) and this syndrome creates unnecessary want of the
customers, who may or may not be able to afford.
With competition becoming so
intense in every field, one has to start focussing on a certain facet of the
celebrity’s personality and relate it to the brand in question. Another
illustration, Saif’s personality, for instance, goes well with the brand image
of Clinic shampoo. Similarly, the winner of the Miss Beautiful Hair Contest is
used to sell another brand of shampoo. Viswanathan Anand for Memory Plus is a
good equation between a personality and a product. But on the other hand, by
becoming “Seductive as eve” it creates a peculiar habit and fashion and compels
a buyer to buy certain products at a price not justified by their quality.
There are some advertisements, which even help in selling “Rivers of tonics and
mountains of pills” good, bad and indifferent by invoking the people’s fear of
death and diseases. We definitely need to protect ourselves against the
invasion of such advertisements.
And there is another danger from
the abuse of advertisements. More is spent on advertisements than in making of
goods. This is done on the mere belief that the more money one spends on
advertisement, the wider the market for his goods. This is, no doubt, true. But
this is also likely to result in two evils. Either the goods will cost more
than they are worth or the quality of goods will be third-rate. The reason is
that advertising cost a good deal. The money invested in advertising will
increase the cost and price of goods. Else, if prices are not raised to meet
the cost of advertisements, the alternative is to use cheap and second-rate
materials in the making of goods. In either case, excessive advertisement is
harmful to the people. In an age of commercial competitions, when several
people produce the same kind of goods, either of these evils is inevitable.
But these evils of advertisements do not mean
that advertising is bad. The abuse of anything does not mean that it is
useless. We must use advertisement for letting the public know what goods are
available. The motive of advertisement should be public service, not private
gain. If this motive is present, advertisements do good to all concerned-the
producers and consumers alike. There will be no danger of lowering the
standards of commercial morality so long as the producers and distributors
choose service to the public as their aim. The danger comes when private gain
is made at the cost of public good.
