Recent Exam 04/2025
You have approximately 40 minutes to complete this task.
You need to write an essay addressing the topic below:
Advertising today has a strong impact on people’s decisions and behavior. What are the effects of advertising on individuals? What measures can be taken to minimize its harmful influence?
Explain your viewpoint with reasons and include appropriate examples based on your knowledge or experiences.
Your essay should comprise a minimum of 250 words.
Model Answer:
In today’s consumer-driven society, advertising plays a significant role in shaping people’s decisions and behavior. While advertisements can inform individuals about new products and services, they often exert a manipulative influence, particularly by promoting unrealistic standards and unnecessary consumption. This essay will explore the effects of advertising on individuals and propose measures to minimize its harmful impact.
One of the most noticeable effects of advertising is that it encourages materialism. Many people, especially the younger generation, are constantly bombarded with messages suggesting that happiness and success are tied to owning certain brands or products. This can lead to impulsive buying habits, financial stress, and even a distorted sense of self-worth. Furthermore, advertisements often exploit emotions, using fear, beauty standards, or social acceptance as tools to sell products. For example, beauty product commercials frequently portray an ideal appearance that is unattainable for most people, leading to body image issues and low self-esteem.
To minimize the negative impact of advertising, several measures can be taken. Firstly, governments should implement stricter regulations on misleading or manipulative advertisements, especially those targeting children. Secondly, schools should include media literacy education in their curriculum to help students critically analyze the messages behind advertisements. Lastly, companies themselves can be encouraged to practice ethical advertising, focusing more on product quality and transparency rather than emotional manipulation.
In conclusion, while advertising is a powerful tool for communication and economic growth, its influence on individual behavior can be harmful if left unchecked. By promoting ethical practices and enhancing public awareness, we can ensure that advertising serves society in a more positive and responsible way.
Total: 288 words
🌟 Highlighted Vocabulary with Meanings:
- Manipulative influence
The ability to control or influence someone in a clever or unfair way, often without them realizing it. - Encourages materialism
Promotes the belief that possessions and physical comfort are more important than spiritual or emotional well-being. - Impulsive buying habits
The tendency to purchase things without planning or thinking carefully, often driven by emotion or desire. - Exploit emotions
To unfairly use people’s feelings to gain an advantage or achieve a goal (e.g., to sell a product). - Beauty standards
The socially accepted ideas of what is considered attractive or beautiful, often unrealistic or narrow. - Body image issues
Negative thoughts or feelings about the way one’s body looks, often caused by comparing oneself to media images. - Stricter regulations
Tighter rules or laws that control how something is done, often to prevent harm or abuse. - Media literacy education
Teaching people, especially students, how to understand, analyze, and evaluate media content critically. - Ethical advertising
Honest and responsible promotion of products or services that avoids misleading or harmful content. - Emotional manipulation
Influencing someone’s feelings in a dishonest or harmful way to achieve a personal goal, often seen in advertising.
