Question

Six Mark Question:-
"Money spent on advertisement is not a waste but an investment." Do you agree with this view? Give reasons in support of your answer.

Answer 1

Yes, I agree. Advertising, as a medium of communication, has the following merits:

(i) Mass Reach: Advertising is a medium through which a large number of people can be reached over a vast geographical area. For example, an advertisement message placed in a national daily reaches lakhs of its subscribers.

(ii) Enhancing Customer Satisfaction and Confidence: Advertising creates confidence amongst prospective buyers as they feel more comfortable and assured about the product quality and hence feel more satisfied.

(iii) Expressiveness: With the developments in art, computer designs, and graphics, advertising has developed into one of the most forceful medium of communication. With the special effects that can be created, even simple products and messages can look very attractive.

(iv) Economy: Advertising is a very economical mode of communication if large number of people are to be reached. Because of its wide reach, the overall cost of advertising gets spread over numerous communication links established. As a result the per-unit cost of reach comes low.

There may be some chances of misuse of advertising as a tool, which can be properly safeguarded by the law or by developing a code of conduct by the advertisers, for their self regulation. However, most of the criticism against advertising are not entirely true. In the changed economic environment of globalisation, advertising is considered as an important tool of marketing. It helps a firm in effectively communicating with its target market, increasing the sale and there by reducing the per unit cost of production. It is not a social waste, rather it adds value to the social cause by giving a boost to production and generating employment.