Sample IELTS Task 2 essay: does advertising make us buy?

There are different opinions about advertising. Some people believe that advertisements make us buy products that we do not really need, while other people think that advertisements give us useful information about new products. In this essay I will look at both sides, but I agree more with the first opinion.

On the one hand, it is true that advertising can give us information. For example, when a company makes a new phone or a new medicine, we can learn about it from the advertisement. This is useful because sometimes a new product can really make our life better or easier. Without advertising, we would not know that these products exist.

On the other hand, I think advertising often makes people buy things they do not need. Advertisements use beautiful images and famous people to make products look very attractive. So people buy expensive clothes, gadgets and other things just because the advertisement makes them feel that they must have it. This is a waste of money and it is not good for people who do not have much money.

In my opinion, even though advertising gives some information, the bad effect is bigger. Many advertisements are not honest and they only want to sell, not to help us. They create a desire in people to always buy more and more.

In conclusion, I agree more with the view that advertising encourages us to buy things we do not really need. Although it can sometimes inform us about useful products, in most cases it just pushes people to spend money without a real reason.

Opinion is divided over the true purpose of advertising. While some maintain that it manipulates consumers into purchasing superfluous goods, others insist that it performs a valuable informative function by alerting us to innovations that genuinely enhance our lives. Having weighed both perspectives, I lean towards the former.

There is, undeniably, a constructive dimension to advertising. It serves as a primary channel through which the public learns of genuinely beneficial innovations, whether a more energy-efficient appliance, a breakthrough medication or a service that saves valuable time. In a marketplace crowded with options, well-targeted advertisements help consumers make informed choices and allow worthwhile newcomers to compete against established brands.

That said, I find the critical view considerably more persuasive. The fundamental objective of most advertising is not to inform but to sell, and to that end it deploys sophisticated psychological techniques. By associating ordinary products with glamour, social status or celebrity endorsement, advertisers manufacture artificial desires, persuading people that lasting happiness lies in the next purchase. This relentless stimulation of demand fuels rampant consumerism, encourages unsustainable levels of debt and disproportionately harms those on lower incomes, who can least afford to chase the latest trends.

On balance, although I acknowledge that advertising can occasionally introduce us to life-improving products, its predominant effect is to cultivate needless consumption. The information it provides is almost always selective and self-serving, designed to flatter the brand rather than to empower the buyer. I therefore align myself with those who regard advertising primarily as a driver of unnecessary spending rather than as a benevolent source of useful knowledge.