Guaranteed Impact of Advertising in society

Nov 08, 2025 - By Ashutosh Roy Society

Advertising: From Sex Appeal to Subconscious Persuasion

Karen Lunel’s bath in Liril soap Ad or Milind-Madhu Tuff shoes ad with Python or Pooja Bedi’s sensual poses in Kamasutra, used to raise acrimonious debates. These path-breaking advertising of the last century barely stirs today’s generation in India.

For Instance, the classic Nescafé Gold Blend campaign or the “Kiss me” advertisement for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk have become most common in today’s world.

Also, Moods, Kohinoor, Devache are good enough to arouse sexual appeal including imagery among youngsters. In Addition, as social media has got open access, such  storm of advertising industry can create a tremendous detrimental impact on the adolescence

Advertising is a common way to advocate products. Additionally, brands often use sex appeal to shape consumer perception and attract attention. Earlier, this tactic mainly targeted men. But as more women became economically independent, advertisers began designing such ads to allure both genders.

The Detrimental Influence of Persuasive Tactics

It’s not only sex even emotional appeal, display of iconic figures or pop culture references to create a quick connection with the audience remains the key focus of today’s advertisement.  Furthermore, in today’s competitive world, social media dominates. Hence, companies now focus on innovative audio-visual advertisements in India.

Their goal is simple: to capture consumers’ attention and achieve higher sales. People forget quickly. So companies try to create a long-lasting impact. They design advertisements to reshape the brand image. They also use ads as a tool for brand recovery.

The world today watches a plethora of new products even from the same brand. The company carefully instils new ideas to launch every new product.

Advertising influences the spending habits of individuals including the children. Advertisements often exploit cognitive biases. They make people feel needs they don’t really have. They try to manipulate consumer behavior and push them toward overspending.

Most online shopping sites and credit card companies promote EMI options. They claim to reduce the instant burden of expenses. But long-lasting EMIs can trap people in serious financial trouble.

The repeated advertisements of a brand new star AC or a new smart TV in India has certainly got an irresistible impact. The main negative impact is clear. Persuasion and emotional appeals often influence purchasing decisions. People ignore reality and their actual needs.

Advertisements often adapt tactics like creating a sense of urgency or scarcity to prompt immediate purchases. They alure people with freebies like one free soft drink with a pizza during world cup cricket. Such enhancements are made to boost the sales.

The constant promotion of products can create an imbalance between “need” and “want”, contributing to overconsumption.

Negative Social and Psychological Impacts

Advertising can have several negative impacts on individuals, including creating feelings of unhappiness and dissatisfaction through unrealistic portrayals of success. If buying luxuries and dinner in star studded hotels become one’s ideal life style standard, it can caste a disastrous impact.

Flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad just for a Biriyani can be a good fantasy, but everyone knows that its far from reality. If one wants his body should look like the youngster, who can stand still even after a whirlwind, its just suicidal.

Studies show that today’s generation struggles with body-image insecurities. They worry about appearance, stylish perfumes, and self-esteem. Many of these concerns are unnecessary and unrealistic.  It can also lead to financial pressures, privacy concerns, and, for children, a lack of understanding of persuasive intent.

Advertising often links happiness with possessions and glamour, which can lead to feelings of failure when individuals struggle to achieve these unrealistic standards.

Brands like Old Spice might use humor to stand out and create a positive association, but a lot of ads spearhead indirect violence.

Studies suggest a correlation between high advertising exposure and reduced life satisfaction.

 

Older children often become influenced by unhealthy behaviors. They get attracted to smoking or excessive junk-food consumption. Ads can also increase parent-child conflict because of unrealistic demands, as no parents can indulge in child’s whims.

It can promote materialism and consumerism, contribute to unrealistic body image expectations and stereotypes, and result in cultural pollution and waste.

The Booming advertising industry in India

The total advertising market of India may climb up to Rs. 1,37,099 crores, so as the companies will promote products and launch newer advertisement. The Digital Revolution has widened the scope for advertising. We ought to watch them, but we need to know our limits, otherwise, we may land up in disaster.