‘Advertising doesn't sell things all advertising does is change the way people think or feel’ (Jeremy Bullmore) Evaluate this statement with referencing to selected critical theories (past and present)

  Advertising is defined in the dictionary as “to encourage sales of (e.g. a product or service) by emphasizing its desirable qualities” (Allen, 2002, p12). These days there are many different forms of advertising, we have endless amounts of products shoved into our faces daily, on television, radio, posters, billboards, flyers and stickers for example. Advertising is something in this day and age we cannot escape; it directly singles us out through our phones and on the internet.

Over the years advertising has changed, in the early years without television, advertising was illustrated upon posters, flyers, billboards, leaflets and within newspapers. Most forms of advertising were propaganda, glamorizing the world in that period. For example, early forms of advertising encouraged people to go to war and glamorized war to encourage men to fight for their country but they didn't do just that, they drew upon patriotism for their country and even in more desperate times encouraged guilt within the receiver.  Other forms of advertising, especially in America, that were solely trying to sell products still pushed patriotism in the face of the public. They used the patriotism of the community to sell products, making them believe that in buying their product, they would be a better American citizen and would be more American.

Advertising in the 1950’s was very important as this was a period of mass consumption due to the post war period and the sudden rush of new available technology. Everyone wanted to be away with the old and constantly update their homes and lifestyle with new technologies and possessions. Advertisements reinforced the idea that to be modern was to be fashionable. They became obsessed with home ownership, automobiles, and the newest technology, due to feeling that as the war and depression had come to an end, they were now entitled to a more refined lifestyle and were looking toward a brighter future.

To be successful, adverts presented very wholesome images as it was in the post war period they wanted to lift the spirits of families affected by the war and men returning back home.  Adverts in this period were directed more towards the entire family, versus to the individual today. During the 50’s men in advertising were portrayed as strong, athletic, and well dressed, they were almost always accompanied by a woman. Women were very popular in the use of advertising, they represented family life, the glue that would hold the family together, and they were the ones who ran their homes while their husband was out at work. They were depicted as classy, well dressed, maternal, sexy, and devoted to making family life easier and better.  If you look at advertising today, the majority is very contrasting to that of 50’s advertising today we don’t portray a ‘wholesome’ image, we no longer focus of such things such as a wholesome image of family, we purely focus on pushing sales in any means necessary.

 As mentioned, the definition of advertising is to encourage sales through the emphasis of the desirable aspects of a product or service. This implies something quite different to the theory that Bullmore suggests, in Bullmores theory it isn't really the product we desire, instead we are made to feel as if we need it. Though this definition given in the dictionary suggests that what advertising does is highlight why we should want it, why this product/service is amazing and better than say another competing product/service.

There are many different methods in advertising that can be employed in order to highlight or draw attention to specific more attractive areas of a product or service that they wish to make a greater impact in the viewer’s mind, therefore making it more memorable and more likely to induce a sale. The use of compelling imagery within advertising is highly important, as this is initially what draws us towards it, or in some cases big bold lettering. Advertisers often link their product with an enhanced version of reality, with the aim of locking consumers onto the cycle of spending and consumption. While the viewer’s attention is held it can provoke or even motivate its audience; it can create a range of emotions and therefore creates a range of reactions. The advantage about these forms of advertising is that they can be aimed at any sector of society, and are accessible to all. Advertising has always played a key role in the consuming industry, and we have all fallen victim at some point or other to its influence.

Advertising today is fundamentally part of capitalism and commodity culture. In commodity culture we construct our identities through the consumer products that inhabit our lives. These are the things that advertising make us feel we need in order to define ourselves, in doing so the products that we own become who we are.  “We are also alienated from ourselves since we have allowed objects to speak for us”(Williamson, 2005, p47), we feel the need to buy certain things to show who we are as people, and we look at a product and think of how everyone else will perceive us. We are made to want things we don’t necessarily need in order to keep up to date with the latest trends, the latest technology and to fit in with the rest of society that have already fallen unknowingly into the hands of the companies who have plagued our lives with their endless amounts of advertisements. Though adverts don’t only make us feel like we need these products in order to form an identity within society, they perpetuate false needs, they make us feel as though if we don’t own them we will be unhappy without them, almost as if happiness lies at the end result of every purchase. “It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, our lives, by buying something more”(Berger et al, 1977, p131) By doing this we believe we will be less of a person without these products, practically leaving us with no choice but to buy them in order to feel content with ourselves and who we are as a person.

Throughout the years, adverts have always generalised the population; portraying men and women in the way they think they behave, or should behave, rather than in the way men and women actually behave. In early advertisements fathers were shown as hardworking men that were the sole providers for their family, and women were portrayed as stay at home mothers and housekeepers that were almost helpless without their husbands. However this day and age, as culture has changed so has the way in which men and women are shown in adverts. Though they still try and draw upon these characteristics, men are portrayed as strong and independent, women are shown as sexy, desirable and independent.

The belief that advertisers have now is that sex sells, they push images of half-naked men and women as seen in such adverts such as Calvin Klein’s advert for boxers “Renowned for being one of the world’s leading designer underwear brands, their advertising never fails to evoke feelings of lust, or envy, over their models complete aesthetic impeccability.”(Gerrard, 2013) Dior’s advert for ‘J’adore’ or even the Gucci  ‘Guilty’ advert which has targeted in engaging a male audience in order to sell “Set like an action movie, the content of the video is clearly male-oriented, with explosions, motorbikes and sexual scenes .” (Bulman, 2011) Thus portraying both men and women in a very sexual way. They do this so that we feel as though this product will make us desirable to the opposite sex, and yet this isn’t the only thing they try and make us feel. They want us to feel like our current lifestyle without said product is unfulfilling, in each advert they show a certain lifestyle, a lifestyle that they believe we would desire, they make us feel insecure about our current selves and our current lifestyles and by doing so we desire the product believing that it will get us this lifestyle. Furthermore they want us to envy the people in the adverts, which is achieved by using either models or celebrities, but it is evident they want us to feel as though by buying this product we will then become envied by others. “She is meant to imagine herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an envy which will then justify her loving herself” (Berger et al., 1977, p134) this draws upon the use of our own somewhat superficial conceited views of our self as a source of self-justification that we deserve/need and therefore want.

You could criticize adverts by saying that the methods they use may be affective yet they are also somewhat destructive. By portraying and convincing us of such ideals, lifestyles and potential gains of a product or item, there is an inevitable sense of disappointment and disheartening when we realise all is as it was before we made the purchase and once more we have been fooled. This can lead to more severe outcomes such as poverty, depression and various disorders. There is evidence to support this stating that “created a social context that may contribute to body dissatisfaction and disorder eating in girls and women” (Spettigue & Henderson, 2004) However in this sense adverts are once more incredibly effective as it leads to a vicious circle of disappointment followed by further sales to try and finally achieve the positive outcome of the false promise shown in the adverts. It could also be said that adverts don’t as such highlight or emphasise desirable lifestyles or personal qualities, but instead distort reality to an unachievable and non-existent reality, which subsequently leads to distorted concepts of how we are each perceived and how we must perceive each other, making us increasingly self-conscious and leading us to conform socially on an accumulative scale, in order to find the acceptance we crave and think we need as a result.

                Advertisements also use reification to give products human associations, the products themselves are perceived sexy, romantic, cool and sophisticated and so we are led to believe by owning these products that we become what they are associated with. These labels and generalisations allow this commodity culture to manipulate us and prevent us from living full and meaningful lives without consumption. It seeks to make us unhappy with our existing lives and existing material possessions. Though by giving products these human associations we feel more comfortable in consuming, we accept it as inevitable and natural to consume.

                Advertising is something that we will never be able to escape; it is constantly developing before our eyes. With the development of new technologies such as phones and internet it is now being sent directly to us. When you look at products on website it is logged, adverts appear on your computer screen when browsing showing you similar products, or other products from that store, being tailored specifically to show products that would be more attractive to you. We are sent adverts through text messages, our information is given out to companies when we make purchases online and they come directly to our phones so even when on the move they can try to push their products or services upon us, especially when it comes to latest or exclusive offers. Though we are not just viewing adverts on television and phone screens, call centres from these companies call us directly, either in pre-recorded messages or using actual people they contact us to try and generate direct sales so we cannot avoid or ignore them.

                Furthermore companies and brands advertise their products even more subtly that to throw their new products and offers in our face. When you finally do succumb to their trends and make a purchase in one of their stores no doubt you’ll be given it in a bag, and that bag will have their store or brand name on the side, creating even more advertisement for them. If you walk past a shop window and they are advertising all their latest stock and offers in the window, competing against other stores for the most eye catching shop window so that you want to go in and buy something. You even get small adverts for things put on the front of trolleys when you go to the supermarket, encouraging you to buy a certain product.
           Brand promotion has become a very successful marketing strategy “Businesses use it not only to show what is different or good about themselves and what's for sale, but also to keep that image alive for consumers. It usually focuses on elements that can stand the test of time, although businesses do adjust promotions based on what is happening in the market.” (Arthur, 2013) More often than not when you buy a specific branded item the logo or name of that brand will be on the product, you yourself become a walking advertisement. However this has also become the reason why people buy these items, in the belief that wearing a certain brand conveys a certain image or style that they want people to recognise when you walk down the street, to admire and know that you’ve spent that extra bit of cash on something branded rather than just some bargain you’ve picked up at a more value for money shop. This goes back to the theory of image and identity, we have allowed the things we own and the things we wear to speak to the rest of the world and tell them what kind of a person we are and what we are into, we rely on these items to do that so that we give a ‘good’ first impression.

We have also allowed these brands and these products that we buy divide our classes between those that can afford to spend so much and those that can’t. Though that’s always been a part of culture, throughout history we have been divided by what we can afford. The working classes would wear the most basic clothing, often made of cheap fabrics and something dark that could get dirty and not be too noticeable. The upper classes would wear more stylised suits and large dresses, more flamboyant, with lots of details made of the finest fabrics, topped off with expensive watches or jewellery all in order to show their wealth to the rest of the population. Even they allowed the things that they own to try and express their identity, so this is not something new to our culture.

                However we are a very consumer driven society. We rely on these forms of advertising to sustain the economy hence the massive price cuts in sales that occur in times when consumers are known to have little money to spare in order to encourage us to spend the little money that we do have. Without these forms of advertising we wouldn’t know what products are available to us, we would not know about the latest technologies and fashions. Something that has become very important to our culture and in a way required to sustain us as one of the more dominant countries. Advertising has shown its importance in society and culture by comparing to countries that do not have the luxury of being able to mass produce and mass advertise products or services and these are the ones seemed to be in the reduced quality of life and standard of living. So though we can be very critical of advertising they may well have induced the luxuries we enjoy today. So it is not realistic to assume that advertising is something we could afford to cut out of our lives as much as it might be perceived to be a hindrance.

                To conclude, the statement provided by Bullmore “advertising doesn’t sell things all advertising does is change the way people think or feel” in some respects is true. Advertising does change the way we think or feel it makes us feel insecure, unhappy with our current possessions and lifestyles and make us feel as though our lives are unfulfilled though by evoking these feelings advertising does sell things. Adverts would not be as successful if they did not create different thoughts, emotions or feelings and so companies wouldn’t have high sales ratings. Though it does beg the question of how far are advertisers willing to go to encourage buying their products, and think about how low they really are they willing to make us feel about our current appearances and lives in order to boost their sales. This leads you to consider how ethical is advertising in our culture for the boundaries are forever being pushed. Perhaps there will come a time where people no longer fall victim to these advertising tactics as more and more people are noticing the way in which advertising works and questioning it. Though realistically when something works to effectively it is very unlikely that this will ever change, we constantly are exposed to these types of advertising and so cannot escape this circle of consumerism. Furthermore in relation to the original quote by Bullmore it may once have been true due to the way in which modern day society and economy relies upon consumerism nowadays advertising has been manipulated to generate sales through enticing consumers through changing the way they think or feel.

Bibliography:

Books:

ALLEN, R., ed. (2002) The Penguin: English dictionary. 2^nd edition. London, Penguin Books. p12

Berger, J., Blomberg, S., Fox, C., Dibb, M., Hollis, R. (1977) Ways of Seeing. United states, Penguin Books. pp131-134

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Williamson, J., 2005. Decoding advertisements: ideology and meaning in advertising. London, Marion Boyars publisher’s LTD. p47

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Journals:

Jakštienė, S., Susnienė, D., Narbutas, V. (2008) ‘The Psychological Impact of Advertising on the Customer Behaviour’, V. 3. [Accessed via: http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/CIBIMA/volume3/v3n7.pdf, 02 January 2013]

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