s that in 2013 the UK earned £27milion from Business rates and £41milion from corporation tax, they play a vital role in the success of the country. You can see the Government spends more than they earn, which is sad as some of the biggest companies in the UK do not pay tax, e.g. Amazon, Facebook, Starbucks and Apple and if they did maybe the UK would be earning more.
George Monbiot (2011) wrote an article for The Guardian called 'Advertising is a poison that demeans even love – and we're hooked on it' he likens it to a drug which is destroying society. He understands that The Guardian and other newspapers and magazines would not exist without advertising. Research has also found that 'people who watch a lot of advertisements appear to save less, spend more and use more of their time working to meet their rising material aspirations. All three outcomes can have terrible impacts on family life. They also change the character of the nation. Burdened by debt, without savings, we are less free, less resilient, less able to stand up to those who bully us.' To keep organisations is business they must continue to push people to spend money on products they have made people believe they need. George suggests that society is shaped by the values people hold and psychologists call these either extrinsic or intrinsic. People with intrinsic values take pleasure in their relationships with friends, family, the community and the environment. People with extrinsic values want status, wealth and power over other people. Advertising promotes extrinsic values, some do appear to show intrinsic values but they are only trying to suggest we can purchase these feelings through their products/services.
If you get to stuck in thinking about the negatives then this world seems too crazy to be real, now I'm not saying that the advertising industry is all evil. Rory Sutherland president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising said 'I would rather be thought of as evil than useless.'
Below is a download link to a report about the ethical debate of advertising. In it the authors agree advertising promotes consumption and extrinsic values but argues not all advertising is bad, civil society organisations and charities use it to raise awareness and money for good causes, small business use it to help compete with big organisations.
'Modern advertising’s impact on British culture is likely to be detrimental to our well-being, and may well exacerbate the social and environmental problems that we collectively confront' Monbiot, g. (2011) there is definitely two sides to this argument and its a difficult one to judge but its something companies and the agencies that work with them need to manage effectively to reduce the negative view of the industry.
The PDF file below states that advertising defences to this are:
1: Advertising merely redistributes consumption
2: Advertising is simply a mirror of cultural values
3: Advertising is about the promotion of choice
Doherty, M (2011) wrote a blog post called 'What would happen if advertising didn't exist' in this he puts forward that the world would be a very different place. Multi-national companies wouldn't happen, people would be purchasing local products, one recommended by friends and family or ones they have always purchased. New businesses would struggle to compete with well established brands, people would have less knowledge of products. Some industries would fail without the funding advertising provides for example events and the media industry.
It is very clear the importance of advertising, its a good thing that we are able to use products from other countries it helps Britain be multi-cultural. People would miss out on some great new products that could help them, if advertising didn't exist we might not know about companies like Coca-Cola or Samsung.
I'm torn between the two sides of this argument, the reason being is i believe consumerism is out of control and the large companies i mentioned earlier not paying their taxes should be stopped and be contributing to the society as equally as the people they sell their products too. Brands and agencies need to understand the importance of the opposing argument and manage this by contributing positively to society and the environment, being transparent and honest.
The United Kingdom spent £17.88bn in 2013 and its expected to reach £20bn in 2015 with investment mainly in digital and mobile. Mobile ad spend grew 95.2% in 2013 and expected to rise 45.5% in 2015 (WARC. (a) 2014), which isn't surprising as 6.8bn people have mobile phone subscriptions (Fernholz, T. 2014), what makes that number mind blowing is that currently their is 7.3bn people on earth (Worldometers. 2015). Global ad spend is up 41.7% from 2004 reaching $512.9bn in 2013 (WARC. (b) 2014). Before I began my degree I did not realise the size or power of the advertising industry. The picture below show George Monbiot (2011) wrote an article for The Guardian called 'Advertising is a poison that demeans even love – and we're hooked on it' he likens it to a drug which is destroying society. He understands that The Guardian and other newspapers and magazines would not exist without advertising. Research has also found that 'people who watch a lot of advertisements appear to save less, spend more and use more of their time working to meet their rising material aspirations. All three outcomes can have terrible impacts on family life. They also change the character of the nation. Burdened by debt, without savings, we are less free, less resilient, less able to stand up to those who bully us.' To keep organisations is business they must continue to push people to spend money on products they have made people believe they need. George suggests that society is shaped by the values people hold and psychologists call these either extrinsic or intrinsic. People with intrinsic values take pleasure in their relationships with friends, family, the community and the environment. People with extrinsic values want status, wealth and power over other people. Advertising promotes extrinsic values, some do appear to show intrinsic values but they are only trying to suggest we can purchase these feelings through their products/services.
If you get to stuck in thinking about the negatives then this world seems too crazy to be real, now I'm not saying that the advertising industry is all evil. Rory Sutherland president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising said 'I would rather be thought of as evil than useless.'
Below is a download link to a report about the ethical debate of advertising. In it the authors agree advertising promotes consumption and extrinsic values but argues not all advertising is bad, civil society organisations and charities use it to raise awareness and money for good causes, small business use it to help compete with big organisations.
'Modern advertising’s impact on British culture is likely to be detrimental to our well-being, and may well exacerbate the social and environmental problems that we collectively confront' Monbiot, g. (2011) there is definitely two sides to this argument and its a difficult one to judge but its something companies and the agencies that work with them need to manage effectively to reduce the negative view of the industry.
The PDF file below states that advertising defences to this are:
1: Advertising merely redistributes consumption
2: Advertising is simply a mirror of cultural values
3: Advertising is about the promotion of choice
Doherty, M (2011) wrote a blog post called 'What would happen if advertising didn't exist' in this he puts forward that the world would be a very different place. Multi-national companies wouldn't happen, people would be purchasing local products, one recommended by friends and family or ones they have always purchased. New businesses would struggle to compete with well established brands, people would have less knowledge of products. Some industries would fail without the funding advertising provides for example events and the media industry.
It is very clear the importance of advertising, its a good thing that we are able to use products from other countries it helps Britain be multi-cultural. People would miss out on some great new products that could help them, if advertising didn't exist we might not know about companies like Coca-Cola or Samsung.
I'm torn between the two sides of this argument, the reason being is i believe consumerism is out of control and the large companies i mentioned earlier not paying their taxes should be stopped and be contributing to the society as equally as the people they sell their products too. Brands and agencies need to understand the importance of the opposing argument and manage this by contributing positively to society and the environment, being transparent and honest.
think_of_me_as_evil_-_pirc-wwf_oct_2011_(1).pdf |
Referencing
Fernholz, T. (2014). More people around the world have cell phones than ever had land-lines. Available: http://qz.com/179897/more-people-around-the-world-have-cell-phones-than-ever-had-land-lines/
Hopkins, A. (2013). Six companies that avoid paying their taxes.Available: http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/25034-six-companies-that-avoid-paying-their-taxes.
Inman, P. (2014). Budget 2014: the government's spending and income visualised. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/mar/21/budget-2014-tax-spending-visualised.
Monbiot, g. (2011). Advertising is a poison that demeans even love – and we're hooked on it. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/advertising-poison-hooked.
WARC .(a) (2014). UK adspend to hit £20bn+ in 2015. Available: http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/EmailNews.news?ID=32893&Origin=WARCNewsEmail&utm_source=WarcNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WarcNews20140428
WARC (b). (2014). Global adspend up 42% on 2004. Available: http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/EmailNews.news?ID=33747&Origin=WARCNewsEmail&CID=N33747&PUB=Warc_News&utm_source=WarcNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WarcNews20141020
Worldometers. (2015). Current World Population. Available: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/.
Fernholz, T. (2014). More people around the world have cell phones than ever had land-lines. Available: http://qz.com/179897/more-people-around-the-world-have-cell-phones-than-ever-had-land-lines/
Hopkins, A. (2013). Six companies that avoid paying their taxes.Available: http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/25034-six-companies-that-avoid-paying-their-taxes.
Inman, P. (2014). Budget 2014: the government's spending and income visualised. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/mar/21/budget-2014-tax-spending-visualised.
Monbiot, g. (2011). Advertising is a poison that demeans even love – and we're hooked on it. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/advertising-poison-hooked.
WARC .(a) (2014). UK adspend to hit £20bn+ in 2015. Available: http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/EmailNews.news?ID=32893&Origin=WARCNewsEmail&utm_source=WarcNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WarcNews20140428
WARC (b). (2014). Global adspend up 42% on 2004. Available: http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/EmailNews.news?ID=33747&Origin=WARCNewsEmail&CID=N33747&PUB=Warc_News&utm_source=WarcNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WarcNews20141020
Worldometers. (2015). Current World Population. Available: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/.