IELTS: Advertisements make us waste money, or make our life easier?

Some people say that advertising encourages us to buy things we really do not need. Others say that advertisements tell us about new products that may improve our lives. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

These days advertisements have taken a vital part of our life. All the famous brands and companies display their products by means of TV, radio, internet even on the roads through billboards where they become the focus of everyone's attention. Some people believe that advertisements force us to spend money unnecessarily, but others think they are essential to make our life easy. I agree with the second statement and support the advertisement agendas.

Firstly, advertisements save our time from browsing for the required products in the markets or websites. For example, without advertisements we need to go to the shops or browse internet even to find small things. However, after watching the advertisements of different companies, we can compare their products and prices and decide without wasting much time on searching.

Secondly, advertisements also inform about innovations and improved version of the stuff we are already using. For example, if we are using an old air conditioner that is consuming more time and extra electricity, through advertisements we will know that there is an upgraded version of air conditioner that consumes less energy and cools the air more quickly.

Moreover, companies also inform us about product promotions and sale offers by displaying in ads, and provide vouchers that save money. For example, they show the promotion codes on the billboards or display the vouchers on internet from where we can download them and use in the shop to save money.

In conclusion, I must say it is not advertisements that make us waste our money but our own lack of wisdom and cleverness. If we make budget and spend money only on required things, no advertisement or attractive sale offer can exploit our money.

it looks like IELTS task 2 essay : you have discussed one opinion of the task and added your own opinion in a good developed way, but you still needed at least one more paragraph to highlight why could other people argue it is a waste of money & supporting this with examples, by doing this you will cover all points in a balanced way in order to fulfill the task achievement's part of assessment.

Shumaila, your opening seems too long in compared with body paragraphs.


=> This sentence doesn't link with the following one.
Moreover, the essay only focuses on benefits of advertising and lacks the negative effects which explains the former viewpoint.

Thanx everyone. it was a help. but there was only one opinion I need to support and explain with examples. Do you think I still need to discuss opposite view? n how to manage word limit?

Hi Shumaila, I'm new to this website but I've just finished an IELTS preparation course here in British council- Sudan ,, it was v. useful in writing section,, YES you still have to write about the other opposing arguments ,opinions, as this is considered a key part of task achievement even if the Qs directly ask you about which opinion you support.regarding the words limit do not it's ok to write over 250 or even over 300 as long as your arguments and opinions are presented logically and progressively.

I disagree with this opinion. For an "agree or disagree" topic you do not need to discuss both views stated at the prompt as the topic asks you to talk about YOUR opinion. You can be in agreement with the topic or not. The only thing you need to do is that you should support your opinion, either agree or disagree, through at least two body paragraphs.

However, some topics ask "discuss both viewpoints" or something like that. For these types of topics you must argue opposite views.

So, be careful about different types of topics.

Hope this helps,
Cheers
Ahmad

I think ah_zafari is right. When it's agree or disagree, you have to go by your opinion only. If you choose agree, then you should reason out why you agree and vice verse. You need to talk about both sides only if you take a moderate stance, i.e. partially agree and partially disagree.... Also, as zafari mentions, you need to tackle both sides for the topics that ask you to discuss your viewpoints on both sides.