Criticism of advertising

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Advertising is a form of selling a product to a certain audience in which communication is intended to persuade an audience to purchase products, ideals or services regardless of whether they want or need them. While advertising can be seen as a way to inform the audience about a certain product or idea it also comes with a cost because the sellers have to find a way to show the seller interest in their product. It is not without social costs. Unsolicited commercial email and other forms of spam have become so prevalent that they are a major nuisance to internet users, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers.^[1] Advertising increasingly invades public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation.^[2] Advertising frequently uses psychological pressure (for example, appealing to feelings of inadequacy) on the intended consumer, which may be harmful. As a result of these criticisms, the advertising industry has seen low approval rates in surveys and negative cultural portrayals.^[3]

Criticism of advertising is closely linked with criticism of media and often interchangeable. Critics can refer to advertising's:

• audio-visual aspects (cluttering of public spaces and airwaves)
• environmental aspects (pollution, oversize packaging, increasing consumption)
• political aspects (media dependency, free speech, censorship)
• financial aspects (costs)
• time-consuming aspects
• social/moral/ethical aspects (sub-conscious influencing, invasion of privacy, increasing consumption and waste, target groups, certain products, honesty)