Just by going about our daily business, we are constantly bombarded with advertising, whether we like it or not. Companies spend astronomical amounts on sponsoring events, placing social media posts, tv promotions or newspaper ads. Is too much being spent?

In the perspective of large companies such as Coca-cola, spending on advertising is never 'too much'. What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think of Coca Cola? Children with morbid obesity or healthy young people having fun? Most of us would come up with the latter. Over the years, the soft drink company has shaped our perception of its brand, in our subconsciousness. This would have been impossible without massive spending on advertising. Over the last six years, Coca-Cola has spent an average of 4 billion dollars a year on advertising worldwide.

In 2020, Facebook generated close to 84.2 billion U.S. dollars in ad revenues. Advertising accounts for the vast majority of the social network's revenue. Because of this massive investment, tech companies such as Facebook and Google are finding new ways to make ads more aggressive and targeted. The data we happily share on social media in terms of posts, comments and likes is a goldmine for advertisers. Our social media profile exposes where we go, what we do, what we eat, what we read, what we know, what we like, our plans and ambitions. Big data is used to make sense of this information and determine what we are more likely to buy. With this type of technology and few regulations, spending massive sums on adverts is definitely worth it, not only for companies but also politicians. Adverts on social media can be powerful enough to tip an election in a politician's favour.

While it can be seen that spending 'too much' on advertising is beneficial to businesses, is it beneficial to us, consumers? Adverts always convey the idea that we must spend more and consume more in order to be 'happier'. Let's take a typical MC Donalds tv promotion for example. We must absolutely take our friends to Mc Donalds and order a 'Big Mac' in order to enjoy a 'happy moment'. By contrast, the dark side behind the fast-food industry are health complications and animal cruelty. Advertisements are disconnected from reality.

Clothing and beauty companies spend billions on advertising each year and they often display a false image of beauty in order to sell their products. The ads make consumers feel bad about their appearance. Clothing promotions always depict perfect people in trendy clothing. This can push many of us to modify our bodies by using dangerous methods such as plastic surgery. We are convinced that we must buy X beauty products and Y clothing in order to be 'beautiful' by society's standards.

Is too much spent on advertising? From a company's perspective: no. Businesses must 'spend in order to earn'. From the consumer's perspective, massive amounts spend on advertising by companies can be harmful. Their privacy is impaired since they are unknowingly being scrutinised online. Consumers build over the years a false notion of happiness and beauty.