Please review my essay (Task 2 IELTS).

Advertising discourages people from being different individuals by making us want to be and to look the same.To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In recent decades, advertising has become a booming industry, making a paradigm shift in the life of every urban citizen. Although advertising activities are considered beneficial in some cases, they appear to compromise people’s individuality.

There are certain drawbacks brought by advertising to the public. First, advertising has the great potential to influence public perception, which allows people to think in the same way. For example, the beauty expectations defined by a myriad of cosmetic products showing up on advertisements would render individuals, especially women, susceptible to an inferiority complex, ultimately forcing them to purchase similar products to maintain better looks. In addition, since many mobile companies are promoting various high-end mobile products, such as iPhone, customers will be motivated to buy these advanced devices. In fact, by owning similar phones over time, people would likely be subject to the old way of thinking, which potentially prevents them from being creative.

Besides, advertising has negatively affected individuals over the years. First, customers are likely to blindly follow the trends created by advertisements. This suggests that they have been manipulated by several advertising companies without realizing that the ultimate purpose of these companies is to maximize their revenues. Second, due to media portrayals, people tend to envy one another, thereby triggering the desire to own others’ products. For instance, an advertisement featuring a successful businessman and his beloved woman on a trendy car will act as an incentive for customers to purchase the car, as people will become jealous when watching the advertisement.

In conclusion, even though advertising has offered certain benefits to the public, it can be fraught with pitfalls since it discourages customers from being different. People should consider their situations thoroughly before purchasing any advertising products.