Prompt: "Today, the high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree?" SALES & ADVERTISING

It is believed that with the proliferation of countless advertisement types, consumers today have a tendency to buy more products beyond their need. In my opinion, I totally agree with this view for a number of reasons. Ċ The first reason leading to overbuying is due to the explosion of celebrity endorsement. With the advent of online social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, celebrity endorsements have become more popular and subtler than ever. For example, a make-up brand could pay Kim Kardashian West a huge amount of money to endorse it on Instagram as her account has more than 100 million followers, which can bring considerable profit for the company. As a result, most people, especially teenagers, who are big fans of Kim or so celebrities just buy the products which their idols endorse without thinking about its usefulness for themselves Ċ Furthermore, consumers may become the victim of target advertising as they are spending more time online. That is to say, when a person creates a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook, they will enter information about their age, religion, education or favorite movies so their friends can get to know them better. However, what we may not know is that these sites use that data to provide us with custom advertising. For example, if a Facebook user list one of his interests as "Korean music", he or she will definitely see ads about various stores selling K-pop merchandise. Ċ In conclusion, although advertising increases the sales of certain products and offer a wide selection of choices for consumers, I believe most best-selling products today are consumed due to target advertising for the benefits of the advertisers without considering the needs of the society.