Applications of Advertising

The usefulness and effectiveness of advertisements to market products are based on the simple fact of mass communication to the general populace or, in some specific cases, to a particular audience.

From the mass communication of ideas, different media of advertisements then branch out and cater to different target audiences to reinforce the importance and usefulness of the product, service or idea that will appeal to the target audience chosen. For example, a radio commercial broadcasting medicine for rheumatism would be more effective when aired during a radio show for the aged compared to one for teenagers. The language used during advertisements is also another similar factor that should be altered appropriately.

The most basic objective of advertisements is to convey notions and messages and to convince others to take up a certain viewpoint - in other words, propaganda, be it political or commercial. Political propaganda exists in the form of election posters or government ideals that become translated into propaganda, to inform or change the opinion of the public.

Commercial propaganda either exists as repetitive broadcasting of the same advertisement or an attention-grabbing message to eventually become a part of popular culture that is remembered. The effectiveness of popular culture can be seen from Apple and its trademark MP3 player, the iPod. Even though Apple does not actually repetitively broadcast advertisements about the iPod, the iPod and the Apple brand is now so entrenched in popular culture that the company does not have to advertise the product. Hence, from this example, we can see how through the use of popular culture to reach out to audiences, the cost of advertising can be minimised and at the same time, effectiveness of the advertisement is increased.

The culture of a society can be shown in its artworks and pictorial displays, thus advertisements - the bulk of them involving pictures - are also ways that exhibit the culture of the society. Certain ideas or generalisations can also be linked to and understood from advertisements and what they depict- the popular and current trends, how life in the present could be compared to life in the future - because of how we are surrounded by our culture daily.

Advertisements are also yet another window for budding artists to display their artistic talent through animation or still drawing, through the use of colour, clever wit and literature in their accompanying captions which in turn attracts the consumer audience, increasing the effectiveness of the advertisements. A particular phrase or picture might also help us make linkages to real life and the context of the drawing, enabling the consumer to remember the product, service or idea better and act on it - for example, to buy it.