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All over the world, advertising
has been accused of adding
to the evils in society at large. Critics allege that
advertising promotes materialistic tendencies. Research reports indicate that
advertising fosters favorable perceptions of cigarette smoking and
contribute to the rise in smoking. Advertising has been linked to the demand
for alcoholic beverages as well as to the preference for heavily sugared
food. Critics forget to see this interest/motive in material things as a
natural state of mind, but rather take it as a false want created by
advertising. Calling it propaganda efforts, they accuse advertising of overselling
a private good at the cost of public good. They point out to the
persuasive power of businesses to create pseudo needs. A social
advertiser uses this very persuasive power in a positive way.
Social advertising is conceived as an application of advertising
concepts and techniques to various socially beneficial ideas and causes.
Kotler and Zaltman (renowned authors on the subject of social marketing)
define social advertising as: "The design, implementation and control
of programs calculated to influence the acceptability of social ideas and
involving considerations of product planning, pricing,
communications and advertising research."
In the most general sense, social advertising is related to some
very old human endeavors. Ever since the social system came into being,
there have been attempts to inform, persuade, influence, motivate and
to gain the acceptance of new adherents to certain set of ideas in order to
promote a cause and win over particular groups. |
