Exploring social impact of advertising
ADVERTISING, which according to the American Marketing Association, refers to “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas or social services by an identified sponsor,” functions as a double-edged dagger in the upholding of societal mores and values on the one hand and economic performance on the other.
This is especially so because advertising is inspired by “an inventory of human motives” as posited by Fowler cited in Biagi (1999).
Advertising has been in existence since time immemorial and has always functioned as a marketing instrument which captures the soul and heart of an individual through manipulation of language and logic. Advertisers usually make use of hopeful overstatements, half truths, downright lies, repetition and tall talk.
Because advertisements are meant to be vehicles through which products and services are sold, advertisers need to catch the ears and eyes of a targeted market which is always in motion. As a consequence, the half truths or downright lies used in advertising the world over in general and particularly in Zimbabwe may be detrimental to the upholding of societal mores and values.
Advertisers tap into the cultural beliefs and norms of a society in which they intend to sell their products. If these cultural values are well known and fully exploited, advertisements may help in the maintenance of such values and if they are scantly deciphered, they may become a bane on societal fabrics. Advertising therefore, may impact negatively or positively upon the norms and values of a particular society.
With the proliferation of advertising platforms due to technological advancement, societal values are in constant conflict with the desire to sell overriding customary checks. Through deliberate lying, the tendency to over-emphasize a point and tall talk, advertising can easily lead to societal disintegration. Individuals, especially the youths, who are the seeds of the future, are usually swayed by such ideas flighted through the electronic media and social platforms.
As posited by Durkheim in Haralambos and Holborn’s “Sociology: Themes and Perspectives” (1995), an individual is shaped by society because language, moral codes and beliefs are passed from one generation to another. Hence, “society has to be present in the individual,” and that individual should be guarded against getting carried away by reckless advertising if societal norms are to be preserved.
According to Fowler as cited in Biagi (1999), the social and economic impact of advertising on any nation or society can be easily felt or determined because advertisers follow traits already in existence and inspired by “an inventory of human motives”. To this end, he enumerated 15 appeals which advertisers commonly use in their commercials.
The common appeal used by advertisers ,which usually impact negatively on the social strata of society is the need for sex. It is a given that beautiful women, especially in their nudity or semi nudity, are exponents of sex.
Advertisers oftentimes use women as sex symbols and usually in bad taste. This trend mostly obtains in the advertisement of luxury goods like cars, perfumes, cigarettes and soft drinks.
This gender politics, with its use of paradigms, equating women with quality, sex, tenderness and salient motives expose the follies of advertising, which usually embroil it in controversies. Morals are thrown to the dogs as sex becomes a selling point and nudity a fashion statement.
The portrayal of women as sex objects in adverts may suggest male chauvinism and smacks of bias, both of which may lead to social problems.
The language used, which in most instances is deliberately ambiguous, makes one wonder what really may be the product on sale; the perfume, luxury car, cigarette brand or the woman.
Most adverts conform to the 15 appeals posited by Fowler, which include the need for affiliation, nurture, guidance, aggression, achievement, attention and safety. When adverts follow certain traits, they are bound to border on similar ends.
Some adverts, like that of the everlasting soap and those advertising Afri- can cuisine, use African cultural appeal to effect. The former is inspired by the mother Africa image, where a model African mother is mesmerized by the charm and mystical stance posed by the everlasting soap. On the other hand advertisers of African cuisine tap into heritage and familial ties through their offering of “sadza nemazondo”, “mupunga une dovi”, “nhopi”, “sadza rezviyo nenyama yembudzi” and “mupunga nenyama yehuku” for the “vazukurus”. A true African society, which is fond of its cultural values is depicted here, which advocates the demise of individualism and the birth and upholding of the family unit espoused by Durkheim in Haralambos and Holborn (1995).
Beer adverts; lagers, ciders and traditional brews alike advocate unity of purpose as familial ties are purveyed.
However, the soap advert in point, as is the case with many a soap adverts, have flaws of their own which may impact negatively on the social strata of society. Morally, African mothers are trustworthy, loving and dependable; hence, their portrayal as dishonest, wild and cunning through contrived and artificial smiles in adverts exposes the negative social impact of advertising.
The commercialisation of death as is done by funeral parlours through advertisements leaves a lot to be desired as the commercialisation of such a solemn and unfortunate event like death is condemnable. The dead are sacred and should not be taken advantage of.
Without proper regulation, which is made even difficult because of the proliferation of advertising outlets born out of technological advancements, consumers will continue to be bombarded by tempting adverts that play around their desires and need for survival. Conmen and other unscrupulous businesspeople as well as traders of sex prey on unsuspecting victims through advertising in the print and electronic media.
Because advertisers deliberately play on language and logic using half truths and lies, advertising causes people to buy impulsively. Research has shown that people blame advertising for the purchase of specific consumer goods like designer jeans; frivolous goods like pet rooks; dangerous goods (cigarettes), shoddy goods like toys; expensive goods that do not differ at all from cheap goods (non-generic over the counter drugs), marginally differentiated products that do not differ significantly from one another like laundry soap; and wasteful goods, (Gunduza, in “Sending the Wrong Signals: An Analysis of Advertising in Zimbabwe”, cited in “An Introduction to Multimedia” by Vambe and Gunduza, 2000).
However, though advertising has flaws of its own, it is a necessary “evil” in that it helps manufacturers and service providers sell their products, thus, strengthening a society’s economy, which may be affected by the continued proliferation of cheap and substandard foreign goods on the local market. Because feeding an economy on foreign products is tantamount to confining it to the intensive care unit usually with catastrophic results.
Producers incessantly engage in wars in the supermarkets, department stores, wholesales, hypermarkets and the like as they strive to capture a significant slice of the market for them to remain viable; and this may help in bringing smiles on consumers’ faces as prices are knocked down.
As pointed out by Kauffmans in David and Kittross (1999), however, advertising is expensive. The price of advertising in America including billboards and direct mail as well as print and broadcasting is nearly $200 billion annually.
In Zimbabwe the cost of advertising in broadsheets in full colour is on the high side and the cost of television airtime is also high. Thus, advertising adds to the cost of a product as it becomes part of the manufacturing process. In such a scenario, it is the consumer who is usually hard pressed, especially in an economy in which the cost of manufacturing is high as is currently obtaining in Zimbabwe, who ultimately pays the price for advertising. If the consumer does not have disposable income due to the ever increasing costs of product, the economy plunges.
When advertisers deliberately camouflage the truth by highlighting unproven claims of cure and health benefits of their products, advertising impacts negatively on the economy as products turn to be perilous instead of beneficial.
Advertising sometimes fosters monopolies which impede economic growth, as smaller players fold, leading to job losses and subsequently social turmoil.