How Quality Advertising Can Benefit Us

Source: Krystine I. Batcho

Advertising has long been viewed in an unfavorable light as increasing anxiety, lowering self-esteem, and creating perceptions of false or imagined needs. With the addition of online marketing, we have become immersed in near-constant advertising that many constant annoying and intrusive. Undoubtedly, advertising is a powerful agent for influencing emotion, behavior and society. As with any tool, marketing can accomplish adverse, beneficial, or mixed effects.

The obvious objective of advertising is to increase sales of a product or service. People are more likely to want what makes them feel good. We are attracted to what we like or think we’ll like and what we expect will improve our well-being or lifestyle. Marketing research has developed effective ways of modifying behavior with brief repeated messages that promise profiting from a product or service. Whether or not we actually purchase a product or seek a service, we likely enjoy bits of benefits during commercial exposures.

We may be better for having viewed quality ads

Enriched relationships

To grab attention amid the pervasive bombardment of marketing, ads need to stand out as distinctive and impactful. Among the most memorable ads are those that touch the viewer’s heart. Touching scenes of elderly or hurting individuals together with those who love and help them elicit our compassion and empathy. Vignettes of change over long-term relationships can depict the best of human bonds—loyalty, nurturance, and love. Classic scenes of meaningful segments of life can portray transitions, tough choices, farewells, and other emotional challenges. Depicting departures of those leaving for college, a new career, or the promise of a better life, quality ads remind us that we are not alone; separation is an inevitable part of life.

Coping with change

The inevitable rhythm of life stages—childhood to adulthood to retirement—imposes turning points in our journeys together. Scenes of a young child boarding a school bus, a couple getting married, or an elderly parent entering assisted living can all evoke nostalgia stirred by the realization that the passage of time imposes irreversible loss, whether exchanged for fuller promise of different joys and accomplishments or diminished opportunities. While some viewers identify with a scenario, others can relate vicariously or appreciate metaphorical connections.

Artful ads don’t make viewers feel depressed or hopeless. They inspire with scenes of helpfulness and meaning. Even those who don’t closely relate to the specific content can feel empowered to reach out in their own personal realms. Effective ads present concrete action and remind viewers that there is still goodness in a world that often seems full of chaos, violence, anger, and hate. There are people who altruistically give of themselves to help others. Life still holds gratitude, kindness, victories, and purpose

Elevated mood

Good ads can elevate our mood. Inspiring, comforting, or happy music increases positive affect.

Humor can relieve boredom, anxiety or sadness. Talking pigeons, silly raccoons, or characters in hilarious circumstances can give a bit of respite from our hectic, stressful, and burdensome lives. We feel better when we share vicariously in the joy of ordinary happy occasions—lunch with friends, birthday parties, fishing or hiking.

Enhanced self-esteem

Seeing characters experience difficulties similar to those we do reassures us that we aren’t singularly inept or unlucky. Scenes of unruly pets, cooking disasters, or embarrassing mistakes may help make our own imperfect lives feel more normal. They help lessen counterproductive thoughts that lower our self-esteem. They show us that the “perfect” people we think we see in our lives are less perfect and have more complicated personal lives than we realize. Social comparison is a powerful agent that influences satisfaction with our self-image and our life.

Informed hope

Ads focused on physical and mental health challenges can help individuals realize that they might have a treatable condition and encourage them to seek professional help. Brief scenarios of varying levels of healing and remission offer hope and counteract feelings of helplessness or despair. Portrayals of happy, active characters living with a condition remind viewers who identify with them that they are not alone. Others cope with such problems and thrive within their limitations. Importantly, ads can send the message that people care and are able to appreciate the value of a person that transcends their physical or mental health status.

Inspiration

Even ads that are not directly relevant to most people can enrich us by sharing images of extraordinary beauty. Most viewers will never travel to exotic places, go on exhilarating adventures, or take exceptional vacations. The opportunity to experience such beauty vicariously is a gift. Such ads can not only fill us with awe; they can remind us of the vast diversity of our physical and cultural world. They can inspire us by showing that there is so much more than we encounter in our ordinary lives. The value of such ads lies not in grounding us in our limiting reality, but in liberating us from the dreary aspects. We are inspired by the momentary exposure to what exists beyond what we deal with every day. Imagination, fantasy, and daydreaming promote creative thinking and are pleasurable in their own right. A viewer might be prompted to try a new hobby, learn a new skill or language, or explore a new genre of literature, music or entertainment.

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Greater sense of meaning and purpose

From the mundane to the sublime, effective ads may remind some viewers that life with all its complexities has meaning and purpose. Even in the darkest moments of life, the bonds of care and love demonstrate that the measure of a person and of a life is not perfection, but in the connection with others that "imperfect" makes meaningful and memorable.