#82. Can advertising tell you a lot about a country?
Advertising does not mean to educate or illustrate. Primarily it is a vehicle for business and it aims to sell products. As a result, the information we can gather from looking at advertisings is quite limited. However, the cultural ideas used to sell commodities reveal a society's value system, and from the nature of the advertising and the product it aims to sell we can draw conclusions as to which social demography might be the most affluent.
In order to be most effective an advertising campaign will make use of the cultural values of a country. Obviously, companies will be able to sell more products if a great many people relate to the goods and the images used to sell them. For example, in a country like the United States where a great percentage of the population is religious, advertisers use expressions such as heavenly, divine, or revelation, because these have connotations that prospective customers will likely identify with. Similarly, advertisers will try to employ fashion models who embody a culture's ideals of personal beauty, because attractive men and women will sell more products than unattractive ones.
Companies identify social demographics or parts of society that are most likely to buy their products and design their advertisings accordingly. For example, teenage girls are more likely to buy mobile phones than retired factory workers. Thus companies will make use of fashion trends in their ads and probably pay a famous pop singer a big chunk of money to endorse their product. If the majority of all advertisings in a country are geared towards a specific target market or audience, then this part of the population probably has the most financial resources at their disposal.
Although we can learn some things about a country by looking at its advertising we have to remember that this knowledge is limited. After all, advertising is only directed at people who have the means to buy consumer goods. Thus advertising does not tell us anything about the overall prosperity or likes and dislikes of a country. Also, advertising not only reflects but also tries to shape and change cultural values. Therefore, it does not accurately reflect the exact state of a country's culture.
82. 广告能使你了解一个国家吗？
广告并不意味着说教或是说明，基本上广告仅是商业运作的一个工具，而且它的目的是销售商品。因此我们仅从观看广告上收集的信息是非常有限的。然而，用于销售商品的文化理念揭示了一个社会的价值系统，而且从广告和其所要推销的目标产品的本质来说，我们可以推断出社会的哪部分人群最富有。
为了使宣传更加有效，一场广告大战将会利用到一个国家的文化价值。很显然，如果有很多人与卖给他们的商品及其商品形象之间有关系，那么各公司将能够卖出更多的产品。例如，在一个像美国一样，人口中具有宗教信仰的占有很大比重的国家来说，广告商将会更多地使用诸如“天堂般的”、“神圣的”或“启示”等字眼，因为这些词汇的涵义可以使潜在顾客有可能购买商品。相似地，广告商们将竭尽全力邀请被某一文化视为有魅力的时尚模特来出演广告。这是因为启用具有吸引力的男士或女士将能比启用没有吸引力的人卖出更多的产品。
公司会确定最有可能购买他们产品的人群，并以此来设计制作他们的广告。例如，十几岁的少女会比退休在家的工厂工人更有可能购买移动电话。因此，公司将把流行趋势用于他们的产品之中，而且，很有可能会支付给一位大牌的人气歌星一大笔钱来代言他们的产品。如果一个国家的全部广告中的大部分都是针对某一特定目标市场或观众的，那么这部分人群可能是其在广告策划中瞄准的最具有金钱实力的一部分人。
虽然我们能够通过观看广告而获悉某一国家的一些事情，但这些信息是相当有限的。毕竟，广告仅是针对那些有意购买消费品的人群的。因此，广告不能告诉我们关于社会整体发展的进程和整个国家好恶的任何信息。除此之外，广告不仅能够反映、而且努力塑造和改变人们的价值取向。所以，广告并不尽能准确地反映一个国家文化的确切状态。
- illustrate ［ˈiləˌstreit］ v. 图解；阐明
- heavenly ［ˈhevənli］ adj. 神圣的
- vehicle ［ˈvi:ikəl］ n. 交通工具，车辆
- divine［diˈvain］ adj. 神的，神圣的
- advertising ［ˈædvəˌtaiziŋ］ n. 广告业，广告
- revelation ［ˌrevəˈleiʃən］ n. 显示，揭露；启示
- demographic ［ˌdeməˈgræfik］ adj. 人口的；人口统计学的
- employ ［emˈplɔi］ v. 雇用，用，使用
- fashion ［ˈfæʃən］ n. 流行，风尚；时样
- make use of 使用，利用
- embody ［emˈba:di］ v. 具体表达；包含
- percentage ［pəˈsentidʒ］ n. 百分数，百分率，百分比
- chunk ［tʃʌŋk］ n. 大块；相当大的数量
- endorse ［enˈdɔ:s］ v. 认可；签署