Quote from "Advertising and the Invention of Postmodernity"
http://www.transparencynow.com/advertise.htm
"Most viewers know it is all a manipulation, even if they don't always reflect on what they know. But many still respond by buying the product, voting for the candidate and admiring the celebrity, as if they have been taken in by the message. It is as if the radio audience in 1938 had realized it was listening to a performance by Orson Welles but decided to panic anyway because the play was so convincing and so much fun to believe."
This article made me think about the power of advertising in modern society and how much influence we, as advertisers, can have on an audience. Are we learning how to be creative or are we just being taught how to become great manipulators?
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1 comment:
I think you could make the argument that advertising is far less powerful than it used to be.
50 years ago, there were 3 channels on tv and people didn't question what the media told them in their morning paper or on the 6 o' clock news. Now, media is fragmented, we're better informed, and consumers are more savvy. We question things that are put before us and no longer accept everything at face value. Advertising had to change in order to continue reaching us.
Is it really manipulation to share a truth about your product in an entertaining way that draws people in? Advertising should focus on product truths because that's what keeps customers coming back for more. I don't find advertising to be manipulative in any way, because everything still comes down to free will. You always have a choice!
Politics is manipulation; Advertising is truth.
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