Advertising | Writing for Academic IELTS PDF Download

This essay on the subject of advertising. In these types of essays, you are presented with one statement where you can either agree, disagree or partly agree with the statement and write an essay on the basis of that.
Q. Some of the methods used in advertising are unethical and unacceptable in today’s society. To what extent do you agree with this view?

Ways to Answer:

• Agree 100%
• Disagree 100%
• Partly agree

In the answer below, the writer agrees 100% with the opinion. As you can see, the writer's opinion is made clear in the thesis statement (the last sentence of the introduction). All the body paragraphs then explain why the writer agrees. In other words, it discusses the negative aspects of advertising.

Note: The following is just a sample answer discussing the answer in just one way. You may choose to write a different answer according to your own opinion.

Sample Answer:

The world that we live in today is dominated by advertising. Advertisements are on television, on the World Wide Web, on the streets and even on our mobile phones. However, I believe that many of the strategies used to sell a product or service can be considered immoral or unacceptable. I shall discuss my opinion regarding the same in the upcoming paragraphs.

To begin with, the fact that we cannot escape from advertising is a significant cause for complaint. Constant images and signs wherever we look can be very intrusive and irritating at times. Take for example advertising on the mobile phone. With the latest technology mobile companies are now able to send advertising messages via SMS to consumers' phones whenever they choose. Although we expect adverts in numerous situations, it now seems that there are very few places we can actually avoid them.

A further aspect of advertising that I would consider unethical is the way that it encourages people to buy products they may not need or cannot afford. Children and young people in particular are influenced by adverts showing the latest toys, clothing or music and this can put enormous pressure on the parents to buy these products.

In addition, the advertising of tobacco products and alcohol has long been a controversial issue, but cigarette adverts have only recently been banned in many countries. It is quite possible that alcohol adverts encourage excessive consumption and underage drinking, yet restrictions have not been placed on this type of advertising in the same way as smoking. 

It is certainly true to say that advertising is an everyday feature of our lives. Therefore, people are constantly being encouraged to buy products or services that might be too expensive, unnecessary or even unhealthy. In conclusion, many aspects of advertising do appear to be morally wrong and are not acceptable in today's society.