IELTS Writing Task 2 – Consumers are faced with increasing numbers of advertisements from competing
Consumers are faced with increasing numbers of advertisements from competing
companies. To what extent do you think are consumers influenced by
advertisements?
What measures can be taken to protect them?
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
You should write at least 250 words.
IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay Sample
Sample Answer 1:
Whether it is on TV, radio or hoardings at the side of the road, advertisements have become
a part of our lives. Advertising is a powerful and persuasive medium. Consumers are
influenced by advertisements in both positive and negative ways. This essay shall delve into
the ways adverts affect the common man and suggest ways to protect people from the
negative effects of adverts.
On the positive side ads tell us about the new products that are launched in the market.
They also tell us about the working of these products. After seeing the ads, consumers can
go to the market and select things of their choice.
On the other hand, advertisements can cause people to be dissatisfied with what they
already gave and make them want more. Being exposed again and again to products which
one cannot afford leads to dissatisfaction. Furthermore, not all parents are in the position to
afford the goods which the children see advertised and want to possess. This often leads to
feelings of inadequacy among them. In addition to this advertisements lead to materialism
and people lay too much emphasis on material goods. People are prepared to work long
hours or even turn to crime to get these goods.
The solution is not simple as advertising has become a very pervasive medium. To begin
with, advertisements which make false claims should be banned. Then there should be
consumer awareness programmes. Consumers should be warned against too much
consumerism. Finally, advertisements for liquor and those ads which show stunts should
also be banned.
To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that today we are influenced a lot by adverts, both
in positive and negative ways, without adverts we would lose a valuable source of revenue
which is used for the benefit of majority. Our lives would be dull without these ads and
there is not much that can be done against the consumerism they promote.
Model Answer 2:
In today’s material world, we are inundated with various forms of advertising. In my view, this can be dangerous as it encourages us to spend without thinking and young people, in particular, need some protection from it.
The first point to make is that advertising does make us spend money we do not need to. There are nowadays so many different ways companies promote their products and services, ranging from television commercials to simple flyers that we cannot escape it. If, for example, you watch a football match on television, you will see the logos of the tournament sponsors. Likewise, if you watch the latest blockbuster movie, very probably you will see a product placed in the film by some advertising agency. The volume of this advertising means that we, as consumers, tend to be profoundly influenced by it and buy without thinking.
It is not easy to decide how to regulate advertising. Clearly, governments ought to restrict advertisements for harmful products such as alcohol and tobacco. They do not have the power, however, to control other forms of advertising. This means we need to use our common sense when we go to the shops, and ask ourselves whether we really need to make that purchase. Parents should, however, ensure that young people are protected from too much exposure to advertising. This can mean simply explaining that it is not in fact necessary to buy the newest Xbox, or simply turning the television off.
My conclusion is that while we cannot escape advertising or its effects in the modern world, children should be encouraged not to pay too much attention to it.
Sample Answer 3:
It is undoubtable that the majority of the brands around the world will advertise their products in the television as well as billboards. Whilst it is possible to claim that consumers are influenced by a plethora of advertisements in the market by different companies, I personally believe that such issue should be handled with care in order to protect the consumers. Therefore, in this essay, I shall further elaborate my point of view by analysing this particular issue.
Generally speaking, we are surrounded by advertisements in our daily life. Perhaps, one of the greatest sources of such promotion is from the mass media, for instance, newspaper, television as well as the internet. One important point to be made is superstars are hired by the branding company as an ambassador to promote their products. If one idolise this superstar, they will purchase the product endorsed by them. Another related matter is cigarette is often used as a prop in movies and drama. Whilst smoking is regarded as deleterious o one’s health, youngsters will however smoke for the purpose of imitating their idol. In short, advertisement is considered as a strong method to attract buyers.
Despite many advertisements are aired and printed freely, measures should be taken to avoid consumers being exploited. First and foremost, legislation about the contents of advertisement should be created. This is clearly important as many companies tend to promote products which are disadvantages to consumers, such as cigarette. Another point to note is the law should state the advertisers must be honest in terms of the quality of the product or brand which they sell.
In a nutshell, it is evident that advertisements have made a great impact on consumers, not least because people would purchase the items advertised on the television and endorsed by superstar. This is however, must be control through legislation in order to protect the consumer’s right and safety.
Model Answer 4:
Nowadays the consumers are exposed to increasing numbers of advertisement due to the fierce competition in the business world and they are heavily influenced by them.This essay will suggest several solutions to this problem.
The consumers are not as strong-minded as they think they are.Firstly, the advertisement keep the consumers well-informed about the product they manufacture and the service they offer.There would hardly be any customers actually to make purchases if this product was never known by its clientele in modern life.Secondly,the advertisers use celebrities or attractive people in advertisements to associate their products or brand with positive impression,such as beauty,high social status and wealth.It will have a significant influence the consumers,especially impulsive teenagers,when they are making decisions on which product to buy.Additionally,the advertisements are trying to persuade costumers to believe that their happiness is closely connected to how many products they can buy and how much money they can spend on things they desire,which is highly harmful for the traditional value of the costumers,especially children in their formative years.
There are several measures can be taken to decrease the influence on the vulnerable consumers.To begin with,the government should impose strict censorship on advertisements.Companies,therefore,cannot advertise low-quality products or target potential clients with unsound judgment,such as children.Also,schools and other educational institutions should inculcate traditional values into their students to prevent the negative effect of materialism.Besides,consumers should be more conscious and discreet while making purchase decisions,which can decline the impulsive purchase rate.
In conclusion,as consumers,we live in an era of fierce business competition,meaning we are bombarded with numerous ads every single day.Hence, the government ,educational institutions and consumer themselves should make joint effort to curb the manipulation of the advertisements.
When we are talking about an advertisement it cut across all facet of human lives as it serves as the only medium many companies used to showcase their products to their customers.this has had great influence on the end users.in this narrative essay, I shall prove my meetle as a good.
To illustrate, advertisement has been the only tool used by the product companies to sell their new or improved products to there customers, which gives details information about the product, guidelines on usuage, product amount, all these information provided may convinced the consumer to buy their products. They used many channels to achieved this, for instance, mediums like the television channels, radio stations, the new papers, billboard, and media, even lately most product companies have started using prominent superstars in there advertisements, some have signed long term endorsement with them, theses aforementioned above, are the renovative ways product companies have been reaching their products to their customers, it has contributed greatly to the growth and progress of the product companies. Studies has also supported that advertisement has improved and enhanced sales.
Advertisement has also contributed considerably to the capital growth of the economy, as these products companies are taxed heavily for their advertisements, it has also generated jobs to lot of people, for instance the superstars they use are been paid pretty good money for an endorsement sometimes for a long term, this is a job, the media people are paid for their publications about there products, the television and radio stations are also paid for their services, all of these are enough reasons to prove my claims right.
However, some of the advertisements executed has inflenced endusers negatively, some of the products advertised lacks good valued details product information and usuage guidelines, which has been detrimental to ones health. For example the consumption of alcohol and cigarette has poses serious health threat, in there adverts the product companies would never advised on the maximum quantity of consumption allowable or the side effects of there products. Consequently, this have caused lot of people to suffer health problems like heart failure, cancer of the heart, kidney failure, diabetes and lots of other ailments resulting from too much consumption of alcohol and cigarette as they contains harmful substances to our health.
Furthermore, some advertisements contains high level of immorality, for example some adverts on the internet contains some pornography pictures or video, a good number of children have been corrupted through is medium, some of these kids tends to practice what they have seen or learn from some of these advert sometimes they copy the lifestyle of these superstars which they see as role models from the advertisement in turn it has negatively affected the morality of these kids.
Nevertheless, some advertisements as it is presented has lured great number of people to buy what they really don’t planned for which has removed saving culture in people, this has a detrimental effect on the economy, perhaps, it makes us to have a selfish society that has the potential to cause or increase social vices in the society.
In conclusion, there should be a regulation on food and beverages to all products companies that will ensure all products should contain concrete details information of the nutritional values and procduct ingredients, side effects and health benefits of what they are advertising to the products and lastly there should also be a regularatory body to check and monitor contents of every adverts to ensure it is free of immoral content before it’s allowed to be advertised. Moreso, people should cultivate the habit of financial discipline, save, plan and budget for everything, shouldn’t just buy anything we see on the advert.
Model Answer 2:
In today’s material world, we are inundated with various forms of advertising. In my opinion, this can be dangerous as people are encouraged to spend without thinking and young people, in particular, need some protection from it.
Advertising does make people to spend money they do not need to. There are nowadays so many different ways companies can promote their products or services, ranging from television commercials to simple flyers, which people cannot easily escape from it. For example, anyone cannot miss to notice the logos and slogans of tournament sponsors while watching the football. Furthermore, consumers are not aware that they are manipulated when the products are placed in films by the advertising agencies. As a result, this amount of advertising profoundly influences the customers and persuades them to buy without thinking.
It is not easy to decide on how to regulate the advertisements. First and foremost, Government ought to ban the advertisements on harmful products like alcohol and tobacco and mandate statutory warnings to be printed on their displays. In some countries, cigarettes cannot be advertised in televisions. Secondly, advertisements aimed at children must be controlled or censored. For instance, advertisements on products that are unhealthy like fast food should not be aired in cartoon channels or during kids entertainment programs. In addition, parents should also encourage their kids not to pay too much attention to those advertisements.
In conclusion, while advertising is needed in free market economies, false information or advertisements on unhealthy or harmful products should be regulated.
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