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Sarah Ingles
Elizabeth Skemp
ENGL 307-002
30 November 2013
Advertising At Its Finest
According to Webster’s New Pocket Dictionary, “advertising” as a verb, means to tell
about publicly to promote sales, etc. (Goldman 5). In the marketing world today, many
companies are fighting to make a name for their businesses. In general, the purpose of
advertising is to sell products, goods, services, or ideas. To make this happen, marketers create
“advertisements”. Advertisements are a paid form of public notices (Goldman 5). They create
opportunities for businesses and companies to thrive amongst the competition, but in doing so
they also can negatively affect us cognitively. The underlying question is how do advertisements
effect human behavior? Advertisements, as seen on television and on the Internet attempt to
distract our way of thinking by reducing our attention spans and attempts to manipulate how we
feel about a specific product, service, or idea. However, there are things that a critical consumer
can do to overcome these distractions.
The World Wide Web is home to a vast amount of opportunities to explore social
networking (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) and each of these have their own forms of
advertising. These commercial websites provide people with the ability to “keep in touch” with
any person of interest who has the same program. People program these applications straight to
any electronic device at hand so they can receive notifications instantly. Due to this constant
connection to electronic devices, people are overly stimulated by the notifications and
advertisements associated with them. Part of the problem resides in that people try to multitask
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so much that in turn they do not pay complete attention to their surroundings. People are not
always able to accomplish tasks to the best of their abilities when they perform multiple things at
once. Thus, trying to perform one task alone can be challenging. Linda Stone, a conference
speaker for DLD (Digital Life Design), suggests that our partial attention when “staying in
touch” is consequential for humans (Edwards 84). Users of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
spend hours and hours communicating in several ways such as tweets, wall posts, and comments.
The stress that evolves from our constant multitasking creates anxiety. Therefore, stressrelated diseases form from the attachment we have toward these devices (84). Many people
believe that these devices are the only way to accomplish daily tasks. It is a rare to see someone
without his or her device (i.e. laptop, cellular phone, or iPad/tablet). It is also rare for them to
have the device in the off position. Numerous people experience anxiety when without their
devices because they are a part of people’s minute-by-minute routine. Many people become
restless and their mind is focused on something less important. In addition, limited attention span
stems from over stimulation and lack of fulfillment, which interferes with our thought processes
in the prefrontal cortex (85). Furthermore, chronic distraction impairs our ability to concentrate,
but how do these distractions correlate in our current consumer culture?
The cultural trends in the consumer culture are forever changing. The best and most
efficient mainstream trends cycle throughout the subcultures that create the society we live in
today. In this way, the mainstream manufacturers compete with others to keep consumer interest
and loyalty. Once the manufacturers have “sold” their idea to the public, they are on to the next
ideas. These “ideas” are a part of contemporary advertising. This type of advertising barters with
young consumers to keep their trendiness. For example, Apple stores produce new generations of
iPods and iPhones once or twice a year to capitalize on their business and keep their stronghold
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on the market. In 2008, Apple released their latest iPhone. An extensive line of consumers
waited the night before and well into the morning in order to be one of the first to receive the
device (Sturken 295). This example illustrates a way many people “prioritize” their life around a
product. Apple’s advertisements have convinced them that they need the latest iPhone or iPad in
order for them to stay current and trendy.
Within the world of contemporary advertising, marketers display their own personal
parody or pastiche through postmodern styling. According to Andrew Bennett, pastiche “is a
‘blank’ parody in which there is no single model followed, no impulses such as ridicule, and no
distance from the norm” (285). Both these approaches seek to bring new and innovative meaning
to cultural aspects. A prime example of a parody or pastiche is the iconic image of the Beatles’
album, Abbey Road. This best-selling album quickly rose to the top of the charts in the music
industry. Abbey Road signified the beginning of the end of the iconic English rock band’s career
due to growing tension amongst the band members, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Many fans
rated Abbey Road as the greatest album throughout the Beatles’ successful music career. Many
Beatles’ fans still visit Abbey Road to witness the special moment and “communicate” to others
via social networking that they are missing out. The fab four, and especially Abbey Road,
inspired the creation of several types of pastiches. Some cover versions include Sesame Street
characters, the band members of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Simpsons, The Fantastic Four,
and zombies. Pastiches respectfully honor and celebrate the original images, but they are also
trying to use the original image to “sell” their current idea or product. The marketers hope our
familiarity and devotion to a certain product will translate into our support for their new,
unrelated product, idea or service.
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While a pastiche may try to link itself to a previous image, a parody strictly intends to
ridicule, exaggerate, and distance itself from the original text (Bennett 285). SNL (Saturday
Night Live) seeks pleasure in mocking controversial topics such as social, political, cultural
aspects in national news. Recently, Saturday Night Live mocked Obamacare in its cold open.
Kate McKinnon starred as Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius advising
people to purchase airplane tickets to Canada, where they could receive cheaper healthcare.
Another topic Saturday Night Live mocked was the “Gravity” of government shutdown. The
marketers and producers of such parodies use our current positive or negative feelings towards a
subject to mock them or to sell a product. In 2012, Volkswagen created an ad for the Superbowl
which had a pint-sized Darth Vader trying to bring the “force” to objects around the house.
When his father secretly and remotely starts the family Volkswagen, little Darth Vader is
shocked, thinking he actually started the car. This illustrates how advertisers and marketers try
to manipulate our purchasing practices by parodying previously positive images.
Another form of communication that is common in advertising is bricolage. The French
word bricolage connotes the construction or creation from a diverse range of materials or sources
(Johnson 356). In the making of advertisements, many marketers generate their ideas through
whatever items are at hand. This form is comparable to how an artist can express emotions
through something as simple as recycled trash. Many of us believe trash is trash, but some artists
utilize trash to create a piece of artwork. In respects to the environment, the artists
“communicate” to the rest of the world that trash is valuable in creating something aesthetically
pleasing to the eye.
One recent Ketel One vodka campaign comprised of an ad which mocked subliminal
advertising. The ad read, “Dear Ketel One Drinker, Can you find the subliminal message in this
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advertisement?” This idea for the campaign noted the “hidden messages” relayed in ads that
appeal to consumer’s subconscious (Sturken 295). Many advertisements essentially “trick”
consumers into purchasing something they did not intend to purchase. People cannot help
themselves when advertisements project visuals and materials that are “aesthetically” pleasing.
Ketel One wanted consumers to realize or be aware of their decisions in purchasing certain
products. The company used metacommunication, in which the ad speaks to the viewer about the
process of viewing the ad (Sturken 296). Ketel communicated to their consumers about the
dangers of subliminal messaging through media. How does communication play a role in the
marketing world of advertising?
In the book, Marketing Communication: New Approaches, Techniques, and Styles, Allan
J. Kimmel describes communication as an “essential and vital aspect of the marketing process”.
Advertisements, in particular, are seen everywhere. For example, advertising appears on
billboards, live televised sporting events, stickers, and even coupons (1). Surprisingly, a large
amount of the clothing items worn by people on the street have some form of advertising printed
on them. The advertising world obtains an enormous amount of non-traditional forms of
advertisements because businesses are determined to separate themselves from their competition.
In doing so, the marketers brainstorm a wide range of ideas to reach out to their consumer
audience. Marketers have long sought young people as their prime target consumer audience.
Since the Internet has developed immensely, electronic devices (i.e. cellular phones, iPods, video
games, etc.) have become the new advertising source. Televised advertisements are viewed less
by young consumers because of their constant desire to use the Internet.
Despite the loss of the young consumer television audience, marketers have sought out
new and innovative ways to gain more audience members. Marketers have reached out to
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previously non-targeted consumers such as, male consumers for traditionally feminine products,
gay and lesbian consumers, affluent minorities, and young children (Kimmel 2). The marketing
communicators have undoubtedly exposed consumers to the “dark” side of advertising. In this
digital age, our society has become more “tech savvy” meaning our technology use and skills
have increasingly improved. Our susceptibility to many of the traditional forms of advertising
has lessened as we have become critical evaluators of it. Many marketers have switched to an
aggressive and unconventional approach to regain consumers through personalized, mobile, and
interactive tactics (Kimmel 3). These methods of communicating messages attempt to bombard
the consumers into thinking illogically. Kimmel mentions a survey conducted about the use of
advertisement. Sixty-nine percent of adult respondents claimed advertisements as misleading
some of the time (3). This distrust in advertising creates an additional challenge to marketers.
In addition, many advertising gimmicks and suggestive ads pop up instantaneously to
direct users’ attention away from the subject they are concentrating on. This advertising
technique adds to the chronic distraction that users face daily. People tend to feel overwhelmed
by multiple pop-up ads. This tends to add to the daily stress many people feel. Marketers
essentially “bombard” and “overwhelm” the consumers in efforts to create a trusting relationship
with consumers and to grab their attention, if only for a couple of seconds. Emotional tactics are
clever strategies as well. Advertisements either approach consumers by simple “word of mouth”
or direct, “in your face” reasons why a consumer must purchase a certain product. These tactics
that tamper with the psychological neural waves in our brain may be the reason for our lack in
critical thinking.
Critical thinking is a necessary skill that we need to possess in order to properly examine
and search for the truth within any documents or printing we read on a daily basis. According to
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Dr. Linda Elder, critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking
that you are capable of in any circumstance. The general goal of thinking is to “figure out the lay
of the land” (Learning the Art of Critical Thinking). Elder means in order to make an informed
decision about anything, we must dig deep to find the legitimate evidence to support or reject our
ideas on a subject. In today’s society, our critical thinking abilities have progressively dwindled.
The Internet, Twitter, Facebook and others like them are accountable for most of our lack of
focus when facing tasks that require in-depth reading and comprehension. These sources offer
instant messaging and communication that is meant to be relayed and read in seconds. Taking
one minute to read something is way too much to expect for many users of these sources. Text
has shortened significantly to offer the literal message within the fine print, but who knows
whether the information is valid or not?
Elder suggests four possible ways of disciplining your mind to think at a higher level of
quality. The four possible ways are clarifying your thinking, sticking to the point, being
reasonable and being optimistic (Learning the Art of Critical Thinking). The first way, clarifying
your thinking, suggests that before drawing conclusions of what you or others believe, you
should do some research on the topic. One should utilize personal beliefs along with other beliefs
to create an understanding of the issue and to define the real meaning of the message.
Summarization helps conclude whether they agree or disagree with a certain topic or piece of
information.
Interestingly, this relates to current political campaigns. When presidential campaign
advertisements air on television, one of the most famous lines is, “Hi, I’m _______ and I
approve this message.” Instantly, many democrats and republicans make false assumptions about
the presidential views, as they use this message to create a relationship with the viewer. If the
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President voices his or her opinion on national television, everything said within a certain
campaign is believed to deliver accurate or relevant information. The composition of the
campaign advertisements encompasses the principles of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of
signs and includes a signifier and a signified concept. For example, a stop sign represents the
signifier and the word “stop” is the signified concept because the word cues in on what to do at
the stop sign. When confronted with these images in advertising, audience members fail to notice
the contradictions and tend to accept the information that, in reality, does not support their view.
Clarifying is an integral tool in catching vague and unrealistic answers.
Sticking to the point requires staying on task and searching for logical connections that
pertain to the central idea. Thinking in this way helps to establish what information addresses the
problem at hand. Thus, finding relevant and accurate information is of importance. Many
advertisements show unrelated materials, then attempt to have us as consumers derive a new
meaning from within the materials. This theory is the Kuleshov effect. The Kuleshov effect
formula components are A plus B equals C (i.e. thesis, antithesis, and synthesis). For instance,
the advertisement for Bud Light associates their products with manly men. The main message
derived from the advertisement suggests that if you are male and drink Bud Light, you are
manlier than men who do not drink Bud Light. Beer has nothing to do with manhood, but many
men cannot risk the chance of losing their manliness. These fragments in advertisements may be
of danger to most consumers because they unconsciously buy into the ideas, services, and goods
without knowing what they are really being sold or how. If that is the case, as consumers, we
must ask more questions to get the answers we want.
In the process of critical thinking, asking questions is vital to understanding and
navigating through material. Asking questions justifies how material may present itself in a
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certain way. In regards to critical thinking, consumers tend to shy away from asking questions. If
consumers asked more questions, it would eliminate much of the confusion with the information.
Many times, consumers are too confident in what we already know and do not want to rely on
someone or something else to tell us otherwise. Unfortunately, with this attitude, they can suffer
dire consequences, like being scammed in a crooked deal. In addition, if consumers sense
something abnormal, they should address the problem with a more reasonable approach.
Lastly, being optimistic shows awareness of other differences and gives credit where
credit is due. In order to listen intently to others, we must put our barrier or guard down. An
example of this in advertisements is the deluge of weight-loss products and programs. As the
New Year approaches, weight loss advertisements are controlling much of the infomercial world
on television. Marketers offer multiple dieting pills, weight loss programs and exercise products
to sell consumers on the most beneficial method to assist them on their journey of losing weight.
Which one is more suitable for a healthy lifestyle? That varies according to the individual, but
the advertisements are designed to convince us that theirs is the only true and best method.
Weight Watchers, one of many weight loss programs, represents a beneficial plan to those who
are seeking a healthy, effective lifestyle. However, others may believe pills work better. The
beauty of being reasonable is that people can share their personal insight, some of which may be
new to justify their moral and ethical reasoning. They can use their own personal knowledge and
beliefs to make the choice that they feel is best for them. However, the advertisements attempt to
manipulate them to think otherwise. We are quick to judge when we have not used our
references wisely. Our carelessness to evaluate these attempts can adversely affect our decisionmaking abilities.
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Many people think advertisements most often do not require much critical thinking.
However, rational consumers know about the meaning of the actual advertisements and do not
let the false advertising affect their mindset. Advertisements do not persuade them to purchase
certain products, they purchase based on desire or need. According to Foot Hill Techniques,
people essentially “hop on the bandwagon” with products that are advertised, but consumers
claim they make their own personal decisions when purchasing these products. In addition,
consumers more likely purchase the well-advertised or popular products (Advertising
Techniques). Consumers that make their own informed decisions are actual threats to the
marketing system at play. Many consumers are knowledgeable and figure out right away when
advertisements project noticeable tricks. For instance, Toyota was a popular motor vehicle brand
with the well-advertised slogan “Safety First”. They had a strong, deserved reputation as a safe
and quality manufacturer, but then they failed to provide sufficient safety features. According to
USA Today, Toyota recalled 87,000 Toyota Prius and Lexus HS 250h vehicles because of brake
problems. Even though there were no reports accidents or injuries, consumers most likely read
into the quality of Toyota vehicles more closely after that (Toyota Recalls Prius Due to Faulty
Brakes). The sales of Toyota vehicles dropped sixteen percent in the months following the
recall. When consumers follow their own judgment, based on facts, not emotions, they can buck
the system created by advertising companies.
Advertising as a tool is a necessary part of a capitalistic society. It helps feed commerce
at the local, national and world-wide levels. It can bring positive changes to popular culture and
society as a whole. It can also bring negative changes, such as dwindling attention spans. In
addition, advertisers often rely on methods that are designed to overtly and covertly manipulate
our senses and judgments. Whether they are pastiche, parody, Kuleshov Effect, or other
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methods, they try to transfer a feeling we already have to the desired product, service or idea. In
fact, the entire business of advertising is about manipulating others emotions and thoughts.
However, a critical and aware consumer can train oneself to be aware of these manipulations. In
doing so, the consumer can make rational, informed decisions based on individual needs or
desires.
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Works Cited
“Advertising Techniques.” Foothill Techniques. Foothill College, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Bennett, Andrew. “The Postmodern.” An Introduction to Literature, Criticism, and Theory. Ed. Nicholas Royle.
Pearson, 2009. 278-88. Print.
Edwards, Chris. “Turn on, tune out [Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube].” Engineering and Technology. 3.12
(2008): 84-85. Print
Elder, Linda Dr. “Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking.” The Critical Thinking Community. Foundation of for
Critical Thinking, 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Goldman, Jonathan L. “Webster’s New Pocket Dictionary.” Webster’s New World. 2000 ed. Print.
Johnson, Christopher. “Bricoleur and Bricolage: From Metaphor to Universal Concept.” Paragraph. 35.3 (2012):
355-372. Print.
Kimmel, Allan J. “Introduction: Marketing Communication in the New Millennium.” Marketing Communication:
New Approaches, Techniques, and Styles. Ed. Allan Kimmel. New York: Oxford, 2005. 1-7. Print.
Sturken, Marita. “Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Desire.” Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual
Culture. Ed. Lisa Cartwright. New York: Oxford, 2009. 265-304. Print.
Woodyard, Chris. “Toyota Recalls Prius due to faulty brakes.” Drive On. USA Today, 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.