32. “You can tell the ideas of a nation by its advertisements.”
“你可以从一个国家的广告辨别出它的思想。”
1. 广告有没有反映idea？首先我们来看一下idea的定义a
formulated1 thought or opinion 但是广告所展现给我们的通常是一个产品一项服务或者是公益广告中的一项倡议都不能称为是idea a
mere2 picture of a product, service, outlook, or fashion is not an "idea".
2. 由上面的论述可以得出广告并不能传递idea，事实上更谈不到传递一个国家的idea。因为大部分的广告都是商业广告，都是某个企业为了推销一种商品或者服务而产生的。它只能代表一个企业的营销理念而和一个国家的idea没有任何一点关系。
3. 诚然，有一些公益广告是可以反映社会某个部分的成员的idea的。例如:环保组织.然而这些广告只在所有的广告中占据了可以忽略的一个部分，而且它也不能代表一个国家的idea
definition reflect reflection mirror exhibit public-interest advertisement appeal petition judging from the preceeding analysis advertisements can not convey an idea, not to mention 更不要提showing the idea of a nation.commercial advertisement
promotion3 strategy admittedly environmental conservation negligible true
1. 广告确实可以反映一个国家的偏好preference，比如，在东亚eastern Asia的很多国家，电视上proliferation of
cosmetic4 which can
impede5 suntan and make skin appear white，表现了这些国家对白色皮肤的偏好。而同时，另一些western国家中，很多运动用品的广告，体现了对户外运动的喜好。但是这些，并不是一个国家的思想，只是一些时尚流行。。。
2. 广告只能反映superficial的现象，而不是一个国家真正的思想，文化等深层次的东西。因为广告，毕竟只是商家为了推销产品而使用的手段，它的主要只能是persuade the consumers to buy。而不能承担展示精神的作用。有人会说，public-interest advertisements can reflect the concern of specific groups. for example, the environmental… 但这些广告少之又少。despite a few
variance6, many advertisements in different countries appear to be very much similar. 而我们不能说这些国家拥有一样的思想。只能说商家拥有相似的销售理念。
View1: the most important factor of the
evaluation7 of a AD is its
persuasive8 power. To become more convincing, the designers of the AD always turn to emotional touch by
evoking9 respondence on mass opinions.
View2:ADs, whose nature is business
promotions10, are often dominate by beneficial concerns not national ideas.
In order to determine whether advertisements reflect a nation’s ideas, it is necessary to determine whether advertisements present real ideas at all, and, if so, whose ideas they actually reflect. On both counts, it appears that advertisements fail to
accurately11 mirror a nation’s ideas.
Indisputably, advertisements inform us as to a nation’s values, attitudes, and priorities—what activities are worthwhile, what the future holds, and what is fashionable and attractive. For instance, a proliferation of ads for sport-utility vehicles reflects a societal concern more for safety and machismo (男子气概an exaggerated or exhilarating sense of power or strength) than for energy conservation and
frugality12, while a
plethora13 of ads for inexpensive on-line brokerage services reflects an optimistic and perhaps
irrationally14 exuberant15 economic outlook. However, a mere picture of a social more, outlook, or fashion is not an “idea”—it does not answer questions such as “why” and “how”?
Admittedly, public-interest advertisements do present ideas held by particular segments of society—for example, those of environmental and other public-health interest groups. However, these ads constitute a negligible percentage of all advertisements, and they do not necessarily reflect the majority’s view. Consequently, to assert that advertisements reflect a nation’s ideas distorts reality. In truth (adv. 事实上,的确,说实在的,实际上,本质上), they mirror only the business and product ideas of companies whose goods and services are advertised and the creative ideas of
advertising16 firms. Moreover, advertisements look very much the same in all countries. Western and Eastern alike. Does this suggest that all nations have
essentially17 identical ideas? Certainly not.
In sum, the few true ideas we might see in advertisements are those of only a few business concerns and interest groups; they tell us little about the ideas of a nation as a whole.
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