The Postmodernism Of Advertising

Advertisements are everywhere; no matter where you are there will be many different advertisements surrounding you. You see them on billboards, you hear them on the radio and Pandora, you are surrounded by them in shopping malls, etc. Have you ever wondered who created advertisements? I always asked myself that question because I was surprised by how many different advertisements there are. It was until I read “The Language of Advertising” by Charles A. O’Neill that I found the answer to my question. O’Neill believes that advertising language mirrors the fears, quirks, and aspiration of the society that creates it. I agree with O’Neill because advertisements are affected by society; if advertisements had nothing to do with society there would be no point in advertising objects.

What does an ad say about a society? When viewing a product advertisement, many people never stop to think why the ad and product appeals to them. However, when a more critical look is taken, it’s easy to see precisely how ads are carefully tailored to appeal to trending values of a targeted demographic, and how that makes it easy to examine the society of those whom the ad is targeted at. In the analytic writing Advertisements R Us, Melissa Rubin provides an excellent example of this, as she crafts a logical and clear analysis of a 1950’s Coca-Cola magazine ad which thoroughly explains how advertisements can reveal quite a great deal about the society in which they were created.

Advertising remains within a perpetual state of change but the 1960s saw a significant change in the approach advertisers took to target consumers. Automation allowed for mass production of goods which meant that advertisers had to convince a consumer that a mass-produced item could be made personal and contribute to their individuality. Consumers were trying to be seen as individuals, this caused demassification as consumers began to be grouped into more and more refined categories. Advertising became less about what the product did and more about how the product contributed to individuality and advertisers used the counterculture and anti-consumerism as a way to target consumers. “The message in the new ads was quite simply, ‘buy this good to escape consumerism.’” (Reading, 7). This may be considered deceptive towards consumers as the advertising takes advantage of insecurities and consumers desperate want for social acceptance and individuality. There were multiple shifts in advertising formats the product-information format, product-image format, personalised format and the lifestyle format each targeting consumers in a different way, the final shifts were more effective in targeting those with an anti- ad mind-set

“Introducing the lasted, newly improved widget… anyone whose anyone has one… it is a must have!” These words sound familiar? This is due in part, because advertising today has taken such extreme measures to persuade the American public; materialism has become the most prominent and universal mentality. The need to have the newest and best has become an instilled characteristic of the average citizen. How, you may wonder, has the advertising industry become such a powerful entity? The answer is that propaganda has always played a vital role in society; this is not a new concept. Throughout history propaganda/advertising has been to entice, elude, and manipulate people.

Do you ever watch the Super Bowl for its commercials? Have you ever bought a more expensive product because you had seen its advertisement? If the answer is yes, then you might have been a victim of today’s marketers. Jean Kilbourne, the author of “Killing us Softly” stated in one of her lectures, “The influence of advertising is quick, cumulative and for the most part, subconscious, ads sell more products.” “Advertising has become much more widespread, powerful, and sophisticated.” According to Jean Kilbourne, “babies at six months can recognize corporate logos, and that is the age at which marketers are now starting to target our children.” Jean Kilbourne is a woman who grew up in the 1950s and worked in the media field in the 1960s. This paper will explain the methods used by marketers in today’s advertising. An advertisement contains one or more elements of aesthetics, humor, and sexual nature.

In Chapter Seven of Practices of Looking, we start to explore in the ideas of advertising, consumer cultures and desire. Everyday, we are faced with advertisements through newspapers, magazines, TV, movies, billboards, public transportation such as buses and taxis, clothing, the internet, etc. Logos, such as signs, or anything that resemble a brand, are everywhere, they are on clothing, household items, electronics, cars, etc. Consumers are always showing off their brands and advertisements and we are used to seeing those brands and advertisements in an everyday setting. In modern media, advertisers are pressured to always change the ways they show off and get the attention to consumers, old and new. Advertisers also used present figures who were glamorous. Advertisements set up a certain relationship between the product and its meaning to sell the products and the hidden meaning we link to each of the products. Advertisements use the language of conversion. Advertisers try to create a customer relationship to the brand to try to form them as familiar, necessary, and also likeable.

We do not deliberately associate ‘poetry’ and ‘advertising’ as related concepts nor do we acknowledge these mediums to be of equal significance. Universally, poetry is identified to be one of the greatest accomplishments of the creative arts, attributable to the complex diction and manipulation of figurative language presented in the nature of these literary works. Conversely, advertising is measured as far from being an independent art - it is frequently represented as abundant in deceptive connotations to persuade a specific audience through the use of wheedling subject matter to promote a product or company’s commercial image. Despite that, it is advertising which surrounds us today through modern day technology, while the presence of poetry

In the article “Commodify Your Dissent”, Thomas Frank argues about his point that is based on the American cultural ideas in the 1950s. There are a lot of differences between two lifestyles, such as education, technology, and fashion. I strongly agree with Thomas Frank that marketing no longer promotes conformity, but, rather, promotes “never-ending self-fulfillment” and “constantly updated individualism”. Because humans’ interest and trend are changing over time, humans’ needs gradually increase. Back then, people only use magazines and TV to advertise their products. Nowadays, the technology is developed significantly, so advertisers have to change to match the society’s trends to get customers attention. Moreover, they have a lot of good

Furthermore, not only do these adverts show a more realistic picture of consumerism, but speaks directly to part of what the rebellions and counter- culturists are despiteful of; the artificial, conformist over packaged idea of ‘American dream’. Frank further expands this as “the acknowledgement of and even sympathy with the mass society critique” and mockery of “empty phrases and meaninglessness neologisms that characterised the style of the 1950’s”. (pg 54) The ‘creative revolution’ of advertising often parallels the 50’s ‘hard sell’ approaches, with the new hip 60’s technique of advertising, clearly downplaying and mocking the 50’s advertisement industry in the process of showing the new 60’s approach of advertising in a more desirable, superior

The most dominant mass marketing technique known as advertising has become inevitable. Advertisements are everywhere in some form or fashion. Whether it is billboards, posters, fliers, or any other print media, advertisements are there fulfilling their purpose; in other words, they are breaking down the “tuning out” barrier. In the article, “Jesus is a Brand of Jeans” written by speaker, social theorist, and widely published writer, Jean Kilbourne, she expresses that we are all influenced by advertisements. She indicates that majority of the power of advertising originates from the mentality of believing advertisements have no effect on oneself. I agree with Kilbourne on the fact that advertising affects every individual.

Today’s quick-moving world of technology has media texts such as advertisements to make sure that people understand with just a glance. Having adverts on magazines, social media and billboards allow them to use tools such as semiology, genre and narrative because it makes their messages clear instantly. These signs allow us to carry meaning through advertisements, connotations and the signification process. These tools let brands, mainly celebrities, and the option to produce and create a myth of the product such as “Be daring. Be an inspiration” to sell it to the world. We are in a time where advertisers use ‘simplicity’ in their adverts; there are no more paragraphs. It is mainly down to the person and the few words shown in that advert.

Where Modernism is characterized by disillusionment and cynicism, Postmodernism turns to satiric critiques. Satire is a genre of literature that ridicules human follies in the hopes of improving society. “In our postmodern culture which is TV dominated, image sensitive, and morally vacuous, personality is everything and character is increasingly irrelevant” (Wells). We have managed to push aside the important qualities and instead only lay focus to the materialistic and unnecessary requirements in the world. In postmodernism disintegration of barriers is key.“This isn’t life, it’s just stuff. And it’s become more important to you then living…”(American Beauty). Our society is built upon the desire to accumulate, if not even to please oneself but to make others covet. The obsession people have with obtaining materialistic goods in the hopes to make themselves happy is a dark path which many fall down. It ultimately results in the downfall of society and the loss of traditional values and humane morals. The post modernistic world is one that can’t be avoided, but also doesn’t have to consume everything humans have cherished for so long. The world I currently live in is not one I choose to want to live

When analysing all of the advertising around us, sometimes we don’t look at what the true message of a commercial really is. We live in a world that is controlled by mass media and because of this advertisers are trying harder each year to outdo themselves and their competitors. Rhetors use techniques in their advertisements such as fantasies or surrealism to catch the attention of their audience. Companies like Audi pour millions of dollars into their marketing teams to make sure their cars look the best and attract consumers. Commercials that are shown on television today are great examples of rhetorical artifacts because of the many techniques being exercised by the rhetor. Analyzing this through the lens of rhetorical

The ‘Dove Evolution’ advertisement is a perfect example of postmodernism advertising and complements the above discussion of hyper reality. The advertisement presents the full process in creating a billboard worthy advertisement. Firstly, the segment provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the model is, essentially ‘created’, and shows the audience how the ‘original’ image becomes the final product, unlike modernist advertisements which just presents an already final and ‘beautiful’ product. Emphasis on the use of photo-shop illustrates how technology has become a tool in modern day advertising and highlights Baudrillard’s (1994) view that the people of today live in an ‘unreal’ and fake world. Filming and disseminating this process “allows us to live without the illusions that modernity dangled before us” (Hart pg 9) The background classical music that has been slightly distorted illustrates Hart’s (2004) belief that “Postmodernism takes what it likes from high culture (classical music) and puts it to work in popular culture (advertising)” (Pg 8, Hart, 2004), further illustrating the idea that postmodernism involves removing “things out of their contexts, fragmenting them…and, well, playing with them” (pg 8, Hart, 2004). The final cut shows the billboard up, without showing the process of how that image came to be, reiterating Mills (1956) argument that the public would be unable to tell that it is a hyper-real image. This advertisement exemplifies Harvey’s (1990)

“Advertising is far from impotent or harmless; it is not a mere mirror image. Its power is real, and on the brink of a great increase. Not the power to brainwash overnight, but the power to create subtle and