ABSTRACT
Many of the academic studies about advertising and marketing communication have traditionally pointed to its possible adverse or harmful effects on individuals and society. These are problematic effects, such as the promotion of an excessive and obsessive desire, a chronic dissatisfaction. In short, apart from other psychical and health problems, advertising has been accused of increasing unhappiness, transmitting the idea that happiness is only possible through the consumption of goods and services.
However, we think advertising could also transmit positive values from the ethical, moral, psychological, and social point of view—that is, it could be able to support well-being and authentic happiness of the individuals, by considering at the same time the aims of marketing and advertising. Thus, advertising could become an agent of positive influence on clearly eudaimonic terms.
Future studies should delve into the relationship between certain types of values, advertising discourses, and business practices. Likewise, it would also be interesting to conduct a longitudinal observation to establish whether this trend signifies a profound change to a possible “eudaimonic advertising” or if it is just a passing tendency. A lot of questions about this issue still remain.
