If a young blonde promised that your skin would go five shades lighter if you used whatever was inside that glossy bottle she’s handing out to you, would you take it? Yes? No? Obviously a huge fraction of the population out there is screaming "yes", because the cosmetics industry is prospering like it never did before. Their ads don’t die out. On the contrary, more glitz and glamour is making it’s way to the screens everyday. For every ad that shows up on television, the papers, or the web, someone’s paying a non-trivial amount of money. And that money is coming out of our pockets everytime we buy the product in question.

Hoodwinked? "No", you say.  "Surely they’re just doing their jobs, getting some publicity for their products, and people out there who use them need to know about them!  We cannot survive without soaps, clothes, and greeting cards, could we? Of course not."  However, this divine intent of getting some publicity for the product has been long lost. The business houses who want to spread the word about their new product are doing it without any sense of either honesty or ethical correctness. They hire people to develop the craft of creating illusions, a world that is not really there, a curtain of glamour that is bound to take everyone in. All the hair in a shampoo ad is bound to be a wig, and I can bet anything that getting a home loan isn’t half as easy as it seems to be. 

Levels of Propaganda

Advertisements work on two levels -- one, they affect the individual consumer’s psychology, and two, they contribute in a significant way to creating a culture in the society that may have varied outcomes -- often the process is so complicated that the details become unpredictable. 

Advertisements can heavily influence the individual consumer. The bottom line of nearly every ad is that it exploits certain common traits of the human mind -- the weaknesses that we all seem to harbor -- such as wanting to be the center of attention in the next social gathering one goes to, or loosing weight without having to diet or exercise, or learning a language in thirty days, or -- sometimes, even learning to become creative in a week. 

Most ads hold you by the cuff and drag you away from what could have been a straightforward lifestyle. There’s a product that aids your stomach when you have a digestion problem. This should ideally be advertised as a medicine, to be used in extreme circumstances. Instead, every slogan today is encouraging you to eat more, eat as much as you like, eat without any restriction or discrimination -- there is always a tablet that you can popp in later! The fact that by eating in moderation and eating sensibly one could still survive (and even enjoy the food by and large) and easily avoid the gastro-intestinal disorders has been forgotten in the chaos of desire, and if you’ve fallen for the pills, then another simple soul has been converted into a glutton.  

Food, coffee, movies, sex, … everything is good fun, and the fun is not destroyed if you maintain a sense of discipline in how far you want to go. Somehow, our growing sense of lethargy and addiction has overruled the idea of living life simply and happily, and has, in the process, allowed a variety of products to prosper in the market. So what if your eyes are tired because you’ve seen too much T.V? There is always that eye drop that you can use! 

Of course, the counter argument would be that if you’re weak enough to allow yourself to be dragged away, then you deserve any loss and pain that you might encounter in the process. 

Rise of Public Gullibility

Then comes the culture issue. Anyone who watches plenty of T.V. (and that is a considerable fraction of the population) may be easily brainwashed into believing a lot of things. The ads slowly begin to do the thinking for you. If you are not wearing the most happening outfit in town, you’re not trendy. The sense of individualism is quickly lost. Very few people stop to say, ‘Hey, but who are you to tell me what’s trendy and what’s not? What’s in and what’s out I can decide for myself, thank you very much!’ Who says skin that’s not fair is not beautiful? Who decides that gray hair makes you look ugly? These are illusions that you build up for yourself, abstract definitions of what’s happening and what’s not begin to form in your mind, and you’re swept away in the general tide. Then off you go, to buy a hair styling gel, because without it your hair isn’t looking charming enough. 

Rampant Consumer Fraud

Apart from the philosophical musings, there exists the very real danger of being misled by advertisements that are obviously trying to cheat the consumer. For instance, every spring, advertisements appear in newspaper and magazines extolling the virtues of plant material and garden products. Some of the advertisements are clearly fraudulent. Their claims are too unbelievable. The truthfulness of other advertisements is more difficult to determine. One such advertisement includes:

Mosquito Plant 

Advertisement: Here's mosquito repellent that works without nasty chemical odors, dangerous electrical currents or greasy lotions. The Mosquito Plant is the first of its kind in the world. Used indoors or out, the Mosquito Plant emits a delightful fragrance that keeps mosquitoes away. One plant protects a 10-foot radius.

Fact:  The Mosquito Plant, also sold as Mosquito Shoo, is a species of Pelargonium (geranium). It along with lemon grass and lemon thyme do contain citronella oil. Citronella oil is used in mosquito-repelling candles. However, no plant will repel mosquitoes just growing in a pot or in the garden. Plants release significant amounts of their repellent oils only when their leaves are crushed. According to Dr. Arthur Tucker, plant fragrant specialist at Delaware State College, the best way to use the citronella oil containing plants would be to rub crushed leaves on your skin. Be sure to "test" yourself for any allergy to these leaves by repeatedly rubbing a small amount of material on your inner forearm for a day or so. If there is no irritating skin reaction, its safe to use the plants. ^[1]

Consumers: Think For Yourself

It’s also important not to get motivated by ads in the wrong way. Just because a regular family car has a speedometer that can go upto 180, that is no reason to drive at 180. Just because Mr Funky walks out of a bar and tells you that you’re not fashionable if you’re not smoking, that is no reason to buy a pack of cigarettes. 

Of course, it’s not all bad. It can’t be all bad. The industry has given employment to tons of people, and has unleashed the creative genius of many. There is something very romantic about the making of some of the commercials that we see on the television. It is when the business of advertising and the ethics involved in advertising go absolutely orthogonal to each other that the romance is lost, and it’s just an ugly bit of deceit. Remember that a good part of the money that you spend goes into the making of these advertisements. It’s obviously upto the consumer to choose wisely. If they’re making a fool out of you, that doesn’t mean you shut your eyes and make it easier for them. 

Ads are all around us. In the papers, as the foot notes in your e-mails, on the billboards, and, of course, the television. When I see them, all I see is tremendous amounts of money pouring in and out, the pockets of the models, the CEOs… a grand ballet of dollars, except it looks gross while it should be looking elegant. That’s my money, your money. All the more reason to develop a sense of discretion and intelligence. 

After all, we cannot live without soaps, clothes and greeting cards. It’s good to know what’s going on in the market. But when you start saying that you can’t live without anti-depressants, beer, and video games, perhaps something is slightly wrong. 

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