Q5

Q5. 'Advertising doesn't sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think or feel' (Jeremy Bullmore). Evaluate this statement with reference to selected critical theories.

To make a fair evaluation of this statement, one must take note of the context in which it was said and the work and position of the person who said it. At first glance one would think that Bullmore’s statement was made to defend advertising and it’s associations with questionable consumerist industries -“all advertising does is”. The seemingly defensive nature of the comment, at first, detracts from it’s credibility, however I believe that it was said in order to defend his profession against the widespread prejudice that people have for the advertising industry, “On more than one occasion, it has sought to

defend itself on the grounds that it doesn’t really work.’’-Bullmore. If the statement was not meant to defend the industry it would have been made, at least, to clear up a common misconception. It is not difficult to see that Bullmore’s work is quite paradoxical and at times humorous, ‘’It is common knowledge that the people who work in it manipulate the values and aspirations of the entire nation, yet twice as many people work in McDonald’s (UK) as in all British advertising agencies put together.’’ – Bullmore (1998). He makes statements like these that are so blatantly honest, one can only think that what he says is to be believed i.e. the truth. However this is not a fair judgment as it does not prove the statement against any other texts or theory’s.

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the relevance and credibility of Jeremy Bullmore’s statement by applying it to popular theory’s about ‘consumer commodity’ and the intended affect of advertising and the media, from a number of different texts.

Firstly it is important to note that Bullmore refers to advertising in a certain way –‘’I’ve often been critical of commentators who use the word advertising as if it were one

great homogeneous activity; as if all advertising, all advertisements,

worked in the same way and towards the same purpose.’’ – Bullmore. He believes that the term can be filtered down to two root forms; “ 1) advertising that people go looking for and 2) advertising that goes looking for people”. The statement of which this essay is based on applies to the second type “2) advertising that goes looking for people”.

Vance Packard painted a grim picture in “The Hidden Persuaders” (1957). Packard wrote that, rather then helping us achieve our human needs, the big businesses were manipulating our desires, using techniques ranging from the exploitation of sexual images to subliminal messaging. This is in fitting with Bullmore’s statement that advertising is actively manipulative rather then simply informative. I should mention that Bullmore does not convey any particular belief that it is one or the other though, as he states that there are two root forms of advertising “1) and 2)” as mentioned before. 

“The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is.” –Berger, J .

Berger is shedding light on the notion that advertising ‘changes the way that people think and feel’ about their lives. The man thinks that if he owns the paraphernalia depicted in the desirable setting that is portrayed, then he will enhance his own life. “It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives by buying something more. This more, it proposes, will make us in some way richer-even though we will be poorer by having spent our money”.  - Berger, ‘Ways of Seeing’

- prada men’s wear spring/summer add campaign.

This is a screen shot from a short video add that depicts men wearing Prada, achieving a near impossible feat as a display of affluence, virility and confidence, in front/above of an audience consisting of wealthy young women and unthreatening men. The add makes the consumer believe that if they buy into this product they too will be able to achieve this kind of recognition and social status. It is an example of a type of advert that people are very critical towards. They portray a lifestyle that is fictional and unobtainable, yet they encourage young people to try and achieve it.

By consuming we can form bonds with others in our consumerist culture. Consumption can also create a linkage between us, and a product that we use to help define who we are. A person might by a pretty notebook for example over a regular budget copybook. The consumer needs the object in order to work and fulfill their idealized roll in society. The consumer does not ‘need’ the ‘pretty notebook’ any more then the budget one, but there is a strong inner motivation that urges the consumer to purchase the ‘pretty’ more expensive product. Firstly the individual may admire the seemingly beautiful and high quality standard of manufacture, they will feel that by owning this product they are enhancing their professional appearance and will enjoy the benefits of this elevated persona – more credibility and perhaps a higher standard of work that is linked to the quality of the product. This would not be the case if the consumer had not formed a link between them and the product.

The text “The product and the brand”

By Burleigh B. Gardner and Sidney J. Levy, is quite relevant to this idea that advertising instills a need within the consumer by ‘changing the way they feel’. When studying the way in which people form certain judgments about competitive objects in their heads, the authors have written: “The net result is a public image, a character or personality that may be more important for the overall status (and sales) of the brand than many technical facts about the product. Conceiving of a brand in this way calls for a re-thinking of brand advertising.” The authors conclude with the though that: “it is more profitable to think of an advertisement as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image as part of the long-term investment in the reputation of the brand.”

Consumers consume because they want something, to establish relationships, define their roll within society and to help define who they are as well. The difference between a want and need is very short. Needing something is the most powerful motivation or thinking that one needs something – part of the advertisers job is to convince people that they need the relevant product. Advertisers are now trying to apply this need  ‘consumers’ as young as one year old.

One particular type of advertising method is the ‘perches product, get mate’ strategy. This mixes the need of a relationship and sexual gratification, then links the product to a possibility of obtaining these things.

- this is an add created by Saachi & Saachi America, in 1978. 

The add is placed strategically on its own among a plethora of adds that feature no imagery so it stands out very well. The copy on the advert is at the top of the hierarchy of the composition. The copy is also assigned twice as much space as the image of the actual product to ensure that the idea behind the add is delivered more memorably then what it is the consumer is actually buying. It uses the typical ‘buy product get mate’ strategy, manipulating the consumer into thinking that if he buys this product he will improve his chances of getting a mate and perhaps fulfill one of his basic needs – sexual gratification “For men, sex starts with kissing”.

My conclusion is that Bullmore’s statement that “advertising doesn’t sell things; all it does is change the way people think or feel” is correct, albeit paradoxical. In a society that has personal social envy and widespread ignorance instilled in its very core “Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society. And it also masks what is happening in the rest of the world. – Berger. This manipulative form of advertising that people recognize as a social ill is aimed at us to make us believe that we need what they are paid to advertise from as early as one year old. In a way advertising doesn’t sell things it helps form our beliefs, our “thoughts and feelings”. Noam Chomsky explained the cycle well, “ The media are part of the system of power. They produce a product, the product is sold to the market, the market is advertising (advertisers). Advertising is where the money comes from. The product being sold to the advertisers is the audience or audiences”. Thus creating a ferocious cycle and ever-expanding industry. This can leave one thinking what can we do to get away from this vicious, manipulative circle?

“For us, the hope of intellectual independence is to resist, and the necessary first step in resistance is to discover how the institutional grip is laid upon our mind.” -Mary Douglas, How Institutions Think (1987).