How does advertising affect society - Essay Example

The advertisers resort to the intricacies of psychology and affiliate to the nuances of audio-visual technology to influence and impact the human consciousness and thereby the human decision making capacity (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Whether it is the real world or the virtual world, the domain of the world of advertising is vast and pervasive. Though advertising tends to influence and affect the human decision making capacity in a variety of ways, yet, one essential negative impact of advertising is that it wraps and distorts the human capacity to make informed decisions in ways that augment dissatisfaction and make human life quiet superficial and disconnected with a sense of personal conviction.

One essential attribute of a sound human personality is that it endows a person with the capacity to decide as to what one really needs to lead a satisfied and contented life. Almost everyone is tentatively aware of the fact that quintessentially speaking, human needs tend to be few and narrow and given a choice, most of the humans do have the capacity to allocate their monetary resources in a manner that leaves them content and satisfied (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Yet, in the contemporary world marred by advertising, this premise seems to be more of a cherished ideal rather than being a simple fact of life.

Going by the fact that in the modern civilization, the human mind is constantly bombarded by advertisements, it is but natural that influenced by these, many people tend to develop a distorted sense of life (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). . n, what are the things that they simply cannot do without and how they ought to lead their life, everything is to a great extent determined by the media and the advertisements that they get daily exposed to? Advertising makes people buy things that they do not really need and that they simply do not afford, leaving them emotionally and financially famished (Hood, 2009, p. 92). Advertising makes people lose contact with their true self and ushers in an artificiality and wastefulness into their lives.

Many people, most of them affiliated to the world of sales and marketing do say that advertising tends to be informative and it helps the individuals and groups engage in informed decision making and thereby enhance human satisfaction (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). However, things are not as simple as that. Advertising not only tends inform people about the new products and services, but many advertisers do proceed a step ahead to create in people a false sense of need and try to convince them that buying a particular commodity or a service will add to their sense of happiness (Moton & Dumler, 2009, p. 538). Many people do get carried away with the distorted reasoning imbued in the advertisements and do end up thinking that spending money on unwanted material possessions will make them happy (Hood, 2009, p. 40). There is no dearth of people who go out of the way to model their personal and family life in consonance with the ideals being projected by the advertisements (Sutherland, 2008).

It is fact that could readily be verified that many popular human aspirations like buying a big house even if one simply do not need it, buying a big car, dressing up in a particular way, purchasing specific food products and items, aspiring to gain a specific type of look and physique,