Sample response & feedback

Advertising Power vs Consumer Indifference

Question

Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things. Other people think that advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Annotated response

11 correction notes

Showing 11 correction notes.

Many people think that advertising is one of the most powerful tools that convince people to purchase a product, while others believe that advertising is already ubiquitous and, therefore, no longer draws any attention. In my opinion, people still pay a great deal of attention to advertising despite in almost every corner of the modern world.

On the one hand, advertising is persuasive because of its repetition and emotional appeal. First, frequent exposure to the same images and phrases imprints the messages being communicated in an advertisement in people’s minds. For example, after listening to a company repeating that their new product is the best in the market for weeks, customers may eventually be convinced and make a purchase. Additionally, advertising often exploits people’s conscious and subconscious desires, fears, or anxieties to emotionally connect them with the product being advertised and to encourage buying decisions.

On the other hand, some people believe that advertising no longer attracts attention because they think ubiquity leads to disinterest. People do not like to be bombarded with advertising materials, and because advertisements now appear everywhere, people have developed a negative attitude towards them. However, I believe advertising can still grab our attention, especially the creative and catchy. For instance, Budweiser, one of the largest beer companies in the US, released a short commercial film – “Wassup”, which quickly became a phenomenon among American consumers. Another example is the TV commercial “The Dancing Man” made by Six Flags. It has gained millions of views on YouTube and attracted a large number of people to visit the theme parks owned by this company.

In conclusion, I believe that advertising is still an extremely effective way to attract consumers and persuade them to make purchases because it takes advantage of repetition and emotional appeal.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The response is a well-developed essay that discusses both views and presents a clear, consistently maintained personal opinion, supported by concrete examples such as Budweiser and Six Flags commercials. Its strongest aspect is the coherent, well-organized argumentation and fluent use of cohesive devices. The main limitation is occasional imprecise wording and minor grammatical slips, such as 'commercial contents', which slightly reduce linguistic precision.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

TR Task Response

7.0

Both views are discussed and the position remains clear. Repetition, emotional appeal and named campaigns support the effectiveness view, while the explanation of saturation receives less development before the rebuttal begins.

CC Coherence and Cohesion

7.0

Ideas are logically organized into clear paragraphs with a range of cohesive devices and generally smooth progression across the argument.

LR Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary is sufficiently flexible and precise, with some natural collocations like 'emotional appeal' and 'ubiquity leads to disinterest', though occasional awkward phrasing appears.

GRA Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0

A variety of complex structures is used with generally good control, and errors are minor and rarely impede communication.