This is an age of advertisement, nay aggressive advertisement. There is virtually an advertisement invasion. It is all over the country influencing our ideas, lifestyles and decisions. There are more advertisements in the newspapers than the news and articles. On the small screen of television the programmes are heavily punctuated with advertisements. They are there on the silver screen of the cinema in large numbers. They can be seen on the walls, buildings, scaffolds, electric and telephone poles, trucks, buses airports and even in such places as cremation and burial grounds. Big, colourful and attractive advertisement balloons rise and float high in the sky. There are costly but very attractive laser advertisements. It has become a very big industry and there are huge profits and volumes. Corporate groups, business houses, film makers, shopkeepers, traders etc spend crores and crores on advertising. A great part of the annual budget of these people is spent on it.

Advertisements serve a great purpose. They promote sales, increase businesses and profits as nothing else can do. They catch the eyes, hearts and minds of the viewers and turn them into instant buyers. They appeal to their imagination, curiosity and purchasing urges. People are tempted to buy what they see advertised. Then there is pressure from ladies and children in the family. These pressures turn hesitation into immediate purchasing decisions even when the things are actually not needed. People buy on instalments, on credit or by borrowing money, such is the power of attractive advertisements. During festivals and social occasions their psychological appeal is at its best. They create a mood to buy and spend money. Then there are gift coupons, hampers, discounts, annual sales etc which the people find very hard to resist. Advertisements have ushered in a wave of consumerism in white, brown and other goods besides clothes and commodities.

Then there are big exhibitions in five star hotels, halls and sprawling grounds. Customers throng the exhibitions and enjoy themselves with their members of the family. When an environment of picnic prevails there, one can’t be easily on a spending spree. There is home delivery, buy now pay later offers. Such an onslaught can hardly be withstood. Advertisements also offer better products at reasonable rates. There is wider choice and vast range of things to choose from. People want value for their money and advertisements give them this opportunity. There is cheating as well but it soon exposed and cannot be repeated. In this age of global economy, international integration and fierce competition only the fittest can survive.

An advertisement to be successful, needs to be creative, novel, appealing and result oriented. Advertisements are prepared by experts by spending lakhs of rupees and keeping the target buyers in mind. Publicity aims at promoting sales by underlining certain unique qualities of a product and commodity. “Out of sight, out of mind” is a very old and time tested saying. It applies so well in the world of business, trade and commerce that nobody can ignore it. The more people see and listen about a product, the more they are sure to buy it.

Advertisements help in introducing new products as well as increasing the sales of established products. Advertisements create brand image and once a brand is established a commodity becomes a household word. Established brands have very strong appeal. And once one starts liking a particular brand, he or she sticks to it lifelong. It becomes a kind of addiction and hypnotism. Advertisements have revolutionized the business world.

But sometimes advertisements are really very dangerous and cause a lot of harm particularly to children and youngsters. They try to imitate dangerous advertisements seen on television, silver screen or in a magazine. Such visuals and advertisements should be banned and there should be heavy penalty on those advertisements which cause loss of life or injury among children.