Wide context

Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)

/^t/Those who are against advertising believe it creates demand for things we do not need, it produces acquisitive society with demand for material things. Advertising is offensive and often appeals to baser instincts, preying on our fears, our vanity, our greed. We are encouraged to buy insurance because of fear, buy cosmetics because of our vanity, eat more than necessary because of greed. Advertisements, especially the ones in poor taste, spoil countrysides, cheapen the quality of life. They leave us no choice, because are imposed on a captive audience, for example on television, radio, and so on. Advertisements mean also shocking interruption of television programmes, radio broadcasts. They deceive people by offering free gifts in soap packets, coupons in cigarette packets, money in candy boxes. Everywhere we we look there is deceipt, harm, dishonesty. But do the advertisements really have to be that harmful (if we assume that there exists any possibility of harm)? Doesn't everything depend on us and the choice we make while deciding on some goods? Let's think it over! Do we have the right to generalize everything like that? Do we have to be either for or against advertisements? Wouldn't it be better, for instance, remain rather neutral than to radically oppose advertisements, especially if every morning we eat a slice of bread with a lump of RAMA in order to be "as fit as a fiddle".