Final answer:
Promotional programs can lead to uneven benefits, discourage competition, and have unintended social impacts, such as influencing media content or affecting political perceptions with negative advertising.
Step-by-step explanation:
Promotional programs are not always a good thing because they can create winners and losers in the marketplace and in society. Policies and promotions may encourage certain behaviors while discouraging or penalizing others, leading to unintended consequences. For example, a policy meant to drive enrollment in liberal arts colleges might inadvertently cause trade school enrollment to decline. Similarly, promotional efforts by large companies can discourage competition, making it hard for new entrants to succeed against well-established brands with vast advertising budgets. In the political arena, negative advertising can have a significant impact, but it may backfire if the public views such tactics negatively. Additionally, the reliance on advertising revenue in media can lead to a biased presentation of social and political issues, with advertisers preferring more 'cheery' contexts for their messages.