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SAMPLE 13
TOPIC 13 IELTS SAMPLE TASK 2 SOLVED
Consumers are faced with increasing numbers of advertisements from competing companies.
1. To what extent do you think are consumers influenced by advertisements?
2. What measures can be taken to protect them?
By Thay Gia 22 Jan 2021
To capture consumers’ attention and increase sales, enterprises are bombarding the market and their target consumers with constant marketing strategies through advertising. This practice has undoubtedly caused some adverse impacts on consumers. However, there are effective measures to cope with these negatives.
The first detrimental effect advertising has exerted on the consumer is that it encourages the habit of impulse shopping, leading to an over-consumption lifestyle and a throw-away society. To capture consumers’ attention and sway them into buying the newly released products, advertisements are designed with glamour, appeal, and celebrity endorsement. Consequently, consumers tend to replace their current products with newer, and supposedly more functional ones, such as a newer iPhone, with some little upgrades. This has indeed created a vicious endless cycle of waste. Furthermore, some advertising campaigns encourage unhealthy habits such as consuming fast food. The benefits and functions of the products are usually exaggerated without mentioning its inherent peril. For example, fast food agencies always focus on the perfect taste, convenience, and unbeatable price in their advertisements rather than the high likelihood of obesity and other related- health issues. 136
To alleviate the seriousness of the situation, a cooperation of all parties; the government, associations of consumers’ rights and the consumers themselves, should be made simultaneously. First off, more stringent sanctions should be imposed on any companies that violate the law which undoubtedly warns advertising companies to raise their awareness in producing more ethical ads. Secondly, associations of customers’’ rights must be more actively involved in the battle. Finally, it is the customers themselves who must protect themselves by contemplating their purchase decision. Specifically, they should try to hold the urge of buying the purchase for a few days asking if the products are necessary. They can also read more about simplicity and understand how their brain acts before advertising, what tricks advertisers are applying to get the money from their pockets.
In conclusion, the appearance of advertising is indeed unchangeable in this consumerist society. Therefore, to keep its drawbacks to the minimum extent, both the government’s efforts and consumers’ wisdom must be applied. 348 words
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