Counterargument
This essay claims that advertising does have a responsibility to society since what people see in advertisement may turn out to be part of their beliefs.
Advertising is reaching a lot of people when well applied and can become part of their beliefs because of what it portrays.
A company’s main goal is to sell their product or service, to achieve this objective they try to involve and/or reach as many people as possible.
For example Sheehan talks about the three different roles there are in advertising, but also the six roles of who is involved in the process.
Given all these different roles the advertisement is reaching a lot of people, which is bound to have a similar effect on most consumers.
Companies knowingly have a main objective of advertising towards children. For example Wayne Chilicki of general mills said “When it comes to targeting kid consumers we at general mills follow the proctor and gamble model of cradle to grave… we believe in getting them early and having them for life” (Food Marketing).
According to sheehan influencing worldviews can create some change to the way we think and feel (sheehan, page 1). What people see in advertisements can become apart of their beliefs because the advertisements portray it as part of reality.
Just by having this one objective it creates huge responsibility for the advertiser because they are having an influence on children, which could change a child for life.
Some argue that advertising does not have a responsibility to society. Advertisements have been blurred with entertainment people are starting to not see the difference between the two. For example American express uses Jerry Seinfeld in their advertisements by doing this the consumers are entertainment and they make a connection because they like Jerry Seinfeld. By doing this they do not see it as an advertisement (Matthews, 2006).
However even if the consumers are not seeing entertainment as advertising when it really is that doesn’t make it any less of a responsibility to advertising. The bottom line is that it is advertising and it is having an affect on the consumer, weather it be they are spending more or just simply changing the way the think or feel about something. Advertisers need to be more credible and think about the affect their advertisements might have and find a happy medium.
References
Sheehan, Kim. “Chapter 1.” Controversies in Contemporary Advertising. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003. N. pag. Print.
Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity. Campaign for a commercial free childhood
Matthews, Michael. Advertising’s Role in Business, Society. Yahoo Voices. 2006
