"Anna Karenina" Novel by Leo Tolstoy

IELTS Writing Task 2 in 2019:

People’s lives are now surrounded by advertisement. This affects what people consider important and has a negative impact on people’s lives. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Model Essay

Advertisement is dominant in people’s daily lives nowadays, with the high frequency of people having to see the same products or services over and over again. Some people think that this phenomenon is negative because it distorts people’s perspective on life. I completely agree with this statement.

Admittedly, advertisements have certain benefits to modern lives. First of all, the purpose of a piece of advertisement is to deliver key information of a product to the public. This would assist a person in choosing a product, saving both time researching for the right product and potentially, money from overspending. Secondly, the advertising industry is getting more creative than ever, incorporating many current social issues in ads. Some people even consider advertisement nowadays as a form of entertainment, especially with commercials in forms of short movies or music videos.

However, I believe that the ubiquity of advertisement is distorting people’s perception on what is important in life. Seeing too many pieces of advertisement is thought by many experts to be the cause of excessive consumerism. People are encouraged by these ads to buy and own more stuff than needed. One consequence of this indulgence in buying new things is that people are buying more, they are also throwing out more stuff than ever, causing a burden on the environment. Another consequence of this phenomenon is that it makes younger generations become more superficial and only care about owning whatever’s considered popular.

In conclusion, although advertisement can introduce many benefits to its audience, I still think that the oversaturation of advertisement can bring negative impacts on individuals and society as a whole.