Should Advertisements Be Banned

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Should Advertisements Be Banned A man on the point of death is shown lying on a bed, Aids has taken such a grip on him that he will never return from his state of unconsciousness; is this advertising or exploitation? Another man, half naked, with a Kalashnikov in one hand and a femur bone in the other is used to sell jumpers to the worldwide public; is this again exploitation or just effective advertising? Both of these are, however, effective if a person remembers this company’s name, United Colours of Benetton, but at the same time it can be argued are exploitation. Whether for a good or ghoulish reason the company has used successful advertising. This is a widely debated area: where to draw the line in advertising or whether to ban it all. The advertisements that subliminally penetrate our minds everyday through magazines, television, billboards and posters are rapidly increasing. Every company wants a slice of the advertising world. From chocolate to washing machines, from hats to the latest happy meal at Mc Donald’s, the average person is exposed to one thousand three hundred advertisements a day whether they may realize this or not. The word advertisement comes from the Latin “Adverto” which means to turn; advertisements are made to turn people or persuade people into buying a way of thinking, a product or a service. This is what advertising is meant for but with the money to be made there are often ulterior motives at work. This is when it is no longer harmless; the advertisers will stop at nothing to achieve their aims, they exploit people so that the product is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Is it acceptable that all the conniving tricks used actually work? The Benetton advertisements for example are disturbing; they provoke questions over morality yet anyone seeing the advertisements will remember the company’s name. This is not
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