Does Advertising Work on You?
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It's a huge industry and those companies that rely on advertising revenue are biased to always reporting that advertising works as its important to their very existence but in reality many people don't seem to buy any products that they see advertising for and also those who are more vulnerable to advertising it can be a cause of depression as they can't afford the products that advertising has made them desire so they actually feel like they are missing out. There has been a link to those in debt and those more vulnerable to advertising.
Banning advertising of tobacco based products does seem to have had a very positive effect with less people taking it up but still many do even without advertising.
However when I think about myself I seem to be immune to much of the lifestyle advertising where they just show a product in a positive way and get you to buy it that way. Those sort of adverts don't work for me.
The main source of me responding to advertising is simply seeing great value deals on Latestdeals or Hotukdeals really. However most deals I see like that I question whether they are actually good deals but you get a small subset of deals which are worth buying.
Whenever possible I avoid seeing ads it just seems a waste of time so use advert blockers where possible. I don't respond to ads anyway in my opinion so its a waste of time for companies to pay to show ads to me so when I block an ad on youtube and google misses out on that income then clearly this is less money for google but also means the company advertising has not wasted their money.
What is your relationship with advertising, does it work on you or do you make an effort to avoid adverts? Can you think of products you have bought because you saw adverts for them? Do you have any brand loyalty that might be influenced by advertising? Do you pay extra for a product or service because you like the company? Do you pay the brand tax?
An example could be something like a Halfords bike vs a Trek bike. Neither company manufactures any bikes but instead buys their bikes from factories in Asia. The Halfords bike is directly imported and sold by them and is £500 but the Trek bike with the same spec is £900, they spend a lot on advertising, marketing, sponsoring sporting events and their logistics are more complex. Are you the sort of person that would buy the Halfords bike for £500 or pay the £400 extra for the Trek bike?
You could be writing about my attitude to advertising.
Firstly I will even record commercial tv and begin watching about 20 minutes later or another time in order to ff the ads.
I avoid ads by even leaving the room and tell myself it encourages me to get up and walk away which is good for my health rather than sitting for hours on end.
I hate ads that treat me like an idiot.
I hate ads endorsed by celebs who are paid millions when they could probably engage better by using unknowns, plus I get cross at their profits going to those already super rich.
I don't believe any of the claims they make like gets rid of wrinkles, washes whiter, improved recipe (which usually tastes worse).
I would say only 1% of ads will attract my attention and even then I probably don't buy unless it is something new but a different variety of something I usually buy.
Lynibis I also hate ads endorsed by Celebs in fact just by seeing a celeb endorsing something I then assume it will be poor value and not buy it unless evidence shows to the contrary or is on special offer. I've noticed that when I'm in the supermarket more and more people are like me filling their trollies with supermarket brands, often value brands and special offers. I'm not seeing as many people fill their trolleys with branded goods anymore.
A while back I was in Marks and Spencers which I go in occasionally as one of the few food shops in the main town centre just to pick up a cucumber and lettuce and in front of the queue was a woman with a small trolley (they are all small trolleys there) and filled with high value products and alcohol. She looked a professional woman perhaps a solicitor and her bill was about £460 if I remember rightly which made me feel even worse as my two items were about £1.60 in total. It's not like she could push the trolley to the car either she had to carry it herself out of the shop so wasn't a huge weight. Anyway it made me think that I hadn't seen a huge purchase like that for a long time in a supermarket and it definitely feels like people are spending less generally which is not surprising as we get to be a much poorer indebted nation.
I think many people are literally being forced to abandon the big brands just because of declining income. Just yesterday I read that about a million are on zero hour contracts and the amount of people working is somewhere between 26 and 32 million I think depending on where you look. So maybe 2-4 percent of the working population are on that which makes financial planning very difficult I would of thought. Labour are planning to ban these contracts and I guess that will improve the situation for some but also eliminate the jobs of others.
We are now seeing more and more caravan cities and other off the grid housing solutions like wild camping for everyday existence as well as people living on the streets. Bristol is only 40 miles north of where I am in Yeovil and that is one of the worst if not worst caravan cities. So I just feel more and more people are looking for value in how they shop and paying for huge marketing costs of big brands is just not realistic anymore for a much larger percentage of the population. Sadly Labour aren't likely to solve anything and we are likely heading to a debt payment default and then poverty will get much worse. We still seem to be living in a country where too many people are idealistic rather than realistic.
I hate advertising on the whole and only really notice if it is a sale promising huge savings. Obviously these savings rarely materialise and are somewhere linked to a teeny weeny text of UP TO.
EmmaWright762 I doubt many people sit down to watch tv and stay for the ads
I am up as soon as they come on, making a drink or doing something else, i think they are a total waste of time, but others must watch them otherwise they wouldn't still be shown
Saying all that i am glad we have them, at least they pay for the programmes, unlike the BBC who get theirs from us via the tv licence
telmel I know loads of people that want the premium brand products. When I'm wearing generic or low cost trainers people question how good they are for my feet or how long they last etc but I'm a heavy person and I can see which trainers will last longest mostly by looking at them and their construction. Some of the more expensive trainers are the lightest and weakest. Like you I'm happy there are consumers out there paying for these premium products which have large marketing budgets which funds services I might use like ITV, youtube, websites etc. They are subsidising my entertainment and I'm quite happy about it, I've not asked them to do so. If consumers got more clever about how they spend their money generally then there would be less advertising and the free services I enjoy would reduce or even disappear.
I’m rarely influenced by advertising on tv and most things are above what I would pay anyway. There’s almost always a cheaper version of whatever it is somewhere. The food ones annoy me e.g McDonalds burgers. They are spray painted for filming and bulked out with various model items and colour for fillings. Looks really appetising. In reality you get a cheeseburger that looks like it’s been under a steamroller and a few sticks for chips. My dad used to work as artist for ads before computers when things were really designed by talent. It’s embarrassing to watch some of the ads now as they can be really stupid. I usually do something else when they are on, channel hop or mute.
I love watching the various commercials programmes and the advertising in-between them. Yes, I am greatly influence by celebrities endorsing xyz. I never leave the room when advertising is on. I usually buy my white goods from either Argos or Currys because of the guarantee, delivery and assembling of the various products that I could never follow from an instruction booklet.
I rarely watch the adverts on tv but they can’t be avoid at the cinema unless you’re late. Celebrity endorsements mean nothing to me, it’s just a well paid job for them.
I can't think of anything iv bought from just watching an ad. Like others I avoid ads mostly now.
Admittedly tho I think I am a packaging marketeers dream. Show me a pretty packaged product & I'll be more tempted to part with my £s.
Advertising clearly works even if we dont realise it. It does affect what we buy, what we look for, what we recognise. So much of our daily activities are in part at least funded by advertising. Companies wouldn't bother if it didnt work. Its just as well that companies think this way as we would loose out so much if adverts were not appearing everywhere. Public transport would cost a lot more, Television would be drastically reduce in quality and cost so much more. Sport would grind to a halt. The internet would pretty much cease.
didbygraham I think it has been shown statistically that advertising doesn't work for some even if it has created brand recognition in that person's mind they still wouldn't buy that product due to price. Of course it does work for a percentage of the population. A few years ago Halfords took 25p in every pound spent of cycling with up to 40 percent of bike sales. They rarely advertise their bikes, they don't do any sponsorship, google often blocks them in search results due to lack of affiliate income. They just buy directly from factories in Asia and sell them in their stores, super simple logistics with very little additional costs. The type of people who buy from Halfords are looking for value above everything else. Of course Halfords brand bikes like Carrera, Boardman and Voodoo have some status but not as much as those that have large marketing budgets. I honestly feel advertising is only chasing a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. I've seen multiple news reports saying more and more people are turning to shop brands.
If you have a mindset that you are always looking for value then advertising won't work on you.
Depends what advertisements...Some do work on me but some don't..
I DON'T feel that I'm missing out, if I can't afford it I don't but it
If it's for a new product or service I didn't previously know about, but is something I would be interested in, then advertising can be useful. Otherwise, I'm not really swayed by advertising. There is just so much of it constantly being spewed out from all directions it's natural to tune most of it out. When I am confronted with it I find most advertising to be unoriginal, uninspiring and annoying.
Advertising on TV has never influenced me into buying anything, so advertising doesn't work on me
Ads don't work on me. I don't like ads that are wndorsed by celebs or Influencers as I don't trust them. I rarely buy branded items anyway as they are too expensive so their ads definitely don't work on me.
To an extent yes advertising does influence me , especially a new product that I would not otherwise of noticed, even this site is a form of advertising and the amount of items I have bought after seeing them on here that I didn't know I needed or wanted is incredible.
I sometimes wonder what are they advertising ? I can’t seem to relate to the product. My friend seems to buy every gimmick going but will never admit that it’s was a waste of money.
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