The first advertisements were plain statements that such and sucha product was sold at such and such a place at such and such a price.
Nowadays the yearly expenditure on advertising in Great Britain is around £500 million, which is equivalent to more than half the sum spent on education!
Advertisements are designed to persuade and create temptation and desire. Psychologists discover that a man's hidden desire for power leads him to buy the petrol whose publicity emphasizes its power properties. The advertising copy-writer knows that some words mean more than they seem to mean, and that he can benefit from the associations which cling to certain words. Actually, most advertisements rely on persuasive language. The phrases "a holiday chocolate" and "a sunshine drink", although they tell very little about the products they describe, help to sell them by raising pleasant ideas in people's mind.
The logic of an advertisement's claims should always be examined. Unwarranted assumptions are sometimes made and statistics quoted which are too incomplete to prove their points. But not all advertisements are bad nor all advertising evil, for advertisements inform as well as persuade, stimulate trade and are said to help maintain full employment. None the less claims should not be accepted without careful and critical reading.
1. Find words of the same roots as:
equivalent, expenditure, designed, associations, publicity, assumption, unwarranted.