We can see advertisements around us everywhere, in different media, such as video advertisements shown on TV, and print advertisements published in newspapers and magazines. All we can see in these advertisements is how good the product that they are selling is. Advertising swamps our life. Its nature and function is worth our in-depth thinking.
The philosopher George Santayana wrote: ‘Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.’ This statement is definitely convincing. The aim for advertising is to appeal to the potential customers or investors. To attract customers, it is important to show the best of the products or services that are promoted, and possibly cover up the worst, or even make the worse sound better. This is a common marketing strategy apparent in a lot of advertisements. Therefore, the function of advertising is surely ‘to make the worse appear the better’.
The ice-cream advertisement is an appropriate example to illustrate this idea. Ice-cream is of high sugar content, and is one of the main culprits which leads to overweight problems, and even obesity. More serious diseases might be induced with ice-cream overconsumption. However, audience will not see any of these health risks brought by ice-cream in the advertisement. Instead, the smooth texture, extraordinary taste and the high-quality ingredients become the focus of the advertisement. This reveals that advertising aims at turning the weaknesses into strengths and trying to cover up the drawbacks. Indeed, this is understandable. If an advertisement shows only the flaws of its products, who is going to purchase them?
Indeed, there is no doubt that advertising is the modern substitute for argument. Sometimes, people try to sell products by arguing whether their products are great or poor, listing all the strengths and weaknesses and finally conclude with their positive qualities. Of course, this is a possible way to promote products, but not the most effective one. Effective advertising, on the other hand, argues for the need to purchase a product and convinces customers it is the best buy. It shows the best of the product, and makes most efforts to emphasize it, in order to make it appeal to customers. Advertising chooses to ignore the drawbacks of a product so that the consumers will not be distracted by these possible defects. In nature, messages in advertising are arguments. They present to the consumers the bright side of a product, and why they must own it.
In this sense, advertising is more powerful and a substitute for argument. It also turns flaws into perfection. There is no reason to disagree with the statement.