WATCH THIS (MIND)SPACE

Photo supplied by Pedro


Sell that available grey matter now !!






STUDENT critiques of advertising

- misleads consumers with the tactic of "individualisation" or of "developing personal identity", while actually selling the same stuff to everyone. In the end, we are all alike (Mariana)

- can damage consumers' brains with repetition (we are already lacking storage space for important information/memory... why bother with jingles or slogans ? (Mariana)

- can fool the audience through deceptive, commercial tricks...(Alexandre, Gabriella, Pierre)

- consistently increases people's needs, making the society increasingly materialistic (Alexandre, Maëva, Sophie, Etienne, Gabriella)

- leads to clichés: they reinforce stereotypes or even create new ones which
are quickly imprinted onto the minds of consumers and the general public. These are highly difficult to suppress again (Stefan)

- creates new 'must-buys': people desire to possess what they see on the screen. Viewers emulate the role models of TV, leading to pressure, for instance on women with respect to cosmetics (Stefan)

- annoys: the spot for a new chocolate bar interrupts the exciting crime thriller right before the brave Inspector arrests the murderer ! (Stefan, Pedro)

- can lead to mass alienation as it drives us to want/like the same things (Romain, Mariana)

- appeals deliberately to our subconscious and not our conscious mind, so it may make us consume more than economically reasonable. Homo economicus loses his rationality, which is dangerous for our all-capitalist model (cf. sub-prime crisis)(Romain, Sophie)

- informs us, but it gives us biased information on products (Romain)

- admittedly not an exclusive effect of advertising (TV, in general, has this effect on people), but it is particularly explicit in ads: advertising integrates/assimilates any subversive behavior within society. Products stop being subversive and become merely goods to be consumed (Tamia)

- follows the mainstream, rarely challenging one's views and opinions (except Benetton ads). In our non-religious societies (NB. ah !), have you EVER seen an ad remotely sympathetic to religion ? Apart from French monks always presented as big eaters, you never see ads about Judaïsm or Islam (hot themes, one guesses) (Farida)

- provides quite a precise model of what is "good taste", according to the advertiser and mainstream society, so if you don't have the same sense of beauty, you're "out" ! (Farida)

- makes one feel like one absolutely needs such and such a product to be "in", which is especially harmful for children, for whom it is very hard to be seen to be different. Most adults too (Farida)

- if advertising creates in society a sense of unity (references, language...), it by definition expels/marginalises other people from this "community" (Farida)

- contributes to losing the very richness of human existence (arts, literature, music...), due to its inherent simplification process. Proust wrote seven amazing books ("In Search of Time Lost") in the hope that he could restore and reproduce just a small part of Life's lost moments. Ads are mere non-ambitious products from non-ambitious people who think they can reproduce the richness of life. What a joke! (Farida)

- is intrinsically intrusive: it affects everybody, even those who wish to avoid
it (Pedro)

- encourages a monopolistic/oligarchic view of society by creating a vicious circle: those with more money are able to produce more ads and therefore make more money (Pedro)

- the citizen may possibly be affected and misled by unreliable information in ads (Pedro, Aurore)

- may encourage people to adopt lifestyles which are not recommendable from a health perspective (Pedro olé !)

(Minor elements):
- frequently imprints an extremely irritating song or catchphrase in your head for weeks (even months some times)(Pedro)
- it is the reason why watching a 2-hour movie on TV normally ends up taking 3 hours (Pedro)

- in economics, the 'public choice' school explains that public regulation is bad, to the extent that it encourages the development of lobbying, which is a financial waste for the society ; one can make a parallel between public regulation and capitalism, and thus, between
lobbying and advertising: advertising can equally be seen as a waste of money, money which could be used to encourage innovation for example, or to lower the price of products (Emilie)

- as advertisements have to swiftly get to the point, they generally convey a traditional, not to say conservative and non-diverse image of people, according to their age, their gender, their ethnic origin, their role within the family (washing powder commercials always show mothers, why ? In terms of gender, are we still in the '60s ?)(Emilie)

- when there is nothing interesting on TV, commercials incite students to keep watching instead of going to bed ("Gosh, 3 A.M. already ?") or doing their English homework (for instance...). Commercials lead to procrastination, and that's baaaaaaaaaad; the truth is, advertising is evil (Emiliiiiiiie !)

- conveys prejudices, particularly concerning women who are reduced to their role of mothers, housewives or to their attributes. They are shown/exhibited as sexual objects (Aurore)

- ads' excesses hold up an image of a consumer-crazy society. "I consume, therefore I am" would be our slogan (Aurore)

- promotes superficiality and materialism in individuals, since it tends to create new desires. Furthermore, these desires cannot be met or satisfied as easily as needs, demonstrating that advertising plays on this human weakness (Maëva, Aurore)

- widens the gap between rich and poor: not everybody can afford to buy all the products promoted by advertising, creating envy, jealousy, resentment. And materialistic values (Maëva, Sophie)

- relies on an unsustainable model of economic development insofar as its purpose is to keep on selling more and more products. If emerging and developed countries continue in this direction in food management, crises and starvation riots might result (Maëva)

- tends to encourage deviant behavior (obesity in children and teens who watch television while consuming products promoted by TV advertising (Maëva)

- promotes an ideal world that does not reflect reality (perfect young women/men, wealth, cars, houses etc.) and is based on lies (anti-wrinkle creams, slimming products etc.)(Maëva)

- relies on a short-term strategy, equivalent to a time-bomb, as advertising needs to multiply in different media (TV, radio, street) in order to sell: who has never been bored by an advertisement that 'pollutes' our daily life ? (Maëva)

- tends to speak down to consumers ("'Panier de Yoplait' is MORE than a yoghurt'!)(Maëva)

- elicits choices based on an "emotional need", rather than a rational one (Sophie)

- is a very expensive and ineffective form of communication, esp. if the target group has been improperly identified (Sophie, Pierre) or can be a poor return on investment in some media (Pierre)

- imposes a model of society based on consumption, even though people may be happier being with their friends and their families at home than shopping in malls. It imposes the concept of "work more, get more" (as Sarkozy said) to be able to afford a Rolex by age 50 (dixit Séguela)(Etienne)
  
- has changed Descartes' axiom, which is no longer "I think, therefore I am", but "I HAVE, therefore I am", which is a big step backward for society, whose primary aim should probably be to have citizens able to think by themselves (Etienne)
 
- contributes, by the plethora of products consumed, to the destruction of our environment (Etienne, Gabriella)
 
- confuses the hierarchy on TV between "film", "documentary" and "advertising", which could be problematical (Etienne)

- due to its short format, presents only shallow feelings, oversimplifying life and influencing our views because of the volume we are exposed to every day. It suppresses the reality of deeper meanings and emotions (Lola, Gabriella)

- takes advantage of our natural weaknesses and basic instincts (the desire to be popular, pretty, rich…), because these are the easiest to exploit (Lola)

- imposes a vision of happiness attainable only through the satisfaction of an endless line of immediate desires and gets in the way of real personal achievement (Lola)

- creates inferiority complexes and ultimately unhappiness for the person unable to attain the obligation of resemblance to the standards imposed by advertising (i.e. because of financial or physical divergence from the norm) (Lola)

- promotes capitalist and consumerist values ; emphasizes ephemeral values in general (Gabriella)

- can exert a negative influence on vulnerable, immature audiences, like children and teenagers (Gabriella)

- visually pollutes the environment (Gabriella, Etienne)

- can transmit excessively violent and sexual messages (Gabriella)

- tends to immediately increase the consumption of substances like alcohol and tobacco (Pierre)

END

Thanks to all for your individual brilliance !

VAMPIRE QUE TOUT ?

Where teacher and students list the demerits of advertising






TEACHER'S LIST

Major drawbacks of advertising

- as the main locomotive of growth in capitalist economies, constitutes a threat to the ecology of the planet due to the wasteful practices it induces

- constructs, especially via TV/video/film advertising, an illusory world for millions of poorer viewers worldwide (but so do Bollywood, Hollywood, video games...)

- constructs a false paradigm of normative happiness/contentment/security/physical appearance etc. in the nations where it thrives (societal formatting)

- using simplistic (national)stereotypes or caricature based on ignorance, reduces the potential understanding between neighbouring peoples (say) of Europe and increases the future risk of misunderstanding or conflict between such nations

- by recourse to persistent repetition of messages in every media (esp. in the West), constitutes an attempted form of brainwashing of the population

- despite controls over the years, has tended to use questionable psychological and ethical techniques in order to persuade public opinion (psychoanalysis (E. Bernays), subliminal messages, hidden cameras in Paris street billboards...)

- addresses itself to children first when pertinent, playing on their doubts, fears and deep psychological needs (need for love, protection (Ronald McDonald ?), social acceptance (Barbie ?)

- by its very omnipresence, obliterates other forms of socially useful communication and information, creating a non-choice situation (say for food) for U.S citizens ('oh well, let's just go to Burger King' (sigh, what else is there ?)


Minor drawbacks

- tends with its billboards, to uglify and clutter the urban environment

- risks causing road accidents due to driver inattention because of its large hoardings along local and national roads

- in some countries, damages the film experience on TV or at the cinema with its advertising breaks or its heavy pre-film barrage of spots

- rather than inform the reader/viewer on the product's qualities, speaks more of brand image or post-purchase brand experience

- often tends to twist/omit/ignore the facts in its messages, favorising emotion, manipulative humour and the instrumentalisation of human foibles (fear, social envy, greed...); 'touches up' photos and images to glamourise reality

- according to the product or service, frequently aims for the lowest common denominator of PR (using kids' voices on radio, testimonials...)


STUDENTS' LIST COMING SOON

* See next post please

JUST PUT THE CROC DOWN THE TOILET !

But it's grown too big, Daddy !


* As we continue our bold, perspicacious journey through ADLAND, we have charted some of the territory of what once was a cute, lizard-like little creature and has now become a giant, dangerous man-eater (sorry about the metaphor, Romain)

* This is perhaps why it was possible to identify in our previous post several meritorious aspects to advertising; the more they are traditional, the more they seem positive. As we say, we are not against advertising as such, as it does still fulfill certain requirements of service technologies in the modern world in terms of communication, information and creativity

* There is nevertheless a but. Why are they asking us to swim in the pond, when we know there is a crocodile in there ? This is not a problem for some, who claim indestructibility, but can we all ?

* The next post, where we will attempt to list the demerits of the advertising industry, will soon be filled in equally by my students' ideas, with brilliant additions from the teacher. Note that the previous 'FOR' post has also seen changes originating from my students (see 23/04/09 post)



A suivre...