Advertisement's New Clothes

Jessica Suguitan

3 October 2011

RD 2

Advertisement’s New Clothes

America is a capitalistic country; it is founded upon the belief in the power of free enterprise.  Advertisements are how these enterprises communicate with the public, essentially, a way for people to share their realized dreams/ideas with the community.   I don’t think this is a bad thing.  I also, however, don’t think that the tongue in cheek humor, the irony, the fear tactics, and the indirectness in advertisement is a good thing.  I see a space for reform in advertising.  So at the moment, I would have to say that I think that the way advertisement is done has a negative impact on people.  [THESIS] Though I honestly don’t believe that advertisement is inherently negative, I do believe that the way it is currently being practiced has a negative impact on the public and it needs to be regulated and reformed in order to provide a more positive experience for people.[Thesis]  We live in an age where we have seen and can measure the negative impact of industrialization and I believe it is important that we take responsibility for this impact by educating ourselves as consumers in the products we purchase. 

It’s hard to imagine a world without advertisements.  They are around every corner, they are in our homes, they are in the church newsletters, they are in our schools.  As advertising mounts itself into every waking moment of our day we must think of the effect that it is having on our psyche.  Essentially we are being asked by these companies to judge, to believe, and to trust them.  This is a lot of energy to ask from an individual, it can cause a person to shut down and not pay attention to advertisements all together.  To prevent this, advertisers try to give something back to its audience, to keep them entertained, to avoid the audience from turning away.  Ads are created that make us laugh, or touch us in a way that holds a deeper meaning than the product being advertised ever could.  Though this does provide a more enjoyable experience for the audience, in the end there is a sense of indirectness and manipulation.  This creates a hidden meaning experience.

The commercial from Old Spice begins with a man in a bathroom wearing a towel.  He asks the audience (specifically the women in the audience) to look at their man and then back at him, he repeats this direction a few times (to the point of absurdity) he makes a joke, saying "sadly he isn't me" he begins his argument that your man could, at least, smell like him. Suddenly the scene changes, he's on a yacht, a tied sweater is draped over him, he holds an oyster with tickets "to that thing you love," (continuing to direct you to look at your man and back at him), the tickets turn into diamonds and the spokesman claims the following:

"Anything is possible when your man smells like a man and not a lady."

The commercial holds a non sequitur fallacy.  The non sequitur fallacy is defined as a conclusion that does not logically follow the premise.  The premise, that your man smells like a man and not a lady, in no way leads to the conclusion that anything is possible.   The genius of this commercial is that it is very tongue in cheek.  It’s use of completely random but hilarious moments winks at the audience implying that everyone know this is absurd, so just laugh and enjoy.  This commercial is very entertaining and leaves the audience amused.  The product is fun and so hopes to relate to an audience that likes to have fun (a younger, male audience).  The commercial is so entertaining that most people wouldn’t even think to ask other questions about the product.  Questions asking how it is made, where it is made, what is it made from, is the product environmentally sustainable, etc.  Creating such an absurd environment is a house of smoke and mirrors and the audience has only enough time to recognize the product that is being sold and the ideas selling it. 

My classmate, Tiffany Gushiken, agrees that advertisements use manipulative and distracting tactics: “Ads have become so integrated into our environment and culture that many people accept the messages without thinking. Ads create unnecessary, materialistic  'wants' in a society that would rather act ignorant to the actual 'needs' of its people and the rest of the world.” (Italics added)  Personally, I don’t have an issue with creating materialistic wants.  We live in a world of symbol and meaning, materialistic items are often the best way for a culture to communicate these complex ideas.  Advertisement does the job of walking the line between interpreting these cultural concepts and introducing the product that would aid in understanding or relating to them.  Advertising is so unregulated, however, that a person often focuses more on the cultural concept than the actual material item and what that material item’s reality is as it relates to the environment in which it is created.

Carolyn Rose-Slane is aware of advertisements use of cultural concepts stating that advertisements are negative because they: “employ psychological research to make people believe they need the “new” or “better” products… many people, more now than ever in our history, accrue debt while succumbing to the struggle to maintain the appearance of keeping up with the latest “cool” trend.”  The economic impact on the consumer is not the only societal question at hand.  An important issue regarding the creation of a product is the living conditions of the people who make the product.  I have seen this marketing tool once before in a cereal ad.  The advertisement was for a cereal called “Honey Bunches of Oats” it showed the factory the cereal was made in and featured workers.  They were all very happy describing the product and of the pride they had in creating it.  I found this to be very effective, it was nice for me to know that the people who made the product seemed to be taken care of by the company who employed them. 

I would like to see more regulations in advertisement.  I love the humor and the irony found in ads, but I think it is important that we cut through a lot of the nonsense that is often found in advertisements and begin to connect consumers with what a products impact is on the world that we all share.  This means that I would like advertisements to have certain guidelines that revolve around a) what the product is made of b) where the product is made and the effect the company has had on the community there c) the old standard of advertisement: how the product is beneficial to the consumer. 

I recently saw an advertisement for a Nissan truck.  A sand buggy is stuck on a nearly 90 degree incline when out of nowhere a Nissan truck comes speeding up behind it and pushes it to the top.  I was credulous of what was claimed by this advertisement, to say the least.  Upon researching the commercial I discovered that it was completely fake and the use of (to the trained eye) poor CGI graphics and the exaggerated ability of a road truck in sand was intended to be enough for the consumer to know that it was a joke.  Also, upon further viewing on youtube, the ad does begin with a very tiny, very translucent text stating: “fictionalization. do not attempt.  The advertisement gives the consumer a wink and a nod implying that the consumer is smart enough to know the ad is fake and will look it up on the internet to find out more, possibly bringing the consumer to their website where they can find out more about the product.   It is a very smart use of humor, consumer knowledge, and marketing tactics to bring the consumer to the company.  If the consumer doesn’t get the joke in the ad, this is not a problem; the consumer will believe that the truck is just that powerful. 

We live in capitalistic society, a society built on enterprise, advertisements are a way to spread not only ideas, but also ideas realized.  It is our responsibility as an audience to demand quality in our communication.  If advertisements must be around they must not waste our time with faulty suggestions.  The misconceptions currently promoted in advertisements lack respect for the consumer’s time and energy.  If we are to move forward in advertising and create an environment that is positive for both the company and the consumer we must create new guidelines.