The problems of mass starvation and criminality have long been forgotten in Western society. The modern inhabitant of the developed world has everything to be happy, but advertising systematically and persistently tries to convince people that something is missing in their lives. Advertising tries to convince us that we need something else to be happy because that is the only way it can get us to buy something.
First, advertising constantly pressures people to create negative emotions. It takes our natural human needs, such as being fed or recognized in society, and uses them against us, making people feel dissatisfied with their lives. For example, every year, a new model of the iPhone is released, so we constantly wish we had a new model. The fifth iPhone is not much different from the fourth, but due to the advertising, the understanding that we have not the best device, we want to buy it, although we don’t use half of the possibilities of our old phone. Even when we only buy a new car, after three days, it becomes the old one again, and we are again not satisfied and want to buy more. Thus, advertising creates a squirrel-in-the-wheel effect, in which we cannot remain satisfied with what we already have and have achieved.
Second, advertising constantly creates a sense of danger and fear, negatively affecting the human condition. Advertisements Create a sense of danger in humans to sell a solution to the problem (Gardner, 2019). Gum commercials are almost always parasitic on our desire to be accepted in society, as the unpleasant breath in the commercials always leads to non-acceptance of the individual by society. Acne and other defects of the human body that are perfectly normal and natural are presented as something horrible that needs to be well hidden. The fear of being rejected by society or unattractive to one’s partner makes us buy things we don’t need.
In this way, advertising constantly pressures people not to feel the pleasure of what they already have. In addition, advertising uses our fears and natural needs to sell us things we don’t need. Modern man is in a constant state of dissatisfaction, which advertising offers to solve through purchasing goods that will not bring us happiness. We become slaves to trends and new company models, devaluing what we have, and therefore I believe that advertising makes us unhappy.
Reference
Gardner, M. P. (2019). Responses to emotional and informational appeals: The moderating role of context-induced mood states. In Attention, attitude, and affect in response to advertising (pp. 207-211). Psychology Press.