实践主题Topic: online shopping and advertising

Discuss your understanding of, or reflection on online shopping and advertising.

实践目标Objectiveof the practice:

To invite and share personal opinions with others

To have a better knowledge on the benefits and disadvantages of online shopping and advertising

To apply the words and expressions

实践任务Tasks:

Discuss your reflections with your friends or classmates.

Refer to the aspects we have discussed in this unit.

实践要求Requirements:

Write down what has come to your mind during your thinking and discussion, and organize them into a neat essay.

Sample

State your view on online shopping or advertising. Provide proper comments and elaborate on your own understanding of, or reflection on the benefits or disadvantages of shopping online or the effects of advertising.

 

教师解析：

Advertising

Since Sao Paolo, Brazil enacted an outdoor ad ban in 2007, an interesting trend towards regulation of advertising in many cities has been considered. The role of ads in society has come under harsh scrutiny as citizens of the world are increasingly subjected to ads that influence us in ways that academia and experts still debate. If caution is not exercised, this trend towards increased ads could lead to devastating consequences.  

Economically, it seems logical to cite the growth in revenue and support to small businesses that advertise, but it comes at a cost. Product innovation has arguably been the result of increased consumption worldwide, and ads are credited towards stimulating this by making customers aware of new and better products to advance our quality of living. This trend, while beneficial in the short term for spurring economic activity, has led to the negative consequences. Instead of funding innovation predominantly supporting increased quality of products, investment is increasingly spending on product promotion and new forms of ad tracking and predictive placement technology. Sophisticated ad targeting based on potential customer demographics have gotten so common that may companies can thrive by simply building lower quality products that are intelligently (or misleadingly in some cases)marketed. Consumers need to pay closer attention to what products and companies they support and purchase products from, ensuring not continually reinforce this negative trend.

Furthermore, society suffers from cultural degradation by the unrealized acceleration of materialism that plagues much of the world today. Not only are people exposed to ads on every street corner they walk by, but also cleverly manipulated by product placement ads that subtly show actors or actresses using specific brands or products in movies, TV shows, sporting events, etc. These don’t appear as ads to the unsuspecting consumer, but repeated ad impressions are proven to alter subconscious choices of brand loyalty and influence purchasing decisions. This same logic has crept into the digital space, where even more sophisticated ads follow and target web surfers based on previous clicks and purchases. It’s simply getting out of hand, and if society does not take measures to curb this invasion of ads, it will only get worse.  

Ads have also perversely affected the way we see the world, eliminating the argument that “ads are a reflection of our own values”. This simply just isn’t the case. Anorexic supermodels strutting latest fashions, young kids gaining happiness by eating junk food in a commercial, a photoshopped image of a smiling girl losing 100 pounds by taking a breakthrough new weight loss pill, a lonely man finding true love online by paying a matchmaking website – these are the types of manipulative ads that target vulnerable consumers today. They prey upon people’s desires for beauty, happiness and quick fixes to problems. Advertising is not regulated enough in most of the world, and as a result psychological tricks, exaggeration and lies are used deceive the general public.

In summary, damage has already been done to our society due to lack of effective supervision. While it’s necessary to admit the cases where ads benefit society in the form of public service announcements or gaining exposure to product alternatives, the simple fact is that marketers have found ways to game the system and have made advertising perilous in its current form. Collectively, we need to advocate for change and increase oversight in the frequency, type and truthfulness of advertising that we are being subjected to.