Do advertisements play a positive or negative role in our society?

　　Arguments

　　1. Advertisements provide the most direct comprehensive and detailedinformation. We get to know about household goods from advertisements.

　　2. Advertising itself is a business that has provided a great number ofjobs.

　　3. With advertisements, people save a lot of time in shopping, looking forjobs, etc.

　　4. Daily life needs advertisements because the main function of advertisingis to disseminate information on commodities, services, culture, employment,student enrolment and even marriage.

　　5. A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wallor a newspaper full of news of calamities.

　　6. Without advertisements, newspapers, commercial radios and televisioncompanies could not survive.

　　7. You can find a job or rent an apartment, buy or sell a house, etc. byway of advertising.

　　8. Advertising is a process of artistic creation.

　　9. Advertising creates mass markets. Without advertisements, manufacturersmay find it difficult to sell their products.

　　10. Advertising helps stabilize industry and employment, improves quality,and, by competition, helps keep prices within bounds.

　　Counter-arguments

　　1. Advertisements are imposed upon a captive audience: e.g. ontelevision.

　　2. Advertisements on TV are a nuisance: they interrupt televisionprogranunes at a shocking frequency.

　　3. Consumers have to pay more for the goods owing to the advertisingexpenses: high prices are maintained by such artificial means.

　　4. Advertisements are simply misleading and cheating. They are filled withflowery phrases and empty promises.

　　5. Fake advertising cheats consumers and, in some serious cases, threatensgullible people's lives.

　　6. Advertisers are inconsiderate to the public. What they care about ismaking money.

　　7. Advertisements are not based on the quality of the goods, but on theprinciple that if one keeps talking about the same thing long enough, eventuallypeople will pay attention to it.

　　8. Advertisements are an insidious form of brainwashing, using the sametechniques, like slogans, catchphrases, etc.

　　9. Some advertising is offensive: it appeals to base instincts.

　　10. Advertising cheapens the quality of life: most ads are in poortaste.