This is an IELTS writing task 2 sample answer essay on the topic of advertising, persuading and paying attention from IELTS Cambridge 15.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Advertising & Paying Attention
Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things. Other people think that advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Sample answer :
There are those who would argue that advertising has become so pervasive, it hardly has any effect anymore. In my opinion, while people have developed habits to ignore ads, they still achieve their desired effect on the whole.
The main argument against the power of ads is they can be avoided. Online advertising is a good example of this. Users rarely click on or even glance at a website’s combination of pop-up ads, banners, mailing list requests, and auto-playing video ads. These have become so common that consumers have developed the unconscious practice of skipping ads on YouTube, quickly closing pop-ups and scrolling past in-page advertising. Advertisers have tried to counter this by making their marketing less conspicuous, as with ads that resemble real posts on social media sites like Instagram, but their sheer frequency means they can be easily identified and do not stand out.
However, despite the best efforts of users, advertisements are still effective. Most people ignore most ads most of the time. This is something that advertisers expect and build into their marketing budgets. These days marketing is the major source of earnings for the largest companies in the world, including Facebook and Google, because of more sophisticated targeted ads. Savvy marketers can sort through demographics and cross-test content for different audiences until they hone in on the most efficient advertising solutions. They can then replicate these ads and invest more money into the well-performing ones, with the financial justification coming from clicks and sales conversions. Advertising today, in reality, is far more effective than at any point in the past because of the raw data available to target potential consumers and the concrete feedback on succcessful ads.
In conclusion, despite the best efforts of ordinary citizens to circumvent advertising, technological innovations have given marketers more power than ever before. This portends badly for future generations and it is important that lawmakers enact regulations on marketers.
Vocabulary
- pervasive common
- hardly barely
- developed habits become accustomed to
- ignore not pay attention to
- desired effect what they want to happen
- on the whole overall
- avoided ignore
- rarely click on don’t often open
- glance at look at
- combination mix
- pop-up ads advertisements that appear on websites
- banners ads on the sides and tops of websites
- mailing list requests asking for your email
- auto-playing video ads ads that play automatically
- consumers customers
- unconscious practice ingrained habit
- skipping ads not watching ads
- quickly closing pop-ups x-ing out of ads
- scrolling past in-page advertising not looking at ads
- counter fight against
- less conspicuous not as obvious
- resemble look like
- sheer frequency great amount of
- easily identified can be recongnised
- stand out clear
- despite the best efforts of regardless of trying
- most of the time usually
- expect anticipate
- build into accoutn for
- marketing budgets money for ads
- these days nowadays
- major source of earnings where they make most money
- more sophisticated targeted ads complicated ways of sending out ads
- savvy marketers smart advertisers
- sort through demographics analyse groups of people
- cross-test content send different content to different people to see if it works
- audiences potential customer base
- hone in on focus on
- efficient advertising solutions good ways to advertise
- replicate reproduce
- well-performing ones ads that are working
- financial justification makes sense because they make money
- clicks opening ads
- sales conversions finalising a purchase
- in reality in fact
- far more effective work better
- any point in the past any time before
- raw data available amount of information they have
- target potential consumers send ads to specific groups/people
- concrete feedback on succcessful ads clear results from their ads
- ordinary citizens normal people
- circumvent avoid
- innovations new ideas
- more power than ever before most effective now
- portends badly looks bad for the future
- lawmakers enact regulations politicians make laws about
