Advertising is criticized not only for the role it plays in sales but also for the way it affects society because the promotion process might involve empty promises and playing on feelings of older adults. Some critics argue that advertising at best provides extremely positive information about products, and at worst – frankly biased. Others accuse advertising psychologically manipulating older people to acquire things that they cannot afford through promises of sex appeal or higher social status. In addition, advertising is criticized for an insulting tone, bad taste, and simply because it is too much. It should be noted that the negative impact of non-professional, incorrect advertising on the preferences of the audience is also profound.
The fair criticism of the recipients of advertising appeals causes an outright lousy taste in the choice of the form and means of transmission of the advertising idea. In some cases, rude and dismissive attitudes to the entire audience or its specific part are applied. Erotic scenes are used, and they are not always justified by advertising purposes (Kim & Hancock, 2016). Advertising has been criticized throughout the entire period of its existence in many areas. Among often used arguments of criticism, the most frequent one is the use of advertising media for unseemly and sometimes merely criminal purposes (Muncy, Iyer, & Eastman, 2015). This problem is particularly relevant among older adults, which historically has developed so that the degree of trust in any printed word is much higher than in other generations.
In conclusion, the given circumstance contributed to the commercial success of advertising various trusts, foundations, and other financial “pyramids” that robbed depositors. Critics of advertising often include the accusation of the irrational use of resources by advertisers and society as a whole, rising costs, and, ultimately, retail prices. Advertising is also criticized for the fact that some advertisers receive undeservedly high profits by presenting useless, ambiguous, and often misleading information.
References
Kim, S. J., & Hancock, J. T. (2016). How advertorials deactivate advertising schema: MTurk-based experiments to examine persuasion tactics and outcomes in health advertisements. Communication Research, 44(7), 1019-1045.
Muncy, J. A., Iyer, R., & Eastman, J. K. (2015). Medical advertising on demand: A content analysis of YouTube direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements. Journal of Medical Marketing: Device, Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical Marketing, 14(2), 145-153.