Advertising positives of advertising

Comparative Advertising
Sellers are less likely to stretch the truth, whether it involves prices or subtleties about safety and performance, when they know it may arouse a merciless response from injured competitors. This means that if one company advertises their product in a misleading way, another company with a similar product can be relentless with comparative advertising.
Free Entertainment
Michael Schudson, a professor sociology and communication, advertising has little power over the consumer, if any at all. In fact, companies support our entertainment with their ads, while receiving little benefit at all. This is evident in the cases of sponsorship, in events like the Super-Bowl or the Olympics.
Capital Investment
Some in the field of marketing have stated that the benefit of advertising comes into play when the company is giving a presentation to investors. The company needs to have a good ad campaign in order for the stockholders and investors to maintain faith in the company and keep the capital rolling in, to produce the products.
Company Image
Many marketers understand that their ads do not affect the consumer, but they do affect the ways in which they are viewed by distributors and retailers. Sales people do not want to sale products that they have never heard of before, and whether the advertisements influence consumers or not, the sales people believe that they do, which causes retailers to have their products in stock to sell. So even if the ad does not influence the consumer, as long as the ad can influence the investors, salespeople and retailers, the company will be prosperous.
Mass Communications
Without advertisement, many forms of mass media such as newspapers, radio, magazines, and television, might not exist as they do today. Advertising positively impacts society because it helps maintain mass communications media, making them much less expensive for the public.
Universal Appeal
Some journalists and communication specialists have stated that ad campaigns can override cultural differences and contribute to those cultures in a positive way by putting us all on the same level.

Now for the flip side of the advertising coin.

Does advertising have negatives effects on society? Few consumer researchers doubt the pervasive and important influence that mood has on the processing of information and decision making by consumers. Strong evidence suggests that individual choice behavior can be based on affective as well as rational factors. Further, the impact of mood states on the consumer decision process appears to be a function of the valence of the current mood. Most of the studies that have investigated the role of mood or emotion in advertising have looked at the ability of ads to elicit different affective states. This work has popularized the “attitude toward the ad” stream of research which typically views this construct as an intervening variable that mediates the effects of the advertising message on brand attitudes and preferences.
Misrepresentation
Advertising aims to present a product in the best light possible. There is some leeway in the creative process. The problem arises when the dramatization crosses the line into falsely representing a product. Hefty fines can result from false advertising when levied by the Federal Trade Commission.
False Images
Advertising is ingrained in American culture, from children’s programs on Saturday morning to talk shows and prime time TV. Advertising even invades movies through product placement. Advertising influences how people feel about themselves — often in a negative way. These images are often unrealistic and unattainable.