Advertising Discussion

Question

Are we victim's of advertising's power or is advertising powerful because of us?
How do we derive meanings from advertising?

sokotiko · Answer

gsabato · Answer

Question One: Are we victims of advertisings power or in advertising powerful because of us?
Advertisers determined a long time ago that if the public doesnt like the message the advertising dollars were spent foolishly. There is no doubt that advertising holds a certain amount of power over all of us. There are AD campaigns that have not run in decades yet are still just as familiar as when the ADs ran daily. Just a couple that come to mind are Alka-Seltzers "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz Oh  What a Relief it is" or Winston Cigarettes "Winston Tastes Good Like A Cigarette Should".  Many people that were not even alive during these AD campaigns are familiar with them. Advertisements like these are so powerful they have become part of pop culture and are universally recognized. So the question remains do these Advertisements wield a super-natural power over the masses or do we, as the consumer, give the advertisements this great power. As a rule the latter is probably more true. Consumers have a desire to be entertained and just in the same what that selling a product in a plain white box with black text isnt as effective as bright happy colors boring ADs tend to fall flat.
 
Question Two:  How do we derive meaning from advertising?
 
Advertising used to be straight and to the point. A product or service was offered and a list of benefits were stated. Over the past forty to fifty years advertising has taken an almost theatrical approach to what is essentially a company hawking its goods. The advent of Television advertising has allowed this form of advertising to become the norm. There are so many different types of ADs and sometimes its hard to figure out exactly what the advertiser is trying to convey. Other times it is painfully obvious. Different consumers find meaning in different aspects of the AD and a good advertisement aims to include as many elements as possible. Some people are visually driven and derive meaning from visual clues that are never placed accidentally. For instance alcohol commercials tend show good looking, happy, exciting people in their ADs. This of creates the idea that if the consumer buys this product they will be associated with those traits. Other consumers are more driven by audio clues or even direct statements. The end result is the same but the method is very different.  So while we all take away different meanings from advertisements there is no doubt that a good advertiser will get the message across to most everyone.

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