Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage audiences to take actions regarding commercial offerings. Most commonly, the goal is to influence consumer behavior and increase consumption of products or services through branding and repetition of images or names. While advertising can enable economic growth, it is not without social costs and criticism. Critics argue that advertising occupies public spaces, increasingly invades private life, uses psychological pressure, and is difficult to distinguish from information. Spending on advertising in 2010 was estimated at $142.5 billion in the US and $467 billion worldwide.