Advertising and
Commercial Culture
Chapter 11
“These new platforms, new innovations, and
new services in fact create new opportunities
for advertisers….I think these models are
going to be the ones that will really evolve to
be the defining models for advertising over the
next 10 to 20 years.”
— Eric Schmidt, Google CEO
Culture Influenced by Ads



Advertising comes in many forms, from
classified ads to giant highway billboards.
Ads are often seen as intruding on daily
life.
 Fast-forward through commercials with
TiVo
 Block pop-up ads on Web sites
However, advertising is the glue that
holds the mass media industries together.
History




Advertising used in antiquity
First newspaper ads in America, 1704
Most U.S. magazines had advertising by mid-1800s.
Earliest ad agencies were newspaper space
brokers.


Bought newspaper space, sold it to merchants
N. W. Ayer established the first “modern” U.S. ad
agency.



Established in 1875
Worked for advertisers, product companies, not
newspapers
Wrote, produced, and placed ads
“The American apparatus of advertising is something
unique in history….It is like a grotesque, smirking
gargoyle set at the very top of America’s skyscraping
adventure in acquisition ad infinitum.”
—James Rorty, Our Master’s Voice, 1934
Advertising Proves Worthy


By the mid-1800s, manufacturers realized
consumers would ask for their products
specifically if they were distinctive, associated
with quality.
Advertising let manufacturers establish a special
identity for their products, separate from their
competitors.
Built “brand recognition”
 Packaging
 Created demand for branded, “quality” goods
19th century ads created the impression of significant
differences among products when in fact very few
differences actually existed.


Medicine and Department Stores


By the end of the 1800s half the ads were for patent
medicines or department stores.
Many patent medicines were dangerous and/or
fraudulent.


Federal Food and Drug Act passed in 1906 in
response


Problem led to advertising self-policing.
FDA created
Advertising eats the “newshole.”

Today more than 60 percent of the space in large daily
papers is consumed by ads.
Promoting Social Change and
Dictating Values

As ads became more powerful, began to change
American life




Transition from producer-directed society to consumerdriven society
Advertising promoted new technological advances that
made life easier.
Still, ads were accused of inciting consumer need
for unnecessary products.
Emphasized advertising’s power for social good

Ad Council
 Founded in the 1940s, created important campaigns like
Smokey the Bear (“Only you can prevent forest fires”)
Regulation

Better Business Bureau


Audit Bureau of Circulation


Tracked advertising’s audience so publishers
couldn’t lie about viewer numbers
FTC


Created by business community to keep tabs on
deceptive advertising
Group created by government to help monitor
advertising abuses
American Association of Advertising Agencies
(AAAA)

Self-regulation within ad industry
Subliminal Advertising

Term coined in 1950s



Few examples actually exist.



Hidden or disguised visual messages in films and
television programs
Fool people into buying products
“Drink Coca-Cola” in frames of movies
Sexual activity in liquor ads
No more effective than regular ads
The Power of Mega-Agencies

Top four mega-agencies in 2008
 Omnicom
 WPP
 Interpublic
 Publicis


Concern that large audiences pose a threat to independent agencies
Boutique agencies
 Often founded by designers and graphic artists empowered by
visual revolution of the 1960s
 Left larger agencies to form their own ventures
 Peterson Milla Hooks: one of the biggest boutique agencies in
America

Famed campaign for Target (bulls-eye)
Figure 11.1
Market Research





Assesses the behaviors and attitudes of
consumers toward particular products
Demographics
Psychographics
Focus groups
Values and Lifestyles (VALS)


Auto industry uses heavily
See Figure 11.2 on p. 356
Ad Agency Structure

Creative development


Media selection


Writers and artists outline rough sketch of ads.
Media buyers: choose and purchase the types of
media best suited to carry a client’s ad and reach the
target audience
Account services

Account executives: responsible for bringing in new
business and managing the accounts of established
clients
Online Advertising



Banner ads earliest form of Web advertising
Pop-up ads, pop-under ads, flash multimedia
ads, and interstitials popular today
Paid search advertising has become the
dominant format of Web advertising.

Google, MSN, and Yahoo, for all claims of
impartiality, have quietly morphed into ad
agencies.
Persuasive Techniques in
Advertising

Famous-person testimonial


Plain folks


Appeal of “Everyone does it!”
Hidden fear


Fiji water (“The label says Fiji because it’s not bottled in
Cleveland”)
Bandwagon


Volkswagen (“Drivers wanted”)
Snob appeal


Athlete Tiger Woods for Nike, American Express, and
more
Deodorant, mouthwash ads play on social anxiety.
Irritation

Aspirin ad featuring hammer pounding in someone’s
brain
Association Principle



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.
Table 11.2
Advertising as Myth

Three common mythical elements found in
many types of ads:



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.
 The product and its users are the heroes.
Product Placement

Placing ads in movies, TV shows, comic
books, video games



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?
Political Speech vs.
Commercial Speech

Political speech is protected under the
First Amendment.



Lobbying (PR)
Political campaigns
Commercial speech is far more
proscribed by case law.


Fee-based communications
Intended to cause money exchange
Key Advertising Concerns


Schools
Health





Puffery


Eating disorders
Tobacco
Pharmaceuticals
Alcohol
Ads featuring hyperbole and exaggeration
Advertisers killing news stories

The end of consumer reporting?
“It isn’t enough to advertise on television. . . .
[Y]ou’ve got to reach kids throughout the
day—in school, as they’re shopping in the
mall . . . or at the movies. You’ve got to
become part of the fabric of their lives.”
—Carol Herman, Senior Vice President,
Grey Advertising, 1996
Questioning Advertising

The Truth, a national youth smoking
prevention campaign, works to deconstruct
the images that have long been associated
with cigarette ads.


Recognized by 80% of teens in 2007
Ranked in the Top 10 “most memorable teen
brands”
Advertising, Politics, and
Democracy





Since the 1950s, politicians have mimicked advertising
techniques in order to get elected.
 Political advertising: the use of ad techniques to
promote a candidate’s image and persuade the public
to adopt a particular viewpoint
Although broadcasters use the public’s airwaves, they
have long opposed providing free time for political
campaigns and issues, since political advertising is big
business for television stations.
Commercialism—through packaging both products and
politicians—has generated cultural feedback that is
often critical of advertising’s pervasiveness.
Still, the growth of the industry has not diminished.
Public maintains uneasy relationship with advertising.