Advertising is an important way to educate your business and the products you sell on the market. In the modern business environment, there are two main ways to market your products. The first is offline marketing and the second is online marketing. Offline marketing refers to activities where newspapers, billboards, posters and other traditional means of marketing your product or business. The second is online marketing where the use of social media, mobile marketing and the search engine is seen as a way to promote products and services.
Online and offline marketing strategies have their advantages and disadvantages for businesses. In this answer, let’s look at some of the disadvantages of advertising.
Cost – One of the major disadvantages of advertising is the cost involved in the entire process. It starts with spending money on design, printing and average costs. Some companies, especially start-ups or newly created companies do not have enough funds to support this expensive form of advertising.
False claims – some ads make false promises and keep customers in the dark. Once customers buy the product, they realize that the features promised by the products are not exactly the same as those advertised.
Price Impact – When a company uses various advertising channels, it adds costs to the product. The cost of advertising is passed on to customers by adding the same to the price of the product. Finally, it makes products and services more expensive to buy
Creates a monopolistic situation – Large companies can afford expensive advertising where small businesses cannot. This creates an imbalance in the industry and people become more aware of the products sold by major industries while watching their commercials. Small businesses have no chance and therefore lose the market.
Impact on children – Some ads target children directly, which encourages them and their parents to buy products that are not useful to them. For example, a new chocolate brand creates an advertising campaign and children begin to bag the product. Even if the product is not good for health, because of advertisements, they keep asking for it.
This makes it possible to sell less good products – even if the products are not of a high quality, the attractiveness of the advertisements makes them attractive. Of course, customers have to do their research, but due to lack of public information about products and services, they end up paying a high amount for substandard products.
Compromises on Moral Values – Some ads are not suitable for all age groups and audience levels. However, companies in order to sell the products and increase their profits, use unfair moral practices while advertising products and services.
Advertisements must always ensure that they do not cause moral harm to society and do not promote products that do not pass the quality tests. It is also the duty of all customers to verify the authenticity and credibility of the products and services they purchase. It is always good to make an informed decision. In addition, the government has set up a consumer forum where customers can complain about products and services that do not match the features and benefits promised.