Transcript Slide 1

Advertising and Commercial
Culture
Chapter 11
“You can tell the ideals of a nation by
its advertisements.”
— Norman Douglas
Culture Influenced by Ads
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Shift from agrarian, small-town life to
urban, consumer-driven lives
Promotes and sustains capitalist
economic system
Influences our desires and needs as
consumers
Pays for the mass media industries
History
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Advertising used in antiquity
First newspaper ads in America, 1704
Most U.S. magazines advertising by mid1800s
N. W. Ayer the first U.S. ad agency
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Established in 1875
Space broker for newspapers
Wrote, produced, and placed ads
“The American apparatus of advertising is
something unique in history….It is like a
grotesque, smirking gargoyle.”
—James Rorty
Advertising Proves Worthy
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Advertising helped sell products quickly
after the Industrial Revolution.
Helped manufacturers guarantee prices
on products sold to retailers
Built “brand recognition”
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Packaging
Created demand for branded, “quality” goods
Medicine and Department Stores
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By 1900 half the ads were for patent medicines or
department stores.
Many patent medicines were dangerous and/or
frauds.
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Problem led to advertising self-policing.
FDA created in 1906
Advertising eats the “newshole.”
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Today more than 60 percent of the space in large daily
papers is consumed by ads.
Subliminal Advertising
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Term coined in 1950s
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Few examples actually exist.
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Hidden or disguised visual messages
Fool people into buying products
“Drink Coca-Cola” in frames of movies
Sexual activity in liquor ads
No more effective than regular ads
Regulation
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Better Business Bureau
Audit Bureau of Circulation
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Four “A”s
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If broadcast lies about product
Postal Inspector
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If advertising lies about product
FCC
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Self-regulation
FTC
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So publishers don’t lie to advertisers about their numbers
Mail fraud
Others
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E.g., each state’s agencies
The Power of Mega-Agencies
“Besides dominating commercial speech, a
$500-billion-a-year industry, these four
companies… —
...Omnicom…Interpublic…WPP…and…
Publicis — also hold incredible sway over the
media.”
—Stuart Elliot
Market Research
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“assesses the behaviors and attitudes of
consumers toward particular products”
Demographics
Psychographics
Focus groups
Values and Lifestyles (VALS)
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Auto industry uses heavily
See chart on p. 400
Ad Agency Structure
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Market research
Creative development
Media selection
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Media buyers: choose and purchase the types of
media best suited to carry a client’s ad and reach the
target audience
Account services
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Account executives: responsible for bringing in new
business and managing the accounts of established
clients
Persuasive Techniques in Advertising
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Famous-person testimonial
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Plain folks
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Everyone does it
Hidden fear
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Bentley
Bandwagon
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Volkswagen
Snob appeal
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Charlton Heston for the NRA
Home security products
Irritation
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Jerky camera
Association Principle
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Product associated with some cultural icon or
value
Used in most consumer ads
Disassociation corollary: Responding to
consumer backlash, major corporations
present products as though from smaller,
independent companies, i.e. Saturn.
Questioning Advertising
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The Truth, a national youth smoking
prevention campaign, works to deconstruct
the images that have long been associated
with cigarette ads.
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Recognized by 80% of teens in 2006
Ranked in the Top 10 “most memorable teen
brands”
Advertising as Myth
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Three common mythical elements found in many
types of ads:
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Ministories featuring characters, settings, and plots
Stories involve conflicts, pitting one set of characters or
social values against another.
Conflicts are negotiated or resolved by end of ad,
usually by applying or purchasing product.
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The product and its users are the heroes.
Political Speech vs. Commercial
Speech
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Political speech is protected under the
First Amendment.
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Lobbying (PR)
Political campaigns
Commercial speech is far more
proscribed by case law.
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Fee-based communications
Intended to cause money exchange
Key Advertising Concerns
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Schools
Health
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Puffery
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Ads featuring hyperbole and exaggeration
Advertisers killing news stories
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Tobacco
Pharmaceuticals
Alcohol
The end of consumer reporting?
Advertising and the Internet
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Interstitials and Spam
Key Advertising Concerns
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College students targeted by alcohol ads
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A national study released in 2006
demonstrated that “young people who see
more ads for alcoholic beverages tend to
drink more.”
Product Placement
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Placing ads in movies, TV shows, comic
books, video games
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Coca-Cola on American Idol
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Should the FCC mandate that the public be
warned about product placement on
television?
Advertising, Politics, and Democracy
“The era of consumer resistance and control
has begun.”
—Yankelovich Partners, marketing services consultants, 2004