The Portuguese word for advertisement is still propaganda. Unlike in other languages where propaganda has taken up another more sinister meaning and is less neutral, it has remained unchanged for the past 60 years, since the advent of the advertisement firm; though it is still viewed as manipulative. The change from propaganda to advertisements, to public relations, to marketing and to media campaigns, must be one of the most prominent examples of how effective it can be. It is amusing though, to see that even after all these years of a coordinated media campaign, the Portuguese still use the same word for all those activities that economists refer to as demand creation. It should be noted that the study of economics has not been immune to this type of persuasion. Due to the mounting evidence on the effectiveness of advertisements on governments, health, businesses and various other organisations, this topic has attracted much interest from economic researchers.

Advertising effects have historically been classified under three views: informative (providing true product details), persuasive (influencing consumer preferences), and complementary (advertising reinforces other marketing efforts). Firms, or the management of firms, have changed their approach to carrying out marketing activities over the years. Most recently, social media platforms and other types of websites have provided enterprises with new ways to reach customers in a more targeted way. However, their overall goal, regardless of the method used, is always to reach potential customers while they are at home. While television and radio are still quite popular, a recent study by the Communication Authority of Kenya shows that 96% of audiences access news and entertainment through their mobile phones. Close to 86% of all those surveyed reported consuming most of their media from home. Newspapers are surprisingly more popular among the young; 20% of the 15-17 year old group reported having read a newspaper recently, which is more than any other age group surveyed. In terms of expenditure, Kenyan firms spent over KES 17 billion on advertisements in 2023. Of this amount, close to 70% was spent on television advertisements alone.

This raises a common question often debated in economics research papers: Do firms respond to a market need for goods and services, or do they create that need through advertising? This question applies equally to other areas of society such as politics, faith and the environment. While the answer might not be categorical and is simply a matter of degree, what is not in dispute is that, advertisements have an effect. In business, individuals are free to apply and use all manner of marketing techniques to convince potential customers to buy what they produce. This only becomes a problem when governments start to do so as well, in order to advance a cause. The moral issue here is that, governments take money, in the form of taxes and other levies, from individuals and use that money to pay for advertisements. The media campaigns might then be intended to persuade the same individuals - tax payers - to buy a specific product, which the government considers good for them. The individual's agency in this situation is somehow disregarded for what the government considers superior. The choices of millions on how to spend their own money on their own variety of needs, becomes the sole decision of an individual or committee.

Notes:

1. History of the word - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
2. Economics theory of the firm - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_the_Firm
3. Research on advertisements in economics - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1573448X06030287
4. CAK Reports on media consumption in Kenya - https://www.ca.go.ke/reports-and-studies
5. Online advertisements might not be that effective - https://thecorrespondent.com/100/the-new-dot-com-bubble-is-here-its-called-online-advertising