Is Advertising Good for Society? p. 129

Is Advertising Good For Society?

       John Calfee argues that advertising is good for society, in the sense that advertisements offer basic information, that can serve the audiences in an unbiased way, so that they can become better educated about pressing issues at hand.  Dinyar Godrej argues that advertising is bad for society on the premise that advertising does not tell us anything about new products, instead it acts upon our emotions in many ways; creating anxiety and culturally and politically shifiting our society in ways we thought advertising never could. 

       John Calfee's main point is that advertising can benefit consumers!  Drawing on various examples from tobacco companies and kellogg's all bran advertising initiavitve, he points out that ad campaigns can function for the public's interest.  The persuasion and skepticism of the audience provides a natural environment for a competitive market that allows consumers and competitiors to borrow information for their own purposes.  In addition, Calfee points out that advertising can use additional information from outside sources, which further endorses his point that audiences are getting more infomration out advertisements, rather than big corporation companies trying to blatantly sell their product.  Advertsing companies are now using an increase in independent information.  Thirdly, he aruges that advertising can be a pervasive phenomenon that can benefit our society at large- extending beyond the interests of the advertisers themselves.  He gives the example of advertising for soap and toothpaste; which has dramatically improved our public hygeine and has prevented teeth from falling out.  Calfee comes to the conclusion that these health problems were alleviated by the advertisers themselves, and that there is overwhelming evidence that unregulated deconomic foreces dictate that much useful information will be provided by brand advertsing and ONLY brand advertising.  Fourthly, he aruges that competition makes advertising and context vague yet precise, in the sense that advertisers have the great ability to communicate so much  in only a few words.  Again, Calfee draws upon examples deep from the past, citing VW beetle's ad campaign during the fuel crisi of the 70's "Think Fast".  Advertising and context also relies on information from other soucres and informational sparity when dealing with competitors, yet competition in and of itself, provides audiences with more information than the actual selling of the advertiser's product.  Finally, Calfee calls on "less bad advertising", to bring attention to audiences the notable faults of their product; however, the ad companies are doing this for a reason!  Nonetheless, Calfee points it out as another way to be more informed in society.

       Dinyar Godrej says that advertising has started to rob our souls with the disproportionate corporate power due to people getting smart about commercials "fraudulent claims".  Advertising companies our now playing on our evolutionary wired brains; they are after our emotion!  For example, companies use images to engage us in our wildest fantasies and dreams; creating a sociological emergency where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The companies, draw on emotion and anxiety to convince you that you NEED to buy the product now.  Much effort is now being placed in neuromarketing, to channel our emotions, and our brain to buy the product.  We as an audience, might not buy the product at that second, but subconsciously, it has been implanted in our head that we NEED certain things, when in reality, we might not actually need them.  Therefore, Godrej says that our biggest tool against these corporation-owned companies is a constant reality check.  In addition to these companies bombarding our brain with bias and unnecessary information, the companies are changing the culture we are apart of; affecting how NewsPapers and TV show's such as CNN are run.  One study found that 40 percent of the 'news' content of a typlical newspaper originated in press releases, story memos and suggestions from PR companies.  Godrej further argues that she is "further tired" by the ad comapnies consistenly conservative values, when they know about the social, economic, and environmental issues at hand, and their deciseveness to "dismiss" them regardless...  For example, even though McDonald's food is helping to increase the obesity and diabete's epedemic in the world, they try to cover up these statistics by creating Ronald McDonald houses, which accoomadate families with sick children.  McDonald's did not just want to create Ronald McDonald houses, rather this was all apart of their campaign to scheme audiences to eat their food. 

       Personally, after reading both positions and analyzing the pre and post script on the issue, I feel that advertising can be good for society, but is not.  In this day of age, we have to critically analyze the issues of corporate power, mind control, deceptive advertsing, and creating desire and emotion for people to buy things that they really do not need.  And even after knowing that the ad industires know about all of these issues, the ad industry has responded by creating "quick problem-solvers" to what their ad's have created!  Perhaps they do this so that they themselves can police and dictate their own industries, rather than accepting regulation from the outside world.  Even though advertising can be a good thing and give information and benefits to society, it has done the opposite.  I personally feel that the bad has outweighed the good in this particular issue, changing how culture, society and politics are run!  However, the biggest tool we have against the ad industry is just keeping oneself in check with reality.  That is the the most helpful advicee I gleaned from reading this particular issue.