Advertising is something that has become so ubiquitous in our society that we fail to even notice it anymore. But is it a problem? Are we being treated as sheep, and simply accepting it?
It’s hard to argue that the primary goal of advertising isn’t to sell you something, however it’s rarely as straightforward as that. An advert, on average, will not have a viewer immediately jumping to attention to go out and buy the suggested product. It’s more about creating a sense of brand recognition across a wide group of people, and with repeated exposure to your adverts you can begin to associate items, activities themes or ideas with a brand in your audience’s head. You want people to not see a burger, but a Big Mac instead. And while everyone will say they are immune to the effects of advertising, it is such a gargantuan industry with so much money poured into it year after year because we all are extremely susceptible to it.
Advertising has become unavoidable in modern life. In the digital landscape adverts are found on every platform and every website, and in the physical world there are huge billboards and adverts sprawled across the sides of buses at every turn. I think that due to this over abundance of ads, we are becoming desensitised, often not even consciously acknowledging them - but their effects are the same nonetheless.
Places like Times Square are seen as great tourist destinations and spectacles to behold, but when you take a step back and realise that all it really is is an area where you are literally surrounded by flashing lights and bombarded by huge, sparkling ads it seems very dystopian and perhaps reflect our attitudes as a society; we are willing to let these companies wave products in our faces and we will reward this as their profit charts go up and up with each new advert they produce, and we are all part of this in our capitalist society wether we think we are or not.
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