SOCIAL BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING

                                Social Benefits of Advertising

Advertising works wonders on the minds of the consumers that in the end influence a purchase of a product. Advertising has led to many social benefits that are as under:

Awareness

Advertising is one of the oldest ways of spreading awareness about new products. More than half the population, literate is very much aware of the new products in the market. All credits to advertising in different media from newspapers, radio to television. It is one method where messages to a large mass audience are done accurately & correctly without misguiding them through TV, Radio, newspaper, Internet, outdoor, etc. Advertising is possible in all kinds of language Hindi, Marathi, English or any other language. Advertising provides people with information that is very vital for purchase of goods & services available in the market; it allows them to decide what product will satisfy their needs & give them what they want. Advertising gives the people an idea of what exactly would suit their pockets & what would not. Basically, advertisements are made in a way that the consumer will have the curiosity to check & see the brand in the market himself. Advertisements lead to recognition & recall of brands that definitely helps advertisers. Advertising is significant because in consumer capitalism individuals depend on it for meanings a source of social information embedded in commodities that mediate interpersonal relations & personal identity.

Education

Advertisements are not based only on consumer durables but there are also advertisements that educate people like social service advertisement & public service advertisement. These are in the social interest of the people. E.g.: Anti-smoking campaigns, polio vaccinations, eye donations. All these advertisements educate children, teenagers & adults about the precautions that have to be taken to survive & be accepted in the society.

Earlier, due to lack of awareness, most of the AIDS patients were treated as untouchable but due to frequent awareness advertisements (like the one with Shabana Azmi, who is educating people about how sitting with AIDS patients is no harm) the attitude towards AIDS patients has changed & they are looked up with respect & considered normal along with dignity in society. The basic outlook of the people is changing due to advertisement be it in their choice of purchasing products or be it their attitude and thinking. Advertisements have and always will influence the minds of the people.

Culture

Advertising is an influential form of social communication. Advertising is not just a business expenditure undertaken in the hope of moving some merchandise off the store shelves but is rather an integral part of modern culture. Advertising should be conceived as an important institution in the consumer society because it produces patterned system of meaning which play a key role in individual socialization & social reproduction with globalization of the world economy. Multinational corporations often use the same advertising to sell to consumers around the world. Some critics argue that advertising messages are causing the world to become increasingly homogenous. Many advertising campaigns, however have universal appeal, overriding, cultural differences or they contributed to culture in a positive way.

Employment

Employment with the growth of advertising the need for man power is also increasingly. It’s not that only by advertising for jobs will a person be able to get a job but in the field of advertising itself there are so many departments & areas a person can explore that people from almost all fields have the opportunity to join and be a part of advertising.

Economy

It is believed that advertising has a positive impact on the economy because it stimulates demand for products & services strengthening the economy by promoting the sale of goods & services. Manufacturers know that advertising can help sell a new product quickly enabling them to recoup the cost of developing new products. By stimulating the development of new product, advertising helps increase competition. Many economists believe that increased competition leads to lower price there by benefiting consumer & the economy as a whole. These economists also argue that by interesting consumer in purchasing goods advertising enables manufacturers and others to sell their products in larger quantities. The increased volume of sales enables companies to produce individual units at lower price. Advertising thus benefits consumer by helping lower price. From all the points above what can be concluded is that the effects upon society brought about by advertising come in mixed forms, depending on the purpose & execution of various campaign. However, society, as we know, it is based very heavily upon advertising and the negative social and economic effects on our society. No one can predict what new form advertising may take in the future. Bu the rapidly increasing cost of acquiring new customer makes one thing certain. Advertisers will seek to hold on to current customers by forming closer relationship with them & by tailoring products, services & advertising messages to meet their individual needs. So while advertising will continue to encourage people to consume it will also help provide them with products & services more likely to satisfy their needs.