what young people think about

advertising.

Robert: Well, we wouldn't know what there was to buy if we didn't have

advertisements.

Mr.Lee: Yes, that's true-up to a point. Advertisements provide information

that we need. If someone has produced a new article, naturally the

seller wants to tell us about it.

Robert: Yes, and advertisements tell us which product is the best.

Mr.Lee: Do they? I don't think so. Every manufacturer says that his product

is the best, or at least tries to give that impression. Only one can be

the best,so the others are misleading us, aren't they?

　



Robert: Well, in a way, I suppose, but we don't have to believe them, do we?

Mr.Lee: Are you saying that advertisements aren't effective? I don't think that

intelligent businessmen would spend millions of dollars on advertising if

nobody believed the advertisements, do you?

Robert: Perhaps not, but after all, it' s their money that they're spending.

Mr.Lee: Is it? I think not. The cost of advertising is added to the price of the

article. You and I and all the other people who buy the article pay for

the advertising!

Robert: Well, I suppose we get something for our money -- some information.

Mr.Lee: Yes, but don't forget it's often misleading information, and sometimes

harmful.

　



2. Advertisers Perform a Useful

Service to the Community

Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they' re always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much money to throw around. "It's iniquitous," they say, "that this entirely unproductive industry ( if we can call it that ) should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why don't they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, it's the consumer who pays...

The poor old consumerl He'd have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn't create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if.we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform . A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing-machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc. from an advertisement.

Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway bye-laws while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely- printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities.

We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution

to our pockets. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not subsist without this source of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programmes is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full pricel

　

Another thing we mustn,t forget is the "small ads" which are in virtually

every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service hey perform for the communityl Just about anything can be accomplished hrough these columns. For instance, you can find a job, or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the "hatch, match and dispatch" columns; but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or "agony" column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human ature. It,s the best advertisement for advertising there is!

　

3. Some Ads May Be Too Good to Be True

Advertisements for vocational training courses are seen all over China owadays. But not all of them are reliable.

A spare-time training school affiliated with the Tiexi District library in Shenyang offered a hairdressing course nine times from October 1987 to April 1988, attracting a total of 1,628 students. The eighth term was attended by 348 students. But afterwards, 100 of them sued the school, charging that they had been cheated with false advertising.

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