Types of Advertising.

I see three basic types of advertising: 1. Information - which is the most common form of advertising in any case, so I will not say anything about this type. It is what it says on the tin. If you want to know something then you can learn from a website or something similar.

2. Persuasion - This kind of advertising aims to persuade you to buy a particular product or service, or to adopt a certain belief. 3. Social Influence - this is the least common type of advertising, but it can be more powerful than persuasion because it does not attempt to change your beliefs.

I will consider the first two types of advertising here. I do not have much to say about information, since it is largely neutral in terms of morality.

Persuasion is more of a grey area. It could be argued that it is perfectly moral to try and persuade someone to buy your product or accept your beliefs, because if you do not then there is a risk they will make the wrong decision.

However, persuasion can also be immoral. If you persuade someone to buy your product or accept your beliefs then they will probably feel forced into buying it or accepting your beliefs.

If, as I suspect, they would not have bought the product or accepted your belief if it was not for persuasion then you have done something wrong.