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Passage three Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why theyre always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much money to throw around. Its iniquitous, they say, that this entirely unproductive industry should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why dont they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, its the consumer who pays The poor old consumer! Hed have to pay a great deal more if advertising didnt create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc., from an advertisement. Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway byelaws while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities. | 
