Erin Posted January 6, 2003 Share Posted January 6, 2003 #145: Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we really do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirley Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Hello Erin! This is my first TOEFL essay and I would like you to score it at this stage and please suggest areas of improvement. Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we really do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Ever since the concept of advertising was introduced, it had always been under debate about its impact on society and such practice has become more popular because of the mass media of television. Considering the technical advancements in the present century where every dawn begins with a novel idea of a better approach to every chore of our life, and a variety of options available for every purchase, we can conclude that the prevailing competition has made the promotors with "profit at any cost" attitude to improve their methods of sale.In the process, I agree that advertising media misles the customers into making purchases which may be unnecessary mor than the basic concept of creating awareness among people about any product. Beginning from trivial products such as detergents to most important investment of property sale, there are various choices that the customer can make today. In order to promote sale of a particular product, the advertisers tend to introduce it into market with low costs initially and such products even though contribute a necessary investment, lures the individuals to make such investments. For example, for a professor of English for whom an ordinary computer with basic software features for composing his papers would be sufficient, would be lured to make unnecessary purchase of a Pentium 4 processor which is now available at a cheaper price, advertised with an sound technical features and has reasonable instalment plans. The advertisements also claim to make a comparitive study of the reliability of one product over the other and as a result the customers are lured into choosing one product over the other. It's obvious that a person who finds an advertisement humorous or funny or a quotation interesting , would be misled into making a purchase if such presentation fits his attitude. The very motive of advertising is thus served. People also tend to be carried away by what is latest in fashion. For example, where an ordinary kitchen appliance can shred a head of cabbage why would a person want to invest ten times more on an electric shredder for tiny job bacause it is cheaper than the same product of different brand. Moreover, it is not even necessary that the product under promotion is the best option. Some wholesale promotors may choose to maintain a low profile since most of their sales may be derived from the export market or any external agencies. Though advertising to some extent tends to make individuals aware of the latest product in market, to a large extent the motive of the advertisers is to win the market shares and because the market now is highly competitive, its incumbent upon the customers to be shrewd in making their choices of purchase and strike a balance between their needs and the amount of investment and make their own research into a purchase of a particular product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Min Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Originally posted by Erin Billy #145: Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we really do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Advertising is a very profitable business in societies with a large media presence. Where I live, in Tokyo, we are exposed to advertisements on trains, in newspapers, and on billboards. Personally, I believe that overall, advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. My primary reason is that advertising is the best way for a company to publicize a useful innovation. For example, Apple Company used its colorful and attractive advertisements to demonstrate the characteristics of its new computer model, the iMac. Advertisements that showed groups of brightly colored iMacs like candy communicated that the model was designed for people who wanted an inexpensive but versatile computer. The advertisements captured peoples attention and made the iMac very popular in Japan. Even many restaurants and shops now display the iMac that they use for inventory and accounting to show your customers that they are fashionable places. Also, the advertisements can introduce people the newest product. For instance, When you want to buy the most fashionable computer, if you do not watch the advertisements, then you not have the newest information about computer, and then, you maybe buy a older one that was in fashion yesterday. Therefore, the advertisements can provide many important information about some product. Another reason is that people are intelligent enough to determine whether they actually need what is being advertised. One example of this is that hotels and meeting halls that specialize in weddings lost much business during the 1990fs even though they advertised a great deal. Until then, Japan had been in a state of economic hyper growth, and everyone had wanted to have a large and expensive wedding. But when the economy worsened, many people were no longer willing to spend so much money on wedding ceremonies. Large hotels and halls still advertised so that rich people could see their new feature, but those who could not afford large weddings began to have simpler ones. Therefore, I believe that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. While not all people need every new product or service that is advertised, they are wise enough to make decisions for themselves about what they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malathi Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Hi An Min, I think your essay is very good , it can convince people that advertisement is good. I had to look hard for mistakes! My primary reason is that advertising is the best way for a company to publicize a useful innovation. For example, the Apple Company used its colorful and attractive advertisements to demonstrate the characteristics of its new computer model, the iMac. Advertisements that showed groups of brightly colored candy-like iMacs like candy communicated that the model was designed for people who wanted an inexpensive but versatile computer. The advertisements captured people'speoples attention and made the iMac very popular in Japan. Even today many restaurants and shops now display the iMac that they use for inventory and accounting to show your their customers that they are fashionable places. Just my suggestions , this essay will probably get a 6 without the corrections too. Malathi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajsari Posted June 9, 2003 Share Posted June 9, 2003 Please comment on my version . [dance] #145: Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we really do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. In my viewpoint, advertisements tell us about new products available in the market. Advertising is a concept of introducing new products and encourages people to buy better quality products. Advertising brings competition among the sellers and satisfies buyer’s expectation with less price and good quality products. People will hear and watch different types of advertisements through media like TV, radio, computers etc, by which they come know about new products and decided whether to buy that product or not. For example, when I want to buy a car, I would watch all the advertisements on cars and know newest information about the car models and then decided what type of a car would best suits me. If there are no advertisements then people will not know about the new models in the product. They end up with buying old models. For example, now there are many models in cell phones like the cell with PDA feature, cell with photo pictures where I can show my picture while talk to other person. If I don't know the latest model in cell phones then I will end up buying regular old model. Advertising gives a chance to analyze the quality of different brand products. It’s like " best quality for less price". For example, in some advertisements they compare their products with other products. Stating that their product is less in price and good in quality. Some times we can rely on such ads and can get good quality products for less price like laundry detergent, cleaning products etc. In conclusion, Advertisements help people to make decision about the product and also give latest model information and a chance to compare different product brands. We can also know about the latest fashions in city.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thuychip Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Nice to joint this useful forum! Pls help me to correct my mistakes in this essay & give me your idea Thank you so so much! Advertising is everywhere, such as on TV, radio, the Internet and even on billboards. Some people believe that advertisements force us to spend money unnecessarily, while others think the advertisments of advanced products may help us to have a better life. In my point of views, I agree with both these views as a negative and positive aspects of adverts. It is true that advertising encourages customers to buy things in different ways even they are unnecessary. Firstly, advertisers often aim their marketing at children who easily be influenced by advertisements, which puts pressure on children’s parents to buy these products. For example, fast food, junk food or other types of unhealthy food were marketed in a way that attracts children by the use of cartoons in advertising or promotional gifts. Secondly, advertising aims to persuade people to follow the lasted trend and purchase more product rather than to meet the actual needs. For instance, buying the clothes in the newest advertising collection of the Channel label would only make any woman happier although they do not have demand. However, advertisements inform about innovations and improved versions of various products, which contributes to better daily life. Firstly, adverts of advanced medicines can play a vital role in quickly giving the important information to patients in order to treat timely. Nevertheless, thanks to the online advertisements with good services, customers have not to go to shops or waste a lot of time to find suitable things with their requirements. In conclusion, although advertisements tell us about advanced products that may enhance the quality of life, government should censor advertising contents and products that target children or can be risk to healthy. (281 words ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.