1st paragraph
"Television commercials are without any doubt one of the most effective ways of advertising in our modern world of today. In my opinion, television advertising is vastly superior to any other form of marketing a product.
One of the main reasons for this lies in the wide outreach of TV and its ability to reach a very big audience in an unintrusive and casual kind of way. It can be assumed that almost every household today has at least one (sometimes even two) TV set(s) and that the average person spends at least one or two hours every day watching various programmes. Also, big events such as the Superbowl will attract an even larger audience that will watch the event being broadcast live."
2nd paragraph:
"The problem with newspaper ads when compared to TV commercials is that they are much more likely to be overlooked on purpose or to just be skipped by the reader. With television on the other hand, studies have shown that a lot of viewers tend to stay sitting in front of their TV set during commercial breaks and that they don’t switch channels. Even if they may not pay full attention to the spot shown because they are mainly waiting for their programme to continue, they are still more than likely to note the main points of the commercial which is being shown, especially if it is cleverly made or if it is a product that they are interested in."
3rd paragraph:
"One of the main advantages of television commercials is the fact that they can be tailor made to appeal to a certain audience. For example, if the product featured is a toy, the commercial will be aimed at children and will use visual means such as bright colours and dynamic movements to attract the child’s attention. Also, it will most likely feature happy children from the same age group as the target audience playing with the advertised product, in order to provide the child with a suitable figure of identification, thus persuading him to talk to his parents and asking them to buy the toy for him."
4th paragraph:
"Another advantage using television for advertising is the TV’s ability to appeal to more than one sense at the same time. This sets it apart from other forms such as newspaper ads or bill boards. Most TV commercials feature sounds, music and visual images. If a viewer is not attracted to the visual image or chooses to ignore it (for example because he is busy with something else), a good music track underlying the spot or a cleverly placed sound effect may attract his attention. This also holds true the other way around. Some people tend to turn the sound of their TV set to “mute” during commercial breaks to facilitate conversation. However, in this case they are still likely to take notice of the visual image in front of them and they may even turn the sound on again if they become curious."
5th paragraph:
"The use of sounds also allows television commercials to use repetitive and “catchy” jingles and/or slogans, such as for example: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” These slogans and characteristic musical tunes can be repeated in every commercial which increases the probability that the viewer will remember the product in question and be (maybe even sub-consciously) persuaded to look at or even buy the advertised item. Therefore, the possible use of sound is one of the biggest assets of television marketing."
6th paragraph:
"The biggest disadvantage of television advertising lies in the high costs involved with producing a spot (especially if it features celebrities or special effects), which make this method of advertising prohibitively expensive for smaller companies. Also, these costs rise even higher if the spot is to be shown at a time where it is likely to reach a very wide audience, for example during a live broadcast or at prime time."
7th paragraph (conclusion):
"As a conclusion I would say that - generally speaking – television commercials are the most efficient method of advertising available today. Their broad appeal and large potential audience, as well as the possibility to employ a variety of different artistic and visual methods, surpass the other, more traditional ways of advertisement by far. Because of the high costs involved however, smaller businesses will not be able to use this medium in most cases and will thus have to rely on cheaper means to market their products."
