Almost every single individual in today’s society is bombarded with different advertising from children’s programs on Saturday morning to talk shows and prime time TV and most of us has get used to it. However, though informing consumers of more useful information, advertising in most cases take a heavy toll on them. Some public service advertising could motivate and educate the general public to pay attention to non-commercial issues such as AIDS, deforestation, family planning, etc. So powerful is this media that it is capable of reaching every corner of the world as fast as it can and of publicizing different significant ideas to all people. However, this is not that simple in reality as advertising more often than not mainly functions as a tool to advertise the availability of a product or service and to induce consumers to buy products and to increase sales. Advertising delivers a false image and therefore influence how people think about themselves- often in a negative way. For adults, based on the images they see in advertisements, women may feel they should be thin and beautiful just as the top fashion model, thus misleading them to expect an unrealistic, unattainable image. Without it, they will become frustrated and less confident and this exert a detrimental effect on their health. For children, they are barraged with not only Disney videos, products as well as clothing but other ideas, like the notion that every little girl should be a “princess”, an impractical expectation that lures them to excessively emphasize appearance. Direct-to-consumers advertising also results in wasting dollars. This is primarily because in order to tempt consumers to purchase, manufacturers often idealize their products, such as some beauty and health products but minimize their side effects. Most consumers may try and purchase them impulsively even by a higher price but this always ends with failure as these products hardly live up to their promises and finally are thrown away. In conclusion, informative as advertising proves to be, it does pose risks to people’s mind and finance. But it is still necessary in people’s lives and the key is how to use it critically. | 
