Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't)

            Central Argument: By creating positive memories and feelings, advertisement successfully encourages us to buy their products sometime later.     

Without question, those who think that advertising does not work are stupid. I have to say that this is something that can never be argued because we know for the fact that ADVERTISING DOES WORK.

            Here is the first reason why advertising works: According to Why Good Advertising Works (Even When You Think It Doesn't), the author states that the United States companies invest $70 billion in advertising. Anyone who says that advertising does not work is basically saying that these companies are so stupid that they are wasting billions of dollars on advertising. Why would anyone just waste money on something that does not work? One of the main purposes of all companies in the world is to gain profit. They will never ever do something that is unprofitable. Just for the fact that advertisement has been continued over a long period of time shows that it works. No one would continue something that does not work. It’s commonsense.

            Secondly, we live in a world of competition. Companies cannot survive without advertising through diverse use of media such as newspaper, radio, and television. It is also through advertisement that we gain awareness of new products or ideas of the companies. There are no other ways. Therefore, although we are not conscious of how we know what we know, whatever we know about new products and ideas are all because of advertisements. Movie is a good example of this case. How did we know that new movie came out? It is through repetition of trailers in TV and posters on the wall. Marketers seed such memories in our brain through various ways of advertisement and causes us remember about it constantly.

In addition to that, such memories eventually influence us to buy their products as the author states “engaging and memorable ads slip ideas past our defenses and seed memories that influence our behavior.” Why do buy movie tickets? Why do we want to watch movie? Many people, of course, like watching movie. But can they possibly know and watch movie if they do not have information that new movie came out? Exactly. Advertisement is what causes us to act.

I would like to end by what the author said at the end of the article: “And in addition to millions of dollars, they have something else most people don't have: Access to data that proves their point.”

TV Is Good for You by Joel Waldfogel

Central Argument: TV is helpful for rual Indian women so they should watch TV.

I spend about four and a half hours a day watching TV at home. That is about one thousand six hundred hours a year, which is well over two months. Therefore, I cannot deny that I spend entire TWO MONTHS watching TV in a year. So now my question is what I actually learned from this habit of watching TV. I basically learned not to read books; I tend to watch daily news rather than to read an article, and I tend to watch movie rather than read a novel. Of course, there are many other negative effects of watching TV, which I did not mention such as causing us inactive, fat, and passive. Therefore, I generally agree that watching TV is relatively unhelpful.

But here is my question: “Is it true for all cases?” I would like to use rural Indian women as an example to show that TV can be indeed helpful. Without question, it is hard to deny that rural Indian women do not have a lot of control over their lives. According to the survey, “more than half need permission from their husbands to go shopping. Two-thirds need their husbands' permission to visit friends. Spousal beating is common and accepted: Sixty-two percent of women believe that it is sometimes acceptable. Thirty-four percent of the women surveyed believed a husband could hit his wife if she neglected the children, while nearly a third believed that showing disrespect and going places without permission warranted a beating. One fifth of women believe husbands are entitled to hit them for cooking a lousy dinner.” I totally have to agree that TV is good for women if it can change the mindset of these women: their own decisions about shopping, health, and whom they visit, and their attitude toward beating.

Surprisingly, according to TV Is Good for You by Joel Waldfogel, a new study shows that “in the 21 villages that got cable between 2001 and 2003, women’s attitudes changed quickly and substantially.” “After a village got cable, women's preference for male children fell by 12 percentage points. The average number of situations in which women said that wife beating is acceptable fell by about 10 percent. And the authors' composite autonomy index jumped substantially, by an amount equivalent to the attitude difference associated with 5.5 years of additional education. This clearly shows that idea that TV is unhelpful is not a case for rural Indian women.”

            In this case, it does not matter what method is used to change the mindset of rural Indian women as long as it can give them control in their lives. They should not be controlled by their husband. Women are equal to men. Therefore, they also deserve same amount of rights. The book of Genesis states that women should listen to their husband, but does that mean they should become slave of their husband who does not have any control in lives?

I am sure that no one cannot deny the fact that TV is in need for rural Indian women!

Halo

Remember those walls I built

Well, baby they're tumbling down

And they didn't even put up a fight

They didn't even make up a sound

I found a way to let you in

But I never really had a doubt

Standing in the light of your halo

I got my angel now

It's like I've been awakened

Every rule I had you breakin'

It's the risk that I'm takin'

I ain't never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your embrace

Baby I can see your halo

You know you're my saving grace

You're everything I need and more

It's written all over your face

Baby I can feel your halo

Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

Hit me like a ray of sun

Burning through my darkest night

You're the only one that I want

Think I'm addicted to your light

I swore I'd never fall again

But this don't even feel like falling

Gravity can't forget

To pull me back to the ground again

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/beyonce-halo-lyrics.html ]

Feels like I've been awakened

Every rule I had you breakin'

The risk that I'm takin'

I'm never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your embrace

Baby I can see your halo

You know you're my saving grace

You're everything I need and more

It's written all over your face

Baby I can feel your halo

Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

Halo, halo

Everywhere I'm looking now

I'm surrounded by your embrace

Baby I can see your halo

You know you're my saving grace

You're everything I need and more

It's written all over your face

Baby I can feel your halo

Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

I can feel your halo halo halo

I can see your halo halo halo

231. Invent a game and explain the rules.

You are locked up in 99 floor building. You are in the first floor and there is nothing between first floor and very top floor. Only things that are in the building are 3 switches for a light bulb, elevator, and a light bulb in very top floor. Okay, now you need to find which switch is for the light bulb. Only one switch is the switch for the light bulb. Two other switches are fakes. Wait! You can only use elevator twice; up and down. Remember that there are no stairs, windows, or anything else. Now find which switch is for the light bulb. If first switch is the right one, explain. If second switch is the right one, explain. If third switch is the right one, explain. You need to give me a reason because any three of them can be the right one depends on your reason. Now begin the game!
Is it too hard? Here is my answer. You turn on first and second switches for 30 minutes and turn the second switch off. Then you take an elevator and go up to the top floor. If you see the light on then obviously second switch is the right one. If not, touch the light bulb and see if it is hot or not. If it is hot, then first switch must be the right one because you turned the first switch for a long time and thus, made the light bulb hot. If not hot, then the answer is the third switch because it is cold. So did you now get it? Thank You.

187. People attend school for many different reasons (for example, expanded knowledge, societal awareness, and enhanced interpersonal relationships). Why do you want to attend university?

Honestly, most students don’t like to study. I see almost everyone complaining teachers for giving homework during weekend, stressed to study for exam, and sleepy for staying up for essay. They want to play sports with friends or play computer games. But why are they attending university? I only see one reason: they want to get a good job and earn a lot of money. I too am like that. This is an undeniable answer that every single student has in their mind. Perhaps few might really want to attend university to expand their knowledge, but again as I said it is only “few” students. I want to attend university to get a good job and earn a lot of money. I don’t think this is a bad motive. Anything that motivates you to pursue university degree is fine. If you are passionate to learn more, then it is better because you will learn a lot in university. But even if you were primary reason for attending university was not to learn, you will still learn more in depth than high school and eventually become skilled in the area you learn. So I do not want to say that my major reason for attending university is to expand my knowledge. 

164. How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are? (University of Florida)

How has my family influenced who I am? I should probably begin with my dad’s advice. My dad always tells me, “Challenging is always difficult. But this is the very time to challenge.” Whenever he tells me this, I say this in my mind: “he’s right. This is the very time. How I do now will decide what I will become in the future.” However, I tend to forget this significant truth as time pass and try to avoid challenge simply because it is hard. Whenever I am in this situation, my dad keep on revive the need to challenge as if my dad knows I forgot about it. In this sense, my dad is a pace-maker. He is like a small device in my heart that constantly helps me not to stop. Because of him, I do not easily give up even though hardship comes on my way. Because of him, I do not stop run for my goal even though everyone else stop just like how heart does not stop to beat. On the other hand, I have my mom and sister who always cheer me whenever I look behind. Although I am away from house, they are very close to me. If I am happy, they will celebrate me. If I am tired, they will take out my burden. If I am sad, they will cry with me. Whenever I call them, they will listen, understand, and share together. Just like how food is physical energy, my mom and sister is my spiritual energy. Without them, I would never have been able to come this far. My family made me to come this far. They are my energizer.

163. What is your favorite word, and why? (University of Virginia)

Without question, there is not a single person who does not know Picasso Pablo. He is one of the famous artists in our history. However, when we look at his works such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Three Musicians, they look like paintings a seven years old made. So what is the reason that he is so famous out of so many other great artists? The answer is simple: he disregarded the world of perspectives and naturalism. Before him, all artists focused only on depicting objects from one viewpoint. In other words, they focused on painting objects exactly same view. Therefore, whoever could realistically paint was the best artist. Picasso, however, ignored the conventional notion of beauty; he broke up, analyzed, and re-assembled objects in an abstracted form. This is what we now call cubism.

Picasso is a “creative” artist. I also want my life to be creative. Therefore, my favorite word is creative.