Class: L6A (2009-2010)
Name: Ho Ka Wai (26)

Walking along the street, you may see leaflet distributors doing their job. It is not uncommon to encounter this activity. Whenever a distributor gives you a leaflet, how do you feel? Frankly speaking, I feel annoyed and try hard to escape.

There are three main reasons why I hate this kind of leaflet distribution. On the one hand, the distribution of advertising leaflets is annoying and it creates disturbance and nuisance to the passers-by walking along the street. Most of the advertising leaflets I received are thrown into rubbish bins. It is because the products or services promoted are not appealing to me. Moreover, the distributors will block the way so as to distribute their leaflets. This will inevitably disturb the passers-by, especially those who are in a hurry. In this hectic city, their disturbing behaviour may lead to congestion as the streets are crowded with people.

On the other hand, distributing advertising leaflets is just squandering our earth’s resources and it does harm to the environment. The leaflets are made of paper and paper comes from trees. If companies produce as many leaflets as they can for the sake of promotion, how many trees will be cut down in order to make their leaflets? Closely associated with this is how we will deal with the leaflets after receiving them. Countless surveys have proved that the majority of people who receive the leaflets will simply throw them into rubbish bins rather than place them into recycling bins. To make the matter worse, some people will throw them to the ground as litter. Hence, is there any difference between distributing leaflets and producing garbage?

The third and primary reason, I suppose, is that the distribution of advertising leaflets is nothing less than an ineffective way to promote products and services. With a view to lowering the cost of promotion, it is not strange to see companies adopt this method. Nevertheless, a cheaper method doesn’t mean it is an effective method. Imagine if you received a leaflet, would you have a look at it? To me, I would definitely not and simply throw it into a rubbish bin. Thus, will the customers buy the products if they don’t even access the information of the products? There is no denying that some companies cannot afford an alternative method of promotion other than distributing leaflets. However, there are innumerous ways to help. Instead of wasting the resources and manpower, companies can post advertisements on the Internet which has a higher promoting efficiency compared to distributing leaflets. Undoubtedly, I agree that the distribution of advertising leaflets is annoying, wasteful and ineffective.