IELTS EXAM PREPARATION TOPIC 1. ADVERTISING AND MEDIA
VOCABULARY AND IDEAS
I. ADVERTISING
1. Vocabulary
- advertise (verb): to make a product or service become well-known in order to
increase sales
- advertising (noun) [U]: ngành quảng cáo/ hoạt động quảng cáo
- Collocation
• the advertising industry/ business/ sector
• TV/ online/ radio advertising
• advertising campaign/ strategy
• advertising costs/ budget/ revenue
• advertising company/group
• consumer advertising (noun): quảng cáo nhắm đến đối tượng người tiêu
dùng
o Many products nowadays are mainly marketed through consumer
advertising to create brand loyalty and pre-sell the product.
• Mass advertising campaign: chiến dịch quảng cáo đại chúng
- advertisement (noun) [C]: bài quảng cáo/ post quảng cáo (informal US: ad,
informal UK: advert)
• a television/newspaper advertisement for a new car
- Synonyms and paraphrase of advertisements
• advertising
• marketing and promotional
• commercial activities/practices
- Other words:
• negative/ positive brand reputation: danh tiếng thương hiệu tiêu cực/ tích cực
• product transparency: tính minh bạch của sản phẩm
• consumer protection: bảo vệ người tiêu dùng
• persuasion attempts of advertisers: các nỗ lực thuyết phục mua hàng của nhà
quảng cáo
• commercial impulse: ngẫu hứng mua hàng
• commercial and informative purposes of advertising: các mục đích thương
mại và thông tin của quảng cáo
2. Ideas
- Positives of Advertising
• To be one of the most significant parts of modern business
• To build/ create/ increase/ raise consumer/ customer awareness: xây dựng/
gia tăng nhận biết của người tiêu dùng/ khách hàng về một doanh nghiệp và sản
phẩm/ dịch vụ của nó
E.g.: Advertising on relevant websites is an efficient way of raising customer
awareness of your business.
• To provide more information of products and choices for customers
• Without advertisements, consumers would have less choices and lack
information about products.
- Negatives of Advertising
• The overuse and the misuse of advertisements
• The overdramatisation in advertisements
• Deceptive and untruthful claims / False and misleading advertisements
• Make consumers purchase undesirable products, or at unreasonable prices
E.g.: The persuasive intent of advertisements can encourage people to buy more
items than they really need/ than their real needs.
• People are persuaded to associate latest trends or certain brands with a
higher status.
- Measures to protect consumers
• Governments protect consumers
o To exert more control over advertising contents
o To stipulate and implement strict consumer protection laws and regulations
o To limit the time allocated to commercial content
• Consumers have self-protection
o To develop an understanding of the product that they are searching for and
how this product is valued
o To search for and read carefully the information of products, as well as
reviews after purchase of other buyers
o To build sufficient personal cognitive defences to protect against advertisers'
persuasion attempts
• Parents protect their children
o Most children are particularly vulnerable to persuasive intent / techniques of
television and online advertising
o Should give instructive guidance to their children by discussing and
explaining the persuasive intent of advertisements
o To restrict and supervise the amount or kind of content that their children
view
o To create and build up children's cognitive defences against advertisers'
persuasion attempts
- Describe the world under the influence of advertising
• People nowadays are surrounded by advertising/ marketing and promotional/
commercial activities.
• It is admitted that people are living in a highly sophisticated marketing
environment.
• The increasingly high frequency of television and online advertisements for
these products has clearly shown persuasion attempts of advertisers.
II. MEDIA
Describe media nowadays.
• Media nowadays mainly focuses on news updates and amusement/
entertainment rather than serves the educational purpose.
• Media should and can be entertaining and educational.
• People are surrounded by dramatic news and shocking headlines shown on
social media.
• The increasingly-high need of humans in amusement and stress-free
activities
• Journalism these days is oriented towards negative headlines to grab the
public's attention.
Media with positive contents
• Good news could convey inspiring life messages and influence viewers to
have positive living attitude.
• If most contents of social media lean towards positive stories, readers will be
encouraged to stay optimistic, supportive and faithful.
• In terms of education, stories mentioned great achievements of humans will,
to a certain extent, motivate others to study and discover the world.
• Having more good news publicised on the social media would admittedly
bring more positives to human life.
Media with negative contents
• Helps people to stay aware of problems around them and take actions
accordingly
• Shocking headlines can easily draw the attention of the public, so using them
as a tool to raise public’s awareness regarding social matters or global issues would
be the best way.
• Articles about concerning problems also play an important role as a call to
action on tackling social issues.