Do advertisements play a positive or negative role in our society?

Arguments

1. Advertisements provide the most direct comprehensive and detailed information. We get to know about household goods from advertisements.

2. Advertising itself is a business that has provided a great number of jobs.

3. With advertisements, people save a lot of time in shopping, looking for jobs, etc.

4. Daily life needs advertisements because the main function of advertising is to disseminate information on commodities, services, culture, employment, student enrolment and even marriage.

5. A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of news of calamities.

6. Without advertisements, newspapers, commercial radios and television companies could not survive.

7. You can find a job or rent an apartment, buy or sell a house, etc. by way of advertising.

8. Advertising is a process of artistic creation.

9. Advertising creates mass markets. Without advertisements, manufacturers may find it difficult to sell their products.

10. Advertising helps stabilize industry and employment, improves quality, and, by competition, helps keep prices within bounds.

Counter-arguments

1. Advertisements are imposed upon a captive audience: e.g. on television.

2. Advertisements on TV are a nuisance: they interrupt television progranunes at a shocking frequency.

3. Consumers have to pay more for the goods owing to the advertising expenses: high prices are maintained by such artificial means.

4. Advertisements are simply misleading and cheating. They are filled with flowery phrases and empty promises.

5. Fake advertising cheats consumers and, in some serious cases, threatens gullible people's lives.

6. Advertisers are inconsiderate to the public. What they care about is making money.

7. Advertisements are not based on the quality of the goods, but on the principle that if one keeps talking about the same thing long enough, eventually people will pay attention to it.

8. Advertisements are an insidious form of brainwashing, using the same techniques, like slogans, catchphrases, etc.

9. Some advertising is offensive: it appeals to base instincts.

10. Advertising cheapens the quality of life: most ads are in poor taste.

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