The Language Of Advertising: The Influence Of Advertising

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The Influence of Advertising

In today 's society there are multiple factors in our lives that play an influential role in the things we do, the way we talk, the way we look and the things we want. The biggest factor of influence is advertising. It is everywhere we go and everywhere we look. Most of us even carry advertisements with us all day, in our phones. In Charles A. O’Neill’s article “ The Language of Advertising” he claims that “ [Advertising] is about selling a product. But this simple fact does not explain the unique power of advertising”(348). Advertising has the ability to influence its audience based on their desires with specific chosen words and images and if we are not careful our desires will lead us to buy anything.
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We can be strongly influenced into buying products or services we may not need but we convince ourselves to believe we do “need”. While watching a t.v show one may see something they like and want for example a brand new car. And although it is not something that they need, after 3 hours in front of the t.v hearing this advertisement over 20 times one may now believe they not only want but “need” this new car. This may not be a good thing for the consumer because after purchasing that new car the convinced themselves they “needed”, they are now owing money. On the other hand this is a positive thing for the advertiser since they are making sales. Advertising has become so influential, because of the desire we have for things. Many of us don 't have the knowledge to know whether we are being lied to or not when buying a product, but we are more likely to dismiss it, we want it to be true. We desire to have it and are willing to fill in any gaps or dismiss anything that sounds to be even slightly untrue, because we desire to have something so bad. There are many things that we buy simply because we like the look, taste, smell, feel, etc... that we are willing to dismiss signs that it 's not good. Just last week I brought myself a new sweater I saw being advertised on line and it looked beautiful. I was willing to ignore the fact that it was more for looks and less about warmth I thought to myself, “ I’m sure

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