A picture is worth a 1000 words!

Advertising is...

Is Advertising Ethical?

I read that advertising is the same as looking for employment. You must send out resumes to find it, but be sure you don't BS your resume!

Blog 8, Advertising = A.D.D?

Advertising plays a big part in how we as a society act, think, and function in general. In a nut shell, humans are basically like sheep. We all follow the herd. Today's herd comes in the form of advertising, social media, and the Internet. With so many things to keep up with in our modern society, it's no wonder our attention spans have jumped the fence.
I can't say if our 5 minute attention span is a direct result from the 5 thousand advertisements we see daily, however, I am confident it plays a large part. The social presser that is pushed on us as is tremendous. As a student of graphic design, Our instructors express the importance of keeping up with all these social media trends in order to succeed. No pressure!
The constant bombardment of online content, and ads gives me a sneaking suspicion that our brains can't handle this much information. or maybe just my brain. All these advertisements create a blanket of product placement that our brain probably ignores most of the time. We certainly can't recall ever ad that we come across in any given day.  This may actually be a positive thing in the long run. For every 100 crap adverts that are poster'ed or uploaded every day, there will be a hand full of great ones! Ad's that cut the clutter straight down the middle and bring our attention back!

To sum it all up, I feel that no matter how much advertisement we come across each day, and no matter how many distracting things we take part in, there will always be great design, art, and advertising to retain the human interest. We as a society are no different from the men and woman in the 50s, we just have more to work with, more to look at, and it takes great content to hold a persons attention.  

Shock Value in Advertising

When dealing with sensitive issues such as shock value in advertising.  You must first establish where you stand. What is your moral judgement on the issue? This is essential with topics such as these in order to give an opinion that is both justified and sensitive.

 

So, does this type of advertising do more harm to the brand? I believe, it could actually be a positive tactic if done properly. The brand needs to keep clear mind of who they are speaking to and how far they push it. On the other hand, pushing a concept too far  to the wrong people and in the wrong context. You could be sending the wrong message to your target market.

 

Should brands even use this approach? Again, if done right, advertising agencies can effectively capture an audience and sell/promote a brand or product.  But taking things too far supports the fact that your agency is tasteless and has no moral filter. No compassionate human being wants to be reminded of an American tragedy such as the JFK shooting. (See image provided). All in the name of brand recognition. There is a fine line between what clever can provide and what straight up offensive. We do live in a free country but does that mean we should never hold back for the sake of morally sensitive. This may in fact cause case people desensitization to sensitive issues to cloud. 

On a personal note, I don't feel it is wrong to confront people's emotional influences. In fact, it is important to have major world issue out in the lime light. I feel as long as people remain true to themselves in a moral stance, and continue to be compassionate in there work that the target audience will recognize that. Strong clever advertising will always shine through over cheap tactics.

Advertising has been around for decades, and remains a vital ingredient to the success of a brand. Companies take big risks on an advertisement concepts so pushing limits may be a necessity to keep things fresh. I'd say push limits but let's keep it clean!  

  

 

 

Cheating on your brands! Infidelity in Advertising

 image sourced from:www.shesocreative.com/blog

When it comes to advertising, people generally tend to place blame and point fingers at marketing/advertising companies. Consumers have high expectations of these companies to be the moral parent. So, when adverts pop up that may be risky or intentionally a little offensive to grab some attention, the general public finds it easier to place blame elsewhere as compared to filtering out what they believe to be appropriate or not. 

So the obvious questions to ask ourselves. Should brands be praising the moral standards of being unfaithful to your commonly used brands by cheating with another? Does this mean the brand supports or promotes the idea of infidelity or is simply using a context in which everyone is familiar with, regardless of the fact that it might just be within poor taste. 

On a personal level, I feel that people have the choice to ignore the ads that they disapprove of. We as people, have that choose, and have that right. It can be a little hard to justify knowing that we are bombarded with thousands of advertisements daily. It is still my belief that we control what we buy into. Now that we've established this, I do feel that it doesn't mean advertising companies can fill every ad with suggestive material just because infidelity is so common in our society. It comes down to a moral judgment call. 

A good example of this is AshleyMadison.com. This company promotes infidelity by saying people will do it regardless. They believe that they simply just give it a home. Their slogan says it all "Life is Short, Have an Affair". This is something that exists, but it doesn't exist in my world, I choose to not associate with. Point being, people have the choice to take part in whatever they choose. 

The company choosing to use this tactic doesn't necessarily hold these sleazy values, but has a primary target. Everybody knows sex sells, and it's a fact! Advertising companies use this to relay a message in a way that everyone will get. Poor taste? maybe, but it works and that is exactly what a company strives for. 

All in all, I feel there is no right answer. We live in a society of free speech, and advertiment agencies can really push the boundaries as far as they'd like. Even if it backfires and the pull the ad. True is, it is just the world we live in. 

 

 

 

 

     

Subliminal Advertising

SUBLIMINAL ADVERTING

Advertising has been finding ways to skew peoples perception of things for decades now, whether or not Marketing companies intentionally places hidden words/images is really difficult to prove. Or do people really have to much time on their hands or perhaps read into things too much?

Taken from a 2011 article in Business Insider , by Dillion Love, "William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, prominently spoke out against subliminal when the movie adaptation of his book came under fire for including allegedly subliminal messaging." He said, "There are no subliminal images. If you can see it, it's not subliminal." this leads me to believe that not everyone in the business of selling is intentionally out to trick people into buying.

People today are bombarded with so many advertisements in a single day that perhaps consumers have a close eye to detail. We have access to things such as, print/digital ads, and social media. All of which include modern ways to incorporate ads. I feel the average consumer can spot a subliminal message in a second in comparison to a few decades ago. 

In my humble opinion, I feel that this method of advertising can be used in a positive method if done tastefully and without false  underlines. Including imagery in ads that may not be seen instantly could be a clever use of marketing in a world where everything has be done, seen, and recycled time and time again.