Issue 7: "Is Advertising Good for Society?"

There are definitely pros and cons to advertising. Advertising has changed a lot overtime and now covers a much wider range of media. in the text, there are two arguments to this issue. Former U.S Trade Commission economist John Calfee, takes on the YES argument. Dinyar Godrej takes on the NO argument. John Calfee argues that advertising helps consumers make better decisions because advertising puts out a lot of information on a product. Dinyar Godrej argues that advertisements play with the consumer's emotions. The goal of advertisers is just to sell the products and so the advertisments create anxiety within the consumer if they do not get the product. He also makes the argument that advertising causes people to buy more than they need.

I feel that for this issue in particular, the arguments have pretty solid and interesting points. The question given at hand is actually a pretty difficult question to answer. While there are benefits to advertising, I feel that the ethics of business and selling products are questionable.