Abstract
In our current society of communication, the weightage of image is undeniable. Advertising is one of the most significant vehicles of such a trend. It could be even considered the cause of the current transformations to consume and to conceive goods. Indeed, according to the analysis of the authors Leiss and Kline, the function of goods has changed. From being initially satisfiers of needs or wants, goods have become 'communicators of meanings'. Advertising is regarded most of time as responsible for this evolution and sometimes morally problematic because of its process of mental association between 'non-market desires' and marketed products in the consumer's mind. Moreover, according to the analysis of Waide in his text 'The making of self and world in advertising', people exposed to associative advertising 'are buying more but enjoy less' and are not encouraged to 'cultivate non-market virtues'. But what about the freedom of choice of the consumer, his free will? What about the potential positive fallouts of advertising, even if it is associative advertising, in terms of global welfare induced by a bigger consumption?
