Advertising is the most commonly used tool of promotion. It is an impersonal from of communication, which is paid for by sponsors to promote some goods or service. 

A. Merits of Advertising: 

1. Mass Reach: Advertising is a medium through which a large number of people can be reached over vast geographical area. 

2. Enhancing customer satisfaction and confidence: Advertising creates confidence amongst prospective buyers as they feel more comfortable and assured about the product quality and hence feel more satisfied. 

3. Expressiveness: with the help of computer designs, graphics, etc advertising has developed into one of the most forceful medium of communication. With the special effects created, even simple product and messages look very attractive. 

4. Economy: Advertising is a very economical mode of communication. A large number of people can be reached at a time. Because of its wide reach, the overall cost of advertising gets spread over numerous communication links established. As a result the per unit cost of reach comes low. 

B. Limitations of advertising: 

1. Less Forceful: Advertising is an impersonal form of communication. It is less forceful than personal selling as there is no compulsion on the prospects to pay attention to the message. 

2. Lack of feedback: The evaluation of the effectiveness of the advertising message is very difficult as there is no immediate feedback mechanism of the message that is delivered. 

3. Inflexibility: Advertising is less flexible as the message is standardized and cannot be altered according to the requirements of the different customer groups. 

4. Low Effectiveness: As the volume of advertising is getting more and more expanded, it is becoming difficult to make advertising messages heard by the target customers. This affects the effectives of advertising. 

C. Objections to Advertising: 

1. Adds to cost: Advertising unnecessarily adds to the cost of product, which is ultimately passed on to the buyers in the form of high prices. The money spent on advertising adds to the cost, which is an important factor in the fixation of the price of a product. But, advertisement also helps to increase the demand for the product as large number of potential buyer are persuaded to buy more product. Increased demand leads to higher production, which brings in the economies of scale. As a result, the per unit cost of production comes down. This reduces the burden of consumers. 

2. Undermines social values: People argue that advertising undermines social values and promotes materialism. It encourages dissatisfaction among people as they come to known about new products and feel dissatisfied with their present state of affairs. But, advertisement in fact, helps buyers by informing them about the new products, which may be improvement over the existing products. If the buyers are not informed about these products, they may be using inefficient products. 

3. Confuses the buyers: So many advertisements create confusion among the buyers. All advertisements make similar claims that the buyer gets confused as to which one is true and which product should be purchased. But, the supporters of advertisement argue that buyers can clear their confusion by analyzing the information provided on the advertisements and other sources before taking a decision to purchase a product. 

4. Encourages sale of inferior product: Advertising does not distinguish between superior and inferior products. Hence, it persuades people to buy even inferior products. But, superiority and inferiority depends on the quality, which is a relative concept. The desired level of quality also depends on the economic status and preferences of the target customers. Hence, advertisements are not solely responsible for the sale of inferior products. 

5. Some advertisements are in bad taste: Another Criticism against advertising is that some advertisements are in bad taste. These show something which is not approved generally by people some advertisement also distort the human relationships. There can be some chances of misuse of adverting as a tool, which can be properly safeguarded by the low or by developing a code of conduct by the advertisers, for their self regulation. 

Conclusion: Most of the Criticism against advertising are not entirely true. In the changed are economic environment of globalization, advertising is considered as an important tool of marketing. It helps a firm in effectively communicating with its target market, increasing the sale and there by reducing the per-unit cost of production. 

It is not a social waste it adds value to the social cause by increasing production and generating more employment opportunities. Hence, advertising is a use and not a waste.