The Destructive Effects of Advertising

This paper discusses the psychological effects of advertising: Subconscious and subliminal aims, methods of commercial campaigns, manipulation of daydreams, hidden yearnings, guilt complexes and irrational emotional blockages to sell products.

The following research is on the subject of the psychological effects of advertising. Advertising is a form of communication which is intended to sway people in a particular direction, to influence the audience to purchase a product or service. There is a tacit understanding of this fact on the part of the audience, but this does not mean that the people in the audience–whether it be for television, magazines, books, or newspapers–are able to control fully their own reactions. Advertising operates on many different levels, and there are subliminal messages in advertising that influence the thinking of the public. Many of these messages are certainly inadvertent, deriving from the prejudices and attitudes that are prevalent in a society at a given time. However, many others are intentional, designed to attract the viewer and to guide his or her thinking …