Describe the Relationship Between Advertising and Democracy

There is a deep link between democracy and advertisement. Read more todescribe the relationship between advertising and democracy. Advertisements, though they are free creative expressions, exhibit inequality. Most of the advertisements are targeted at the segments that are better off in society. The advertisement themselves are costly affairs. Making an advertisement requires, as you have seen, the hiring of advertisement professionals.

A lot of money is spent on the making of advertisements. Then showing them on various media is also a costly affair. To retain its image in the minds of the people, the advertisements have to be shown of a huge amount of money.

It is obvious that such a big sum of money can be spent only by big business houses. People with a small business cannot afford to spend such amounts of money on advertisements through newspapers or TV, so they rely mostly on word of mouth. Moreover, branded products are welcomed by society because of the massive advertisements that go into making them a success. Local production of things like pickles, sweets, jams which are made by small producers at home is not bought by the people as they are not branded products. These small producers sell their products in weekly markets and neighborhood shops about which you will read in the next modules.

The advertisements make us believe that packaged goods are superior in quality to unpackaged ones. Since people prefer packaged goods, the sales of smaller businessmen who cannot advertise or package the product are adversely affected and this forces them out of the market.

Though advertising appeals to the personal emotions of the people and has a strong influence on our lifestyles, yet as citizens of a democratic society, we must make an independent choice. We must encourage advertisements with a social message and discourage products that highlight the inequalities in society.

Read More: What is Advertising? Advertisement and Social Values - Class 7