The thing I dislike the most about advertising is the reaction I get when I tell people it’s what I do. It’s usually a variation on this sentence: “oh, so you make me buy things I don’t want,” delivered with a certain smugness from the craggy summit of a moral high ground. More alarmingly, the person seems to suddenly show an astounding lack of self-determination, and has quite happily placed the blame on someone else. For some reason, they are powerless to resist.
And it’s true to an extent. Some people can’t resist the urge to buy from the shopping channel or eat huge portions of processed food under the guise of enjoying extra value. Advertising created the idea of extra value, so advertising must be to blame. The messages are everywhere, so how can we resist if the constant onslaught of advertising noise persistently beats us down into a zombie state of submission?
Obviously not everyone considers advertising a noble profession, and people are alluding to the ad world’s lowly status when they say these sort of things. For many, advertising is down there with insurance companies, lawyers and Wall Street traders. Fair enough, because such industries are perceived to prey upon the weak impulses of people or selfishly profit from human fear or insecurity. Even when advertising does a positive thing like raise money or awareness of an issue or grow a business to create new jobs, we are still suspicious of manipulation and being told how to feel.
But the truth is that everyone is in advertising. Everyone is selling something to the best of their abilities. Every day you show your best side to people to gain approval, acceptance or a job. Your CV is a print ad (or online ad) and you are engaged in the commerce of a product you dearly want people to desire: you.
You don’t walk up to someone in a bar and tell them right away you have, say, irritable bowel syndrome. You show your best features, that you love kids, bike riding and cooking. Your family is a good one. Over time, you show more of yourself to the other person, who has engaged with you because they like what you showed them. You snore a bit (that’s sweet). You aren’t very good at DIY (endearing). You could have better personal hygiene at times (not ideal, but you’re so sweet they’ll let that slide, after all, that’s just a part of you!). Then when you are “an item,” that person has effectively bought into the brand image you chose to project. As long as that brand is true and well intentioned, a later, tender admission brings understanding and support.
Sure. A corporation has responsibilities to be honest about its products and services, and it certainly should never lie. And in today’s advertising world, honesty and even admission of imperfection has much more power than it used to, primarily because people are tired of being sold and bullshitted to. But in order to show your best side, it comes down to at least an initial, edited and selective story you wish to tell. This means hiding imperfection and weakness in a world where nothing is perfect. It’s about getting ahead. It’s how the world works.
Advertising is not something that just happens at us. It’s a creature made by us, the impulses we have, and the desires we harbor. It can clearly influence human desire. But human desire is the basic engine behind the idea of advertising, not a helpless victim of it.
