Good morning teachers and fellow students.
We always have to buy different products and services. We may pay attention to their advertisements. However, they may be manipulative and affect our lives negatively.
Have you ever seen advertisements about sportswear and sports shoes? They always exaggerate the effects of the products and bring wrong messages. Take one of the advertisements of a famous brand as an example. Its slogan is ‘Everyone loses games, few change them’. The claim of the advertisement is buying the product of that brand can make us the unique ones and win the matches. The technique of claims is used to make us develop expectations on the products advertised. However, it is misleading as the claims cannot show the real result of the product. Besides, there is a footstep on an American football helmet. It suggests our opponents can be easily defeated when we buy the products of the brand, and of course it is a wrong claim. Also, the slogan and logo the brand are shown to let us remember the positive image of the brand. The false claims of the advertisement manipulate and bring wrong information about the product to us.
The advertisement has its dark side. Have you ever thought about what will happen when we are manipulated by the advertisement? If we buy the products just because we want to ‘change the game’, we may throw away our old sportswear and sports shoes. The problem of unnecessary waste will be more serious and only a few of us are aware of this problem. According to the statistics of the government, the landfills will be filled up in the coming years. The situation is worrying and we should consider it.
Moreover, not many of us think about how the products of the brand are made. The shocking fact is that brand has many sweatshops in some developing countries. It was found that the workers have to work for twelve hours without breaks and meals. They have tried to gain a reasonable working condition but they can’t make it. If we buy the product of the brand, are we supporting the sweatshops? I believe that all of you have a sympathetic heart to make the right decision.
To conclude, it is crucial for us to know the real fact behind advertisements. You cannot increase your ability by buying sportswear or sports shoes from a particular brand. The advertisement even enhances the problem of wastage and sweatshops. However, it will not be too late if we are careful with advertisements and know the true facts. The sooner we take action, the sooner we solve the problem brought by manipulative advertisements. We should not lose our mind and know what is happening behind the positive image.
Be a smart and wise consumer.