IELTS Speaking Part 3: Advertising
7 Part 3 discussion questions on advertising, with developed sample answers of the kind Part 3 expects.
What are the advantages of advertising?
Advertising brings several important benefits to the economy and to consumers alike. For businesses, it's an indispensable means of building brand awareness and reaching potential customers, which in turn stimulates sales, competition and economic growth. From the consumer's point of view, adverts are genuinely informative, alerting people to new products, services, discounts and innovations they might otherwise miss. This helps them compare options and make better-informed choices. Advertising revenue also subsidises a huge amount of content we enjoy for free, from television and radio to websites and social media. Furthermore, it can serve the public good through health, safety and charity campaigns. So despite its critics, advertising performs a genuinely useful function in modern society.
Do you think the influence of advertising is good?
In my view, the influence of advertising is decidedly mixed rather than wholly good or bad. There are clear positives: it keeps consumers informed, drives economic activity and funds many free services. However, its darker side is hard to ignore. Advertising relentlessly promotes consumerism, persuading people to buy things they neither need nor can afford, which fuels materialism and even debt. It frequently relies on exaggeration or emotional manipulation, and it can foster insecurity by making people feel inadequate unless they own a certain product. This is especially concerning when adverts target impressionable children. So while advertising has undeniable benefits, I believe its more manipulative tendencies mean its overall influence needs to be carefully regulated.
Many advertisers like to use sports stars' endorsements. What are the reasons?
There are several compelling reasons why advertisers are so keen to sign sports stars. The most obvious is their enormous fame and huge fan base, which instantly guarantees the product widespread exposure and attention. Sports stars also enjoy a great deal of admiration and trust, so when they endorse a product, their fans are inclined to believe it must be good and want to emulate their idol. Athletes tend to project positive qualities like fitness, discipline, success and determination, and advertisers hope these attributes will rub off on the brand. This is particularly effective for sportswear, health and lifestyle products, where the association feels natural. Additionally, star endorsements make an advert more memorable and eye-catching. So essentially, advertisers are buying credibility, reach and glamour all at once.
Which one is more effective, newspaper advertising or online advertising?
In today's digital age, I'd argue that online advertising is considerably more effective than newspaper advertising, though each has its place. Online advertising's greatest strength is its ability to target specific audiences with remarkable precision, using data about people's age, location, interests and browsing habits. It's also interactive, measurable and often cheaper, allowing advertisers to track exactly how many people clicked or bought something. Newspaper advertising, by contrast, reaches a broad but shrinking and generally older readership, and its impact is far harder to measure. As more and more people, especially the young, consume news and content online, advertising budgets have naturally shifted in that direction. That said, newspapers may still be effective for reaching certain local or older demographics. But overall, online advertising has clearly become the dominant and more effective medium.
What do you think of online advertising?
I have rather mixed feelings about online advertising. On the positive side, it's undeniably clever and efficient, delivering relevant products directly to interested consumers and helping small businesses reach audiences they never could before. It also funds a vast amount of free content that we all rely on daily. However, it can be intrusive and irritating in equal measure — pop-ups, auto-playing videos and adverts that follow you around the internet quickly become annoying. There are also serious concerns about privacy, since this targeting depends on collecting large amounts of personal data, often without people fully realising it. The prevalence of misleading or scam advertisements online is another worry. So while I appreciate its convenience and effectiveness, I do think online advertising needs better regulation to protect consumers.
What do you think of celebrity endorsement?
Celebrity endorsement is a powerful marketing tool, and I can see both its appeal and its drawbacks. On the one hand, it's highly effective, because a famous, well-liked celebrity instantly grabs attention and lends a product credibility and glamour that ordinary advertising can't match. Fans often trust and want to imitate their idols, so a celebrity's approval can significantly boost sales. On the other hand, I find it somewhat problematic, as celebrities are frequently paid to promote products they don't actually use or believe in, which feels rather dishonest. There's also the risk that if a celebrity becomes involved in a scandal, the brand's reputation suffers by association. Personally, I try not to be swayed by which celebrity endorses something. But there's no denying it remains a remarkably influential technique.
What factors should be taken into account while making advertisements?
Creating an effective advertisement involves weighing up a number of important factors. First and foremost, advertisers must clearly identify their target audience, as the entire tone, language and imagery should be tailored to appeal to those specific people. The core message needs to be clear, memorable and persuasive, highlighting what makes the product special. Choosing the right medium — whether television, social media or print — is crucial for actually reaching the intended audience. Advertisers should also consider cultural sensitivities and ethical standards to avoid causing offence or spreading misleading claims. Creativity and emotional appeal are vital for making the advert stand out and stick in people's minds. Finally, the budget inevitably shapes what is possible. Balancing all these elements is what makes an advertising campaign genuinely successful.
Reading a model answer is not the same as saying one. The sample above shows what a strong Part 3 answer sounds like. What it cannot tell you is how yours sounds — whether you hesitate, repeat the question back, or run out of things to say at forty seconds.
You can record an answer to this exact question and get it marked on fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and pronunciation — the same four criteria the examiner uses.
Common questions
How is Part 3 different from Part 1?
Part 1 is about you; Part 3 is about people in general. The questions move to society, causes and consequences, and the answers are expected to be longer and more developed — an opinion plus a reason plus an example.
What if I have no opinion on the question?
You are not marked on the opinion, so pick one and support it. Saying you have never thought about it and stopping there leaves the examiner nothing to assess.
How long does Part 3 last?
Four to five minutes. The topics develop out of your Part 2 card, so the discussion is usually connected to what you just described.
Model answers written and reviewed by The English All-in-One IELTS team. They are teaching models showing what each band looks like, not real candidate scripts.