ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER

Britain spends over 2.5 billion on advertising every year. This adds three per cent to the price Britons pay for goods or $ 325 a year for the average household. In the USA, the figures are much higher even than these. The annual advertising bill is $ 102 billion, or an amazing $ 365 for every man, woman and child.

Some people say that advertising is a waste of money. However, nearly every successful business advertises its products in some way. Successful advertising introduces a product and says what is special about it. It makes people want to buy – and go on buying – that particular product.

A good product can succeed even if the name does sound a little bit strange. Look at the Japanese cars: you’ve got Sunny, Camry, Cherry – all very successful in the UK. Now in the USA they have a thing called the Rabbit, a sort of light-hearted, amusing image. That, believe it or not, is our Golf, because in Europe we prefer a sporty but still a serious image.

Brand names are important if you’re exporting a product. You may have to change the brand name to make it acceptable because people in different countries react in different ways.

However, many people feel that advertising is somehow dishonest and harmful. Even children question its honesty. In a recent survey a majority of eight-year-olds claimed that more than half of the ads they saw were not telling the truth.

The question of honesty is a difficult one, although one thing is sure: advertising cannot turn a bad product into a successful one. Perhaps the real problem is that advertising often tries to sell an image as a big part of the special “benefit” of the product – an image of personal attractiveness, for example. Whatever else, though, the product must do its basic job: a shampoo may not bring romance into your life, but it certainly must wash your hair clean and leave it looking good. If the product does this, it may even become a “household name”, so that shoppers always look that particular “brand name” – which is what every manufacturer wants.

In the past, too, the British consumer had almost no protection from false advertising. Today, however, a great many laws and organisations provide protection. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is a good example. Although it was set up by the advertising industry itself, it is independent and has real power to make sure that advertising is “legal, decent, honest truthful”. It invites complaints from the public, does its own check and takes action when necessary.

Task II. Find answers to the following questions:

1. Why are brands important?

2. What do people feel about ads?

3. What do people think of “honesty” in advertising?

4. How are consumers protected from false ads?

Task III. Combine the proper parts of the sentences:

Comprehension

Task II. Look through the text and say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Advertising is a useless waste of money.

2. Successful advertising doesn’t help in selling a bad product.

3. Successful advertising says what is special about the product.

4. Advertising makes every product successful.

5. British customers always look for a “brand name”.

6. “Brand name” is an international name of a product and cannot be changed.

7. A good product can succeed without a “brand name”.

8. Advertising sells an image of the product, not the product itself.

Task III. Give antonyms to the following words:

Honest, amusing, light-hearted, harmful, benefit, shopper

Task IV. Find synonyms to the following words:

Consumer, truthful, advantage, fail, transnational, useful, demand

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 914