Place: Advertising, or more specifically, questioning the assumption that the ‘success of advertising relies upon the ability to appeal to negative human emotion’. Aims and Objectives of My Project: • To initially establish where this assumption came from. • To briefly explain ‘why’ advertising was created in the first instance and ‘how’ it developed into the institution it has become today. • To identify the negative human emotions that advertising deals with. It is imperative to also demonstrate that playing on such emotions is the very intent of advertising, both on a theoretical and practical level. I will prove that from a personal point of view, and with reference to relevant case studies that advertising does work (on the grounds suggested). I will also address the possibility that the proof of successful advertising comes when an appeal to consumer ends is absent. • To acknowledge that there are incidents in, which negative human emotions actually cause advertising to fail. I must also consider the fact that advertising, in a sociological context, has subsided to consumerism in the twenty-first century. • To consider other possible reasons ‘why’ advertising is not quite as successful as the title of my project initially implies. • To attempt to align the thoughts of certain prominent philosophers with the existence of advertising i.e. to assess how the philosophers would respond to the fundamental workings of the industry as a whole. My focus here will particularly fall upon Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Montaigne, Epicurus, Locke and Husserl.