From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Oct 26 2005 - 23:22:04 BST
> [Arlo]
> Perhaps, if advertising does not influence people to value things they
> would not otherwise value, Platt can explain why last year "more than five
> hundred billion dollars was spent on advertising and marketing in the
> United Stateshalf the worldwide total" (source, The New Yorker). Or why
> over the counter pill consumption increased from $10 billion dollars a year
> in 1990 to over $20 billion in 2002, a year in which $2.5 billion dollars
> was spent on advertising by pharmaceutical companies, which is up to $4.5
> billion today.
>
> If advertising was simply getting message that your product is available
> out to a population that then irrespective of advertising makes its own
> value judgement, why do advertising campaigns nearly always mean success or
> failure in the marketplace?
Advertising informs the consumer of what's available. If you don't
advertise how does the consumer know your product can add value to her
life?
> Everyone knows McDonald's exists, so why does
> it spend a half a billion in year in advertising?
There are always consumers who haven't tried McDonald's latest offerings.
Also such advertising acts as a reminder of previous values enjoyed.
> Why pay celebrities
> millions of dollars for endorsements, if people are smart enough to not
> care whether Bill Cosby or Joe Schmoo tells them about the new line of
> Jell-o Snacks?
Celebrities are attention getters. You have to get your advertising
noticed for it to be effective.
> Or why the amount spent yearly on "product placement" has
> jumped to the billions?
For all the reasons cited above.
> Advertising is coersive influence that alters one's potential value
> judgement.
You're free to express your opinion, but I don't think you should judge the
value of someone else's value judgments as they express them in a free
market. It implies you'd like to interfere.
>There is simply no other explanation. Eliminate advertising, and
> you'd get a clearer picture of which products would succeed or fail in the
> marketplace by virtue of their "Quality".
The explanation I've given above is the other explanation that for some
reason you wish to deny. Maybe it's because you don't like a free market.
You claim it's not your intention to interfere, but most everything you
say points in that direction.
Platt
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