Disadvantages of Advertising

Although institutional advertising can be effective in getting key messages to spe­cific audiences, there are some disadvantages.

Cost: Paid space is expensive. Ads in multiple media outlets, which are necessary for mes­sage penetration, can cost thousands of dollars in the trade press and millions in the consumer press. The high cost of buying space for advertising has led many companies to shift more of their marketing communications budgets to product publicity, direct mail, and tele­marketing.

Credibility: Public relations executives are fond of saying, "Advertising raises awareness, but publicity published as news stories creates credibility". Because they are controlled messages, advertisements are generally less believable than publicity that appears in the news columns or on broadcast news shows. The pub­lic perceives that news reports have more credibility because purportedly objective journalists, who are independent of the organization, have evaluated the information on the basis of truth and accuracy. Indeed, a major value of publicity is the concept that a third party, the medium, has endorsed the information by printing or broadcasting it. Advertisements have no such third-party endorsement because anyone with enough money can place an advertise­ment, provided that it meets the acceptance standards of the medium.

Timing and Context: "Let's run an ad in the newspaper" is a frequent reaction to a crisis. This approach has one major fault. It is usually too late. This is particularly true when the crisis has already been reported by the media and the public has already developed strong opinions on the subject.