Points Of View

This series aims to help teenagers make up their own minds on some of the most controversial issues facing people around the world today. The arguments on all sides of each issue are illustrated using quotations taken from a variety of different sources. The readers are guided through the various arguments by a running narrative and the text is supplemented by information boxes and questions. The books in this series will provide useful resource material for current affairs, history, politics and social studies courses. This book examines the issues surrounding the advertising industry. Since the middle of the 19th century advertising has been central to the economies of industrial nations and today advertising plays a significant role in people's lives all over the world. Advertising explores how much influence advertisers think they have on the consumer, and, in comparison, how much influence the consumer believes the advertiser in reality has.
The amount of money advertisers pour into television, magazine and billboard advertisements testifies to how important the industry feels advertisements to be: just how our lives and our spending habits are affected is, perhaps, open to interpretion. Advertising looks at various advertising campaigns, commenting in particular on how advertisements deal with the roles of politics, women and children in society: is it right that advertising agencies should help mould party political campaigns? Is the representation of women in adverts contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of advertising codes? Do children need greater protection from advertisers? The range of the book is broadened out with extensive quotes, fact boxes and questions which stimulate the reader to make up his or her own mind about some of the issues raised. The text is supported by a glossary and an index. David Lusted taught primary, secondary and further education before taking up the post of teacher adviser for the education department of the British Film Institute. He lectures to teachers on the media, as well as contributing to many media journals and magazines.
He has written Advertising in Wayland's The Media series.