Some of the Main Social Criticism of Advertising

Harmful product being held by a baby in an ad

Since people have different tastes and opinions, it is normal that they will react to an ad different from one another. It is important to pay attention to the demographic segmentation research before launching an ad campaign.

Some ads have hidden messages in order to lure the consumer to be more materialistic, meaning that the product offered has to be purchased in order for the consumer’s happiness.

Privacy is also another issue with all the espionage issues that have been coming up. People have the necessity to feel same, and in order to do so companies have praised that all the information that someone gives to them is safe. However, people are stopping to believe that the information will not be shared, so that they are claiming more transparency regarding the actual privacy.

Another issue is the misleading ads that make people believe that the product is better that it really is. Some of the examples are the warranties that some companies give after selling an electronic. In some cases they say that the warranty is available for 6 months but only for “special” repairs.

Also some harmful products being advertising lead to a lot of criticism. For instance, a lot of people do not feel good when ads about guns are on TV, or about cigarettes.

The last one that causes a lot of criticism is a child appearing in advertising. There are many cases where companies put children doing something that only an adult could do. These type of ads can cause a lot of revolt from parents.