I agree with Banksy that advertising has infiltrated our public and private spaces too much and as a result can cause psychological damage due to the constant exposure. An example of the damage it can cause is the unrealistic body image expectations that adverts tend to put on display, due to this, our self-image is definitely being affected. Most men in ads are conventionally attractive with ripped abs and perfect hair and teeth. For women, it's even worse. The standards of beauty set in advertising are beyond ridiculous, and even when advertisers try and empathise, they still come out with ads that heavily favour good-looking women and the consistent portrayal of these unrealistic tendencies are definitely harmful.
Furthermore, advertising is not only harmful, but it is something that cannot be ignored. It is persuasive, overloading and completely invasive of our lives and daily media consumption. Advertising is cluttering our lives with endless messaging as It's everywhere and cannot be escaped. Outdoor campaigns bombard our eyes with bright selling messages. Pop-up ads ruin any kind of website experience, often slowing the site down to feed you with ads you don't want to see, and making it hard to close them. Ads are on radio, TV, and even in the products we purchase. It's hardly surprising that people are paying significant monthly subscription fees so that they can avoid ads on YouTube, Hulu, and radio.
Additionally, the overwhelming amount of advertising in todays society is creating an unnecessary need for useless items. Most ads out there push products that very few people actually need. Any product or service that people actually need to survive and thrive does not need an ad campaign; consumers are actually seeking them out. It's why you rarely, if ever, see ads for gasoline or utilities. But when it comes to the "stuff" that we fill our lives with, advertising can implant deep-seated longing for those products, ultimately creating a society where we struggle to be satisfied without the latest or trendiest new thing.
However, it could also be argued that consistent and repetitive advertising is helping businesses grow and hire more people. It would be extremely difficult for small businesses to ever hope to succeed without advertising and they need to find a way to spread the word about the products and services they provide, many of them essential to our way of life. And how would big businesses spread the word about innovative new products, or improvements to existing ones? Without advertising, would you know how to choose between the phones you use, the cars you drive, and the TVs you watch? we most likely would not even know what choices there were or what existed. Therefore, it could be said that without advertising our society would not be as advanced or useful as it is today.
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