The document discusses three topics related to advertising and sales promotion. For the first topic, the document argues that for ideas to be accepted, they need to be effectively advertised or "sold" by a good spokesperson. The second topic discusses whether too much advertising can be harmful, providing arguments both for and against this position. Potential downsides of excessive advertising discussed include choice overload, unrealistic expectations, targeting of children, and promotion of unhealthy products. The third topic discusses whether sales promotion is important for companies, noting that it can provide incentives for immediate purchases or brand switching.

1. Group Discussion
Topic-1:
For an idea to be accepted it has to be advertised by a good salesman
A) Background:
Whether it’s our personal life or professional, we are expected to present ideas. We
are expected to be innovative in our approach of resolving issues. Many of us have
good ideas rolling in our mind. But, for our ideas to be accepted, people need to
have faith and confidence in them. So, either our ideas have to be advertised well or
as individuals, we have to be prominent for people to have faith in our ideas.
B) For
1) There is no point in having ideas if you can’t present them.
2) If you have an idea, you have to do something about it.
3) Even though your idea may be innovative; if you don’t have a good salesman to
advertise it, the essence and the semantic of the idea may be lost.
4) Consider an e.g. of opening a restaurant. If you have ideas of renovating it, people
should know about it.
5) Consider an example of a scientist discovering a medicine for cancer. Unless you
don’t advertise it well, people won’t gain confidence.
C) Against:
1) What people are interested in today is the final product. So, no one wants to and
has the time to hear your ideas.
2) Even though your idea may be extremely innovative, you can prove yourself only
once it gets implemented as expected.
3) People like seeing proof of concept. So, if you have an idea of increasing the sales
of a commodity, people today will accept your idea only if it was implemented
somewhere else.

2. 4) Good advertising is not the only way for ideas to be accepted. If your company or as
an individual, you have good credentials, people have faith in your ideas.
D) Conclusion:
We live in an environment where we are expected to be innovative and come up with
new ideas. You don’t always need someone else to advertise your idea. You can do it
yourself. No one can understand your idea better than yourself.
Topic 2:
Is Too Much Advertisements Bad?
A) Background:
Advertising has become $1 million industry spreading throughout the world. We can
see advertisements at almost all public places and in all types of media.
Advertisements are present everywhere be it the newspapers, Internet or the road
side hoardings. Advertisements help the companies in selling their products and
services but many people believe that too much advertising has its own harmful
effects especially in case of children.
B) Points in Favor of the Topic:
1) Advertising has reached such a high level that some people consider it as an
invasion in their life. They do not want a huge amount of information that is
being constantly provided to them through advertisements while driving or
walking down the street, watching television or even while reading their e-mails.
2) This which amount of advertisements can lead to an overwhelming demand in
many people to decide between the competing demands for the attention. This
is known as choice overload or tyranny of choice. Recent studies suggests that
even though people are better off and have more choices to spend their money
on but they are not as happy as they were 30 years ago. The claims made in the
advertisements raise the hopes of the people regarding a particular product or

3. service but they feel disappointed when the product does not turn up to their
expectations. They may feel that it is their fault as they have not chosen wisely
and they also regret that we should have chosen something else. Huge amount
of advertising leads to a complete inability to choose in some people.
3) Advertisers use many methods to grab the attention of the people and convey
their message. Attentions grabbing words or provocative pictures are used in
posters. Some advertisements even convey their message through what
appears to be public information or a piece of art. In such cases people don’t
even realize that they have been subjected to marketing. Such advertisements
target the unconscious mind of the people and take away the freedom to make
choices.
4) Some advertisements not only advertise products but also try to make the
people who don’t have such product feel inferior. The perceptions of fashion and
beauty have particularly been distorted by such advertisements. A lot of
youngsters are suffering from low self-esteem or an unhealthy lifestyle because
they feel that they should have been slimmer of more attractive like the models
that will see in the advertisements.
5) Some advertisements give an impression especially to children that they should
possess everything that they want to. People lose their values of hard work,
patience and moderation and become obsessed and selfish with their
possessions. It has an adverse effect on relationships and the personal
development of individuals which in turn affects the whole society adversely.
6) Advertisements only care about profit and the welfare of society is not a
consideration for the advertisers. Therefore we see advertisements about
harmful and unhealthy products. The rising number of obese children could
partly be attributed to the large number of advertisements regarding fast food.
Such advertisements do not care about the health of the children and make
them eat as much fast food as they can.
7) Advertisements provide an unfair advantage large companies and small
businesses are not able to provide information regarding their products to large
number of people even though they may have better products. They way,

4. customers are not able to find out about all the choices available to them and it
results in restricting the quality of products for the customers.
C) Points Against of the Topic:
1) The large numbers of advertisements that we see everywhere are a significant
part of the income of many people. Several sports are benefited by
advertisements as many teams are sponsored by advertisers. Nobody is going
to look at advertisements and those who do not want to see them can simply
ignore them.
2) Advertisements play a positive role in the society. They help us choose the right
product. Advertisements provide us information regarding the new features of a
product. Some other advertisements rely on the price advantage that a particular
product provides against its competitors. Advertisements do not make us buy
products, we are already thinking about buying the product. Advertisements only
help us in making the right decision by providing us information about choices
that are available to us.
3) Advertising using sly methods have already been banned. The other cases only
reflect the creativity of the advertisers. People are making unconscious
judgments continuously and we often try to influence their judgment. People
wear makeup on improving their image and similarly the supermarkets are
painted in bright colors for making the food more appetizing to the customers.
This is not brainwashing and neither the advertisements.
4) Much more is caused by celebrity magazines and the media when extremely
thin model are glorified and overweight or an attractive people are mocked at.
Advertisements cannot criticize people as it would be very harmful for them. The
only reflect what the people think. It is not the job of the advertisers to put the
people right but it is the job of the politicians, academicians and the media.
5) In our society companies make products that people want. If people would stop
wanting products what would happen to the companies and people who
manufacture these products? The economy would suffer greatly. It is better that

5. people can buy things they want as compared to the situation where people can
only buy things that they need.
6) The advertisements that promoted unhealthy things are becoming rare.
Cigarette advertising is nowhere to be seen and alcohol advertisements are also
heavily restricted. In case of advertisements regarding fast food products, the
companies are promoting healthier options. Any advertisement that is
considered harmful for children is also considered harmful for the business itself.
Effective regulations and public pressure could successfully keep any
advertising problems under control.
7) In case there had been no advertisements, small businesses would have no
chance to make the public aware of their products at all. It does not matter how
small the company is if it has a good product. In case we curtail the freedom of
information, it would only give an advantage to the large companies.
D) Conclusion:
Even though too much advertising is harmful and needs to be restricted, especially
the advertisements aimed at children and those promoting unhealthy products, the
customers have a right to know about the choices available in the market.

6. Topic 3:
Is Sale promotion important for any company?
A) Background:
Sales promotion describes promotional methods using special short-term
techniques to persuade members of a target market to respond or undertake certain
activity. As a reward, marketers offer something of value to those responding
generally in the form of lower cost of ownership for a purchased product or the
inclusion of additional value-added material. But is Sale promotion important for any
company?
B) Points in Favor of the Topic:
1) While advertising is primarily used to build a product's visibility and favorability
over time, sales promotion is a means of giving buyers incentive to make an
immediate purchase or to switch from a competitive brand. For example, a
consumer might have a positive image of a brand based on a pleasing television
commercial, but feel no urgency to try it until receiving a discount coupon or a
sweepstakes opportunity.
2) Sales promotion is most effective when it is tailored to the buying behavior of a
particular target. Among the most relevant behavioral dimensions are purchase
frequencies and brand loyalty. For example, people who buy spices rarely, or in
small quantities, decide to buy more often or in larger volume if they received
free recipes in return. Those who usually choose a competitor's brand of spice
could be induced to switch by a discount coupon.
3) Many popular sales promotions are targeted primarily or solely to household
consumers. Those focused on price include both discount coupons and the
significant but time-limited price breaks known as deals, like buy-one-get-one-
free offers. Contests and sweepstakes are another approach intended to create
interest and excitement tied to a brand. Loyalty programs, heavily used by
airlines and hotels, reward patrons with some premium or gift that becomes
more valuable as their purchases increase in frequency or volume.

7. 4) Trade sales promotion is aimed at a market that buys for resale, not for personal
consumption. Primarily, this group includes retail and wholesale buyers who
control distribution to household consumers. Certain types of consumer
promotion can influence the trade, but marketers also use devices specifically
designed for this audience. Some common trade promotions include discounts
or rebates offered in return for large orders, rewards of cash or merchandise to
high-performing salespeople, and exhibits at trade shows.
5) Sales promotions are very effective in creating interest in a product. In fact,
creating interest is often considered the most important use of sales promotion.
In the retail industry an appealing sales promotions can significantly increase
customer traffic to retail outlets. Internet marketers can use similar approaches
to bolster the number of website visitors. Another important way to create
interest is to move customers to experience a product. Several sales promotion
techniques offer the opportunity for customers to try products for free or at low
cost.
6) Once customers have made a purchase sales promotion can be used to both
encourage additional purchasing and also as a reward for purchase loyalty
Many companies, including airlines and retail stores, reward good or “preferred”
customers with special promotions, such as email “special deals” and surprise
price reductions at the cash register.
C) Points Against of the Topic:
1) Sales promotions typically last for a specified period. If the promotion did not
attain the desired objective such as increasing sales or luring customers from
the competition during the promotional time frame the result could be a waste of
money.
2) A sales promotion by itself is not enough to solidify a product's position in the
marketplace. If the product is of poor quality or does not meet expectations,
customers may be reluctant to purchase it again in the future.
3) If a product's benefits aren't clearly differentiated from other competitors in the
marketplace, some customers may only purchase it when the promotion results

8. in a lower price. As a result, the overall profit margins may also be lower than
desired.
4) If a promotion is successful, competitors may be quick to imitate it. According to
the website Reference for Business, this may limit the effectiveness of the
promotion due to the appearance of "clutter" to the consumer.
5) Sales promotion activities may bring several negative consequences, primarily
clutter from increased competitive promotions. Competitors, with efforts to be
more creative, more attention grabbing, or more effective in attracting the
attention of consumers and the trade, promptly clone new approaches.
D) Conclusion:
Based on the all points in favor of the Topic and points against of the Topic a sales
promotion is very important because it introduces a product of company to
customers and this is most important to know about product for customers.