Chapter 21
Advertising and
Democracy
LO Every day we see advertisements on the radio, television
and newspapers. Advertisements can be
seen everywhere, on the shopping carts in super markets, walls of cinema halls,
bus stands, railway stations, airports, hoardings, etc. Advertising is a powerful medium. It persuades the customer to purchase a
particular product or service by describing its good points, which are mostly
exaggerated. It is a method of mass
promotion in which a single message can reach a large number of people. It spreads its message to the consumers by
making use of mass media like television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers,
Internet, billboards, direct mailing, etc.
A huge amount of money is spent on advertisements to motivate the
customers to buy a particular product.
For example, a mother is shown using a particular brand of flour to make
chapatties which makes her family smile as they eat them. The message is driven home to the public that
if they want a happy and healthy family, then they should also use only that
particular 'brand' of flour. So far
wheat and flour were sold BREADYATRR!
open at the local chakki (grinding mill). But now various types of flours are packaged
and sold under the AMUL WUITE DRESS names like - special flour for growing
WONTON MORE MASKA? children, flour for
the young, flour for FEEL THE SOUND healthy heart, etc. The objective of such advertisements is to
convince the consumer to use their brand of product. Such advertisements create an associated
picture of success and happiness in customers' mind and hence, they become
loyal to a Particular brand. The
availability of many brands creates confusion in the mind of the consumer. There is a big competition Advertisements AMUL
BUNAD 175
in the market among various brands, each propagating its
benefits. Then, how does the consumer
decide which one to buy? Here the
manufacturer goes a step further by providing attractive visuals and jingles in
his advertisements to make them catchy.
Advertising through 'stars' also creates brand loyalty. The brand ambassadors charge big money based
on their popularity. People, especially
the youth, identify and favor brands that are associated with successful public
figures and hence, want to possess the product.
Let us not forget the fact that the brand ambassadors are quickly
replaced, once they are no more newsworthy!
SOCIAL OR PUBLIC SERVICE ADVERTISING There is another type of
advertising that has carved an important place for itself. It is social or public service
advertising. It means applying marketing
and advertising principles to promote health and social issues. It aims to change the attitude and behavior
of the public and bring about positive changes in the society like advertising
campaigns for Polio Drops, ORS, etc, advertising has played an important role
in making chat ru us aware of our responsibility towards the society. A spoiled today! documentary film by the Ministry of Social
Welfare subscriber EHT shows that girls are as capable of achieving success in
their chosen fields as the boys are, when given the National Review Alliance
new 1800-11-4000 / opportunity. It
motivates the people to send their daughters to school and not think of them as
a burden. Today, more and more girls are
sharing the responsibility of their parents.
Discontinue any Swabhima Pani Vitaranna, Matnajariya Manpur Shrimo and
run away for redress. ... but first they
need to learn how to spell social advertising has benefitted many public
awareness programs like importance of mother's milk for the baby, method of
making baby food at home with grains and pulses, need of hygiene, education,
respect for traffic rules, etc. The Indian government has successfully
protected the public interest by banning the advertising of tobacco futures and
alcohol on radio, television and newspapers.
OF Advertising is also used by many other India ... "INDIA"
organizations that are not selling a product or would be shaped service but
want to inform the public about their objectives, achievements and
projects. They IN ME Ang reduction when
are political parties, interest groups, religious groups and defense
services. by Kids Mura.com the FUTURE
INDIA 176.
Advertising is capable of reaching out to a large
audience. Advertising techniques can be
used to create awareness among the people and motivate them to take necessary
precautions. Such advertisements may be
related to water conservation, energy conservation, deforestation, health
awareness or the ill effects of illiteracy EFFECTS of advertising advertising,
through TV programmes and newspapers, enables us to afford "luxuries"
because without advertising, they would be very expensive. Media gets most of its revenues from
publicity and hence, try to make their medium a popular place for communicating
advertisements to the people before any information or entertainment
program. Advertising persuades some
people to buy even those things that they do not need and hence, it leads to
wasteful carefully. Another problem
related with advertising is "Quack" or false advertising. Strict rules are needed to protect the
innocent customers from misleading promises like height increase, immediate
weight loss, etc. Do you know? Government laws must protect the interest advertising
has become a market of its own of the consumer.
Many companies distribute and it offers a large number of jobs along
samples of their products free of cost to the with providing information to
people. customer, to 'hook' them to
their product. ADVERTISING AND DEMOCRACY
In this chapter, we have read about the social and public service
advertisements. These types of
advertisements strengthen the democracy of a country. In a democratic set-up, every individual or
manufacturer can advertise his product which is only possible by spending huge
money. But what happens to a person who
makes sweets or samosas at home and sells them from door to door? These small businesses do not have the money
to spend on advertising. They depend on
'word of mouth' publicity. But they have
to compete against highly advertised items that make the people believe that
branded and packaged goods are better.
Porridge (dalia) available at the local corner shop has to compete
against porridge carrying a brand name!
The small businesses fail to convince the people that they can buy
quality goods, even if they do not carry a brand name on the package. Most people opt to buy packaged items
believing them to be better than the items sold without packaging, for example,
gram flour (besan) samolina (suji) etc.
Whereas, usually we see that open grounded items from a local shop /
chakki may be of better Do You Know? The
date of expiry and date of manufacture of any item must be checked before
buying, quality than the packed ones.
177
Thus, brands can create discrimination in the society which
is undemocratic and create inequality WE'VE WOT CHANGE WERE STILL THE SMARTEST
WAY TO TY un WE MADE THEM CHANGE among the masses. Another unfortunate impact of advertising is
that it engrains stereotype attitudes.
Some advertisements show a family sitting on the table and the woman
cooking the food. Another advertisement
shows a woman picking up vegetables from the vendor's cart while returning from
the office. The men are invariably shown
buying computers or cars. A man can cook
as well as a woman, or a woman may know more about computers than a man! This type "WE'VE of advertising creates
gender discrimination and hence, is CHANGED against the basic principles of
democracy, many people cannot afford branded items. They feel that they are
failing in their duty by not providing a Ad war particular brand of flour
for their growing children. They may not
be able to afford a branded shirt for an official meeting. They start
developing a feeling of inability. This creates distance between the rich and
the poor. It is against democracy where everyone should enjoy equality
irrespective of his or her social or
economic status, CONSUMERISM A consumer is a person who buys by paying the
price for some goods or services (insurance, transport, electricity, banking,
etc.). In the good old days there was a direct relationship between the seller
and the consumer exhibited his goods;
the buyer thoroughly examined them before purchasing. the consumer was treated
respectfully and a bond was established between t he seller and the consumer. But the times changed with commercialization
and the buyer came to be referred to as a consumer. The personal relation between the buyer and
the seller has ended. Sometimes, a
shopkeeper or a manufacturer cheats us by charging more for a commodity or
giving us poor quality goods. Many
companies give a lot of information about the good points of the product but
fail to supply the necessary information, like safety, durability, after sale -
service or its effect on health or environment, that a consumer needs to
know. The consumer has to be aware of
his / her right to redress the problem when required. The consumer awareness is low in India due to
the lack of education and awareness among the masses. Consumerism is all about protection of the
interests of the consumers. It is a
social movement seeking to protect the rights of consumers in relation to the
producers of goods and providers of services, 178)
Consumerism is a collective consciousness on the part of
consumers, businesses, gove society to enhance the consumer's satisfaction and
social welfare, that in turn, will benefi The Government of India has set - up
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which was ea as ISI.
BIS lays down standards for industrial and consumer goods. All food items are star Agmark - Agricultural
Produce (Grading and Marking) Act.
Government of India Bureau of Indian Standards Main Features of
Consumerism There are various components of consumerism: 1. A consumer must be
aware of his / her rights and should protect his / her rights. 2. He / She should raise voice against
exploitation. 3. He / She should seek
redressal of his / her complaints. 4. Voluntary
consumer organizations should encourage / guide / assist in safeguarding his /
5. Government laws must protect the interest of the consumer. 6. Business houses must adopt a code of
conduct for regulating their activities.
Consumerism has gradually developed into a powerful force to aid and
protect the applying legal, moral and economic pressure on producers and
providers. If you feel cheated by a
shopkeeper and want to complain in a consumer cou application, attach cash
memo, warrantee or guarantee card and submit it to the Distri Court. Read newspaper daily to be an aware consumer
and save yourself from being cheat keywords.
. brand: name given to a product
with some unique value / quality ISI: the earlier abbreviation for BIS. It stands for Indian Standard Institute. Manufacturer: someone who makes and sells a
product. product: a thing offered in
market for sale, stereotype; pre -
conceived notions / bias thinking about someone / or any group of people. . . 179
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