The Role of Advertising

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THE ROLE OF ADVERTISINGLDCs and socialist/communist countries, emphasizing production anddistribution efficiency, usually attack advertising as a wasteful practice whoseprimary purpose is to create unnecessary wants. Yet advertising serves a veryuseful purpose-consumers everywhere, irrespective of their countries politicalsystems and level of economic development, need useful product information.Since the 1950s China has prohibited foreigners from advertising there becauseadvertising was considered politically inappropriate. In the 1980s, however, Chinachanged its policy in order that the Chinese population could be informed of products available, just as in a modern industrial society. Virtually all media are howavailable for advertising billboards, department stores display cases, telephonebooks, newspapers, magazines, and journals. Even radio and TV time is availableand can be purchased. TV advertising is quite a bargain, since a sixty-sexily-secondspot for the nationally broadcast China Central Television I network costs only55,000. Chinese viewers generally enjoy watching the commercials shown.One study of our developing countries found that singaporeans, probably themost economically advanced among the group, had more negative feelings thanthose in other countries. They were least likely to see advertising as beingeconomically beneficial, and they were also most critical of the social impact of advertising. Interesting, Russian consumers were found to exhibit more variableattitudes toward advertising in general, whereas American respondents felt thatadvertising resulted in greater negative social effects.2A correlation has been shown to exist between advertising expenditures and a country's GNP and level of economic development. As a country becomes moreindustrialized, the level of advertising expenditure tends to increase as well. theUnited States is
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