雅思口语part2：喜欢的广告

Describe an advertisement that you saw or heard or liked
You should say
Where you saw or heard it
What kind of advertisement it was
What the content of the advertisement was (or, what product /service was advertised)
and explain how you felt about this advertisement/ why you liked it.

There are several types of advertisements that we see daily on TV, billboards, through the Internet, social networking sites, mobile applications, and mobile games. Many of them are very b*, full of marketing speech and kind of boring while others are average and their primary focus is to express the positive sides of a product to increase the sales. Finally, quite a few of them are creative, informative, humorous, fascinating and memorable.

I usually do not like to watch advertisement between a movie/ TV programme and large commercial breaks are quite annoying to me. I personally think that the best way of advertising is using billboards, which can lead you to remember the brand name forever without actually annoying you.

Well, the best advertisement I have ever seen that I still like for its uniqueness was on a highway in the United Arab Emirates and I really liked the idea of this advertisement. One day while passing the main road a big billboard caught my eyes. It was designed to look like the filtration zone of a cigarette which is commonly known as the cigarette butt. The large billboard was quite different in shape and it presented the message ‘Stop *oking even Marlboro’ quite visibly.

I stole a glance at the billboard and thought about the message it conveyed. I actually did not think much and forgot about it. After an hour I found myself in front of a beach with a packet of Marlboro cigarette in my pocket. While I was lighting a cigarette, I was wondering why I bought a packet of Marlboro? It is usually not my brand! To my surprise, I realised that the advertisement that I saw on the road had an immense effect on my psychology unconsciously. I was convinced that the billboard had forced me to buy that brand unconsciously. I think it was the first time I realised how advertisements can target people’s unconscious mind.

Technically speaking this is the moment I realised that the best way to influence people’s buying behaviour is to use their unconscious mind instead of trying to deliver marketing speeches. When I thought more to *yse the billboard advertising and its effect on me, I realised that the advertiser tried to use reverse advertising techniques by delivering the message that Marlboro is less dangerous and *okers who wish to quit *oking should try this.

Possibly all *okers- from light *okers to heavy ones, wish a day without *oking though many of them do not try hard. Then the billboard advertisement was pretending as if they were broadcasting an important public safety message. Moreover, they used a fascinating design on the billboard that would actually grab anyone’s attention. As you can see, they were quite successful as I still remember this advert very vividly and I like this advertisement due to the creative thinking of the maker.