subject: Advertising [print this page] Advertising is the most commonly used tool of promotion for ones product and services or ones own business put for sale in the market to attract potential customers and buyers respectively. It is an impersonal form of communication which is paid for by the marketers (sponsors) to promote common goods or services.
Let us today discuss the merits and demerits of advertising.
MERITS
1.Wide reach Advertising helps the word to spread to a mass audience. For example a simple advertisement in a daily covers a large geographical area.
2.Customer satisfaction Advertisements helps in building up customer satisfaction by making people more confident and assured about the product quality. In case you advertise your business for sale, it helps potential buyers to develop a bond of trust in your organization and on the basis of this, might extend a hand of further deal.
3.Expressive Advertisements help you to convey the simplest message about your product or business in the most attractive manner with the use of technology, graphics, caricatures, word art etc.
4.Economical mode Advertising is an economical mode of communication because per unit cost becomes low because of wider reach.
DEMERITS
1.Less forceful A compared to personal selling, advertising is less forceful as there in no compulsion on the prospects to pay attention.
2.Lack of feedback There is no source of knowing the immediate and accurate response to an advertising message passed across. One cannot ascertain the effectiveness of an advertisement.
3.Inflexibility Through an advertisement one can spread a standard word only and not tailor made for different interest groups.
4.Low effectiveness As the volume of advertising is increasing, it is becoming less effective. Firm are facing difficulty to make their message heard by prospective customers.
OBJECTIONS TO ADVERTISING
A lot of criticism is attributed to advertising as the means of promotion.
1.Adds to cost The expense made on advertising of a product is added up to its cost, thus, hiking the price of the product which is transferred to the consumer at the end.
2.Undermines social values Advertising has an effect over the values of the society. It makes people more materialistic. It breeds discontent in people because they feel lack of possession of goods and peer pressure develops.
3.Confuses buyers - Due to excessive competition in the market large number of firms claim that their product performs the best function for a specific function. It confuses the buyer.
4.Sale of inferior goods Advertising does not distinguish between better or worse products, thus increasing the sale of even inferior goods in the market. This is a major drawback.
5.Advertisements are in bad taste Some advertisements are offensive in the pictography. Thus, are not acceptable in a good humor.
However, the above mentioned set of critic has its own criticism. Everything depends on the way you advertise. Consumers interest must be though after to maintain the business well in the long run.
Every coin has two sides. But you can definitely make one side weigh more in this case.
