Kid Kustomers- Advertising

The original definition of the word “advertising” does not look that bad. It is simply explained as “calling the attention of the public to a product or business.” However, the advertising companies usually abuse the real meaning of advertising and try to sell their product no matter what it takes to do so. It is very hard not to notice advertisement in today’s world. The commercials, the adds, the posters are everywhere; from TV, newspapers magazines and billboards to even a bus that is taking us to work everyday. Advertising companies know exactly how to get into our heads and how to convince us to buy their product instead of thousands of the different ones. No one can argue that advertising is influential, but there are a lot of critics and journalists that try to convince us to believe that it is not only harmless, but influential to us. One of them is John E. Calfee who in his essay “How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit” tries his hardest to prove that advertising has a positive impact on us. In his essay, Calfee gives very strong arguments supported by research and statistics, which unfortunately would probably convince an average American to agree with his ideas. John E. Calfee describes advertising as providing the people to help them live healthier and safer lives. His essay seems to be perfectly developed with multiple thoughts and ideas, but he uses a lot of examples which contain a hidden agenda. For example in “Vegetable oil manufacturers advertised that cholesterol was associated with coronary heart disease, and that vegetable oil does not contain cholesterol. Margarine ads did the same and added the vitamin A is essential for good vision” (Calfee 213) he shows how beneficial for us is that vegetable oil has no cholesterol and there is vitamin A in margarine, but Calfee does not tell us that even though vegetable oil and margarine do not contain cholesterol, it is proven that both of these products are prosperous in raising the cholesterol level