IELTS Writing Task 2 in 2019:

People’s lives are now surrounded by advertisement. This affects what people
consider important and has a negative impact on people’s lives. To what
extent do you agree or disagree?

Model Essay
Advertisement is dominant in people’s daily lives nowadays, with the high
frequency of people having to see the same products or services over and over
again. Some people think that this phenomenon is negative because it distorts
people’s perspective on life. I completely agree with this statement.

Admittedly, advertisements have certain benefits to modern lives. First of all,

the purpose of a piece of advertisement is to deliver key information of a
product to the public. This would assist a person in choosing a product, saving
both time researching for the right product and potentially, money from
overspending. Secondly, the advertising industry is getting more creative than
ever, incorporating many current social issues in ads. Some people even
consider advertisement nowadays as a form of entertainment, especially with
commercials in forms of short movies or music videos.

However, I believe that the ubiquity of advertisement is distorting people’s

perception on what is important in life. Seeing too many pieces of
advertisement is thought by many experts to be the cause of excessive
consumerism. People are encouraged by these ads to buy and own more stuff
than needed. One consequence of this indulgence in buying new things is that
people are buying more, they are also throwing out more stuff than ever,
causing a burden on the environment. Another consequence of this
phenomenon is that it makes younger generations become more superficial
and only care about owning whatever’s considered popular.

In conclusion, although advertisement can introduce many benefits to its

audience, I still think that the oversaturation of advertisement can bring
negative impacts on individuals and society as a whole.