The story of your favourite mall!!!

Two months earlier I witnessed something that amused me to no end! An ad was being shot for a certain dog food. The girl starring delivered her lines in an eager convincing manner, “do your pet a favor and get it a can of this yummy ??? dog food. With that she dumped the food in a dog-bowl and guess what? The poodle simply refused to eat it!!!
One week later I heard that after three fruitless attempts with three different dogs, they succeeded to feed it to a famished Labrador. Another week later the ad hit the channels convincing people to get the appetizing and nutritious dog food that couldn’t be resisted in a brand new flavor! This too is a part of advertising...
A diplomat may put it this way that advertising is the dissemination of information concerning an idea, service or product to compel action in accordance with the intent of the advertiser. The advertisers may insist that advertising is the publics right to choose. (Emphasis on the “right” please!) Where as you all, the victims may pout that it is to magnetize attention, stimulate curiosity, rouse desire and secure action, not to mention emptying out your wallets!!!
So what do you think? Which one seems right? Actually they are all one and the same thing, only seen from different angles. That’s why we have decided to reveal to you the shrewd sphere of advertising through the magazine. In the upcoming issues you’ll catch various categories that come beneath the advertising placard such as its pros and cons, effectiveness, law that regulate it, how ads are made, its budgeting, choice of media, the major field players, interviews etc, so pull up your socks!
I consider advertising as the art of persuasion...now what’s being pursed it a separate question! This word, advertising, has been derived from the French term “advertir” which means to notify. And advertisement is a potent force directly proportional to sales, which are turn directly proportional to a secure economy. It is a liability rather then an asset for a business enterprise to produce commodities that have no demand in the market.
Now advertising is done for a variety of reasons: to make the consumers aware of a product, to target audience geography dispersed, to jog consumer’s memory and support an existing product. Other reasons that are of special importance are competition with parallel products or to develop and improve the image of a manufacturing firm.
For those of you who are bent on facts, there are two sorts of advertisements. Informative advertisement is to create awareness and help people make rational decisions. Examples of such ads are Visa Cards in relation to the Olympics, discounts at United Colors of Bennetton, grants available to small firms etc. Persuasive advertisement is often done by stressing that a product is more desirable then others, this often distorts ones buying power and nearly always carries the unsaid message, “you have to have it!” (Like Coka Cola, mmm...) or the feeling of sheer independence by Nike telling you to “Just Do It!”
Either way, advertising has the potential to impinge our lives since regular exposure to it is just about inescapable. You have to agree that modern day advertising has made the luxuries of yesterday, the necessities of today. After all it’s not like that you can't live without CDs and CD players! So you can regard advertising as a master or as the sine qua non of modern business.
The advertisers point to a number of arguments to justify the role of advertisement. You can't deny that it pays both sides to advertise. Ads offer a choice to the consumers that allow them to make informed consumers choices. Information that would otherwise be difficult to come by is readily given. Advertisers respond to and reflects the ‘needs’ of the consumers and don’t create them plus they earn revenue for T.V and radio and allow the newspaper and magazines to be sold at lower price. Also not to be forgotten is the crucial fact that this industry employs a large number of people while utilizing new talent and opening a doorway of new horizons for them.
It can be argued that unbalanced and competitive advertising leads to increased costs of marketing and prices of products, a burden on the advertisers and the consumers. These oodles of money used for marketing can instead be used for product improvement or price reduction.
Advertising encourages people to buy tempting products that would not have been purchased on the whim like a Walls Feast or a Cornetto. A definite negative aspect is that some ads encourage harmful products such as cigarettes or encourage behavior that might be detrimental to the society as a whole like macho driving in ads for cars and related products. But then as they say you can't have it all...
Err...speaking of having something...say, have you seen that lip-smacking Mars ad with loads and loads of caramel and loads and loads of chocolate? Well, it’s coming on the T.V right now...are you thinking what I’m thinking???

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