Advertisements have changed significantly over the years since I was a child. For a starter, when I was a child, if I remember correctly, there were only radio, TV and print media to show us the advertisements, but today there are computers, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram also on which advertisements are being displayed continuously. We can also see billboards, neon signs, and other vibrant and visually captivating printed designs, that are placed at strategic locations with high volumes of human traffic, which were not seen when I was a child.

Yes, I do think that advertisement should be strictly regulated because, without it, misleading information on the products will keep deceiving the customers into buying wrong and defected products. Besides, without strict regulation, bigger companies will always have undue advantages, because of their higher budget for advertisements, over the smaller and local manufacturers/companies even though the products of “bigger” companies are of inferior quality to those of smaller companies. In other words, advertisement kills competition and gives larger companies an unfair advantage over smaller companies.

It is absolutely important for advertisers to tell the whole truth in advertisements for trust issues. Advertisers should tell customers exactly what they are buying or getting because if there is a discrepancy between the expectation of the customers and what the advertisers advertise, then the trust would be lost, and the customers most likely would never come back to buy the same products again in the future. Besides, some customers may also go as far as “suing” the company, if they think that they are lied to, which certainly is not good for the lasting image of a company.

The main advantage of advertising is that they allow us to learn about new products and services that we may need badly. Advertising also helps us compare among different kinds of products, in terms of their costs and qualities, so that we can make an informed decision when making a purchase.

The main disadvantage of advertising that I think of is that they increase the cost of the products because it costs to advertise and the companies pass those advertising cost to be picked up by the customers. They sometimes mislead the customers because not all the products, that are advertised, are good for them.

There are a number of facts that makes an advertisement effective. To begin with, the advertisement on a particular product has to be absolutely relevant and specific on its message while also describing at the same time what exactly set the product apart from others in terms of its benefits. Besides, for an advertisement to be effective, the language or the wording has to be unique to the target audience, based on their age, gender, race, culture, religion and geographic location. Finally, the advertisement should include a clear “call for action” such as asking to buy the product or contact.

For a given market segment, there are six main purposes of an advertisement, which include informing the consumers about a certain product and convince customers, changing the belief about a certain brand, enhance the image of the company, point out and create a need for products or services, generating new direct sales and announce new products and programs. Some advertisements may also want to demonstrate new uses for established products and send a reminder to use an existing product.