Describe the idea of consumption. Is advertising good or bad in economy?

Question

Describe the idea of consumption. Is advertising good or bad in economy?

Answer 1

I'll address the advertising.  Advertising can be both good and bad.  It can be good because it promotes freedoms which helps democracies thrive and it also promotes education.  Let me explain.  The biggest outlets of advertising are television, radio, newspapers, magazines etc... They create revenues by selling advertisement time/space business will only buy it if people have a potential to see their ads. So in order to sell time and space to advertisers this companies have to produce a product that people want.  They produce entertainment, news, educational shows etc.  Competition among advertising outlets is good for us the consumers, we get a variety of programs, shows etc to inform us or entertain us.  Say for example, the news you watch in TV are from independent sources.  Vs. having a news agency sponsor by a goverment where the news sources might be bias.  A government could broadcast whatever they want, fabricate their news to sway public opinion etc... Think South Korea and other communist countries.  You would read propaganda in newspapers, magazines etc.   Also without advertising you would never watch your favorite shows on tv for free, or big sport events such as the super bowl.

The bad side of advertisement is that it can promote negative behaviors.  Example: young people get expose to things such as beer, liquor and smoking thru advertisement on various media.  Also they exploit a medium that might not promote societies values to the point where societies values are change.  Now a days advertisement contains too much sexual references.  This type of adverts were unheard of many years ago.  We have been slowly grown comfortable to this type of advertising over the years where now we don't think twice about it about the appropriateness or the messages that our younger generation is getting from it.

Hope my ideas and points of view get you thinking on your own ups and down on advertisement.