Advertising? - No Thanks!
An article looking at the negative aspects of advertising and marketing. Very powerful, trendy things...which do a lot more damage than most of us realise.
As advertising is done in society now the images on products like toothpaste and shampoo etc are mainly designed to create a false image of the product as being connected to THIS positive feeling or THAT ideal, etc. Buy product A and you will feel this good, look that great, be important and cool. Essentially it’s lying and cheating in order to get you to part with your money for such and such a product.
This is, basically, despicable.
Of course, it's very common, its all around us, it's all pervasive. But that does not make it good. Adverts are so all pervasive that their existence and influence has become almost an invisible thing, and the habit of criticising them is not encouraged almost at all. Quite the opposite, the are lauded as cool, trendy, stylish. So they operate almost like polluted air - that we breath in but have little awareness of the damage it is doing.
The image above is from an advert in Japan that has realised there are a lot of lonely single woman in their late 20s and 30s. They have done their mischievous research! So they started making adverts that show groups of young single women having fun together...drinking. That is to say poisoning themselves, putting on weight, knocking out a few more brain cells. Yep, that's gonna help!
Of course we could say 'Don't take it so seriously (the well known battle cry of those who dont like to think for more than 5 seconds at a time), they are just relaxing with a few drinks, its alright!' The weakness of that 'don't take it so seriously' approach is that most of the time it doesn't make problems disappear - it just kicks them down the road, where they are often bigger and even harder to face up to. Is the issue of single, lonely,women with no partner for years (as is very common in Japan now) going to be solved or better understood by a creating a generation of alcoholics? Or to put it more mildly, by associating relaxation and happy socialising with alcohol? What positive effect will that achieve? I can see only one clear one: the alcohol companies make more profit. And THAT is the aim of the adverts. Not to help those women have a happier life ( and not to help the single men either), and not to help Japan increase its birthrate (a related phenomena it seems). Just to help companies make more profit.
Is that all our societies are capable of? Of course some would say ‘It’s not the responsibility of advertisers to make society better’. Exactly. Isn't that playing into what I'm saying? Their responsibility seems to be to sell products - and in capitalism that means products that we don't need, and to make us feel bad if we don't have them. Is this a good thing?
An article looking at the negative aspects of advertising and marketing. Very powerful, trendy things...which do a lot more damage than most of us realise.
As advertising is done in society now the images on products like toothpaste and shampoo etc are mainly designed to create a false image of the product as being connected to THIS positive feeling or THAT ideal, etc. Buy product A and you will feel this good, look that great, be important and cool. Essentially it’s lying and cheating in order to get you to part with your money for such and such a product.
This is, basically, despicable.
Of course, it's very common, its all around us, it's all pervasive. But that does not make it good. Adverts are so all pervasive that their existence and influence has become almost an invisible thing, and the habit of criticising them is not encouraged almost at all. Quite the opposite, the are lauded as cool, trendy, stylish. So they operate almost like polluted air - that we breath in but have little awareness of the damage it is doing.
The image above is from an advert in Japan that has realised there are a lot of lonely single woman in their late 20s and 30s. They have done their mischievous research! So they started making adverts that show groups of young single women having fun together...drinking. That is to say poisoning themselves, putting on weight, knocking out a few more brain cells. Yep, that's gonna help!
Of course we could say 'Don't take it so seriously (the well known battle cry of those who dont like to think for more than 5 seconds at a time), they are just relaxing with a few drinks, its alright!' The weakness of that 'don't take it so seriously' approach is that most of the time it doesn't make problems disappear - it just kicks them down the road, where they are often bigger and even harder to face up to. Is the issue of single, lonely,women with no partner for years (as is very common in Japan now) going to be solved or better understood by a creating a generation of alcoholics? Or to put it more mildly, by associating relaxation and happy socialising with alcohol? What positive effect will that achieve? I can see only one clear one: the alcohol companies make more profit. And THAT is the aim of the adverts. Not to help those women have a happier life ( and not to help the single men either), and not to help Japan increase its birthrate (a related phenomena it seems). Just to help companies make more profit.
Is that all our societies are capable of? Of course some would say ‘It’s not the responsibility of advertisers to make society better’. Exactly. Isn't that playing into what I'm saying? Their responsibility seems to be to sell products - and in capitalism that means products that we don't need, and to make us feel bad if we don't have them. Is this a good thing?
Advertising - a force for good?
An article in the Guardian in 2018 spoke of the idea of advertising being a force for good:
“The time is right, because people want to know what brands believe in, the people behind them, our values and points of view on relevant issues such as gender equality, racial equality and the environment,” ...
That sounds good, but I notice that in the list there is nothing about economics, class, considering the values of the basic political system. It seems as if the unstated approach is:
Challenge images of gender - fine
The environment - fine
Racial issues - fine
Challenge the basic injustice of the economic system and elite control in general - woo hoo, hold on a minute there, pilgrim!
In my view:
It's not enough if adverts show a positive image of a gay person in a successful business…if they are exploiting their staff.
It's not enough if adverts show a positive image of a black person in a happy family environment…if the advert is promoting a fattening, unhealthy soft drink (or if the drinks company takes water away from local people who need it).
It's not enough if adverts show a positive image of a group of folk planting trees…if the company involved refuses to keep to emission standards, or if they are pushing indigenous people off their land in Brazil in order to cut down more trees, etc.
Brands and companies nowadays often speak of their philosophy, what they believe in, their values. But, in practice, they have no philosophy apart the neo-liberal capitalism ideology. What brands believe in is only one thing: making profit. Adverts that hide that are shameful.
In general, adverts for products that pollute the environment are shameful, adverts for products that exploit mostly poor female staff in corrupt countries are shameful…no matter what famous actor is used in them or how much they smile. And no matter how useful that product is to you, the consumer.
If advertising really wants to be a force for good, it will have to do a lot more than showing smiling ethnic minorities, strong women, etc, positive as these steps are at combatting various prejudices. It will have to challenge those who pay for the adverts and what their aims are, how their workers are treated, challenge how they push bad, unhealthy, unnecessary products, how they prey on a person's sense of inadequacy, how they manipulate society in general.
Is that central effort something they are willing to take on? Or will they evade it and call it unreasonable?
Now, how would this differ in a better, non capitalist society? A BESS, as i call it (a better economic and social system).
Some people say that advertising and marketing provide jobs for millions of people. That is clearly correct. Or that there are a lot of artistic adverts, beautiful, fun, experimental, etc. That also seems correct. But are either of those an excuse for the way adverts are now? Does that excuse the negative aspects? I don't think so. Noam Chomsky makes the comment that slavery gave work to millions. Does that mean slavery was ok? The Nazis employed artists to make propaganda films and posters. Does that mean fascism was ok? The analogy is not so exaggerated as to make its message meaningless.
Adverts can be good in the sense of the artistic elements, yes. But the basic nature and aim of adverts - as they function in capitalist society, is always negative: to deceive us into buying stuff we dont need, and make us feel inadequate without that product/service. That basic aspect shouldn't be forgotten. The fact that it gives work to creative people of various types does not excuse the underlaying negative nature. We should have, instead, a system where people can CREATE without having to SELL CRAP.
Why not?
What may happen instead in a BESS is that artists will be asked to make some paintings, drawings, designs that are beautiful or interesting or fun. Just that – whatever they wished to do as artists, for the sake of it being interesting, beautiful, fun. And that would be on the product, to make it look, well… interesting or beautiful or fun. And that’s all. No cheating the consumer, no pretending that A,B or C product will get you A,B and C wish/dream/happy state. The product itself will be functional – the text on it will described in clear ways, plainly stated that it is useful for this or that purpose. Dandruff shampoo which says clearly its for dandruff. Washing up liquid will say simply ‘Liquid for washing dishes’ To use the line from an old TV advert 'it will do exactly what is says on the tin!'... but then since there will be some room for an image too probably, then the artist’s come in and stick in there something… interesting or beautiful or fun. Or all three!
Think how much more happy and free the artist and designers connected to product design will be. No more lying and cheating to consumers. No more feeling disgusted deep inside about the shallowness of your work or having to do things to please cretinous bosses. Instead their artistic talents are being put towards making something - once again - interesting, beautiful, fun. And that’s all. How much more fulfilled they will be, healthy and happy in their work. Imagine millions of such people feeling more fulfilled, healthy and happy in their work. THAT is what a better society would look like. And this is not a hippy utopia. This is a very simple and practical thing that we can achieve, if we decide to do it.
Yet again this is where a BESS would be better. Because in that adverts would, indeed, be information giving objects. And only that. Because there would be no profits to chase after, and so no need to make adverts based on increasing sales. The BESS simply wouldn’t work that way. That already is a hugely better situation than we have now. And the idea cheating people into buying things they dont need and that are even harmful to them, would be seen as completely unacceptable. The idea that adverts would make people feel bad because they are not as rich/tough/beautiful as they people in the adverts would be seen as a form of shameful abuse of both society and individuals (and it IS, for sure).
Lastly, adverts would not be allowed to spoil every landscape we have. No huge coca cola (a mild form of poison perhaps, and certainly unhealthy) taking up whole side of a building, etc. Why should we allow adverts to be everywhere we go? To be the constant focus on cheating us to consume? To be corporate graffiti. Why not have, instead, simply beautiful buildings, trains and streets?
Yes, it would certainly be a better life without adverts.
Advertise that!
Guardian article mentioned:
https://www.theguardian.com/p-g-citizenship/2018/sep/12/standing-up-to-stereotyping-how-advertising-can-be-a-force-for-good