All types of advertising should be banned because they are damaging to society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Advertising has become an integralinseparable part of modern life, appearing in almost every media formatvirtually every form of media. Some people argue that all advertising should be prohibited because of its harmful impact on society. While there are valid concerns about the negative influence of certain advertisements, I believe that a total ban would be impractical and even detrimental.
On the one hand, critics of advertising identify several ways it can cause harmpoint to several ways in which it can be damaging. Firstly, advertising often promotes unrealistic standards of beauty and success, which can lead to low self-esteem, especially among young people. For example, cosmetic companies frequently usefeature heavily edited images, creating unattainable standardsideals. Advertising also encourages overconsumption and materialism by continually encouraging consumersconstantly pushing people to buy productsthings they may not need. This not only increasesfuels personal debt but also contributes to environmental degradation through increased waste and resource exploitation. Equally concerning is the fact that some advertisements target vulnerable groups, such as children, by promoting unhealthy food or making misleading claimstarget vulnerable groups, such as children, with unhealthy food or misleading claims.
Banning all types of advertising, however, would have significant drawbacks. FirstFor one, advertising is a crucial source of revenue for media outlets, allowing them to offer content free of charge to the publicoffer free content to the public. Without it, newspapers, television, and online platforms might struggle to survive, limiting access to information and entertainment. Additionally, responsible advertising helps consumers make informed choices by bringing new products and services to their attention. For example, advertisements for new technologies or healthcare products can educate the public about suchthese useful innovations.
In conclusion, although advertising can have undesirable effects, especially when it promotes harmful stereotypes or excessive consumerism, a complete ban would be counter-productive. Instead, I believe governments should regulate advertising more strictly to minimise its negative impact while preserving its benefits.
This is a strong and well-balanced essay that would comfortably sit at Band 8.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The essay's strongest feature is its clear, consistently maintained position, supported by a balanced and fluent discussion of both advertising's harms and its social value. The main limitation is that several supporting claims remain broad and familiar, and the final self-assessment is irrelevant to the argument. The highest-priority improvement is to deepen one key example with more specific causal analysis and remove the extraneous closing sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response fully addresses the proposition, sustains a clear disagreement, and develops relevant reasons on both sides, with only the final self-evaluative sentence being irrelevant.
Deepen one supporting example beyond a general illustration and omit commentary about the essay's own quality.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is sequenced logically in well-focused paragraphs, and cohesive devices guide the reader smoothly without obscuring progression.
Refine the ending so the conclusion remains the unmistakable final element rather than being followed by an unrelated sentence.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is wide, precise, and natural, with effective control of topic-specific language and collocation throughout.
Pursue still greater specificity by replacing a few broad terms with wording tied more closely to the exact mechanisms being discussed.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of complex sentence forms is used accurately and flexibly, with punctuation and agreement consistently well controlled.
Maintain this control while varying the structure of example sentences to make the argument even more stylistically flexible.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
All types of advertising should be banned because they are damaging to society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.