What Does It Mean That Advertising Has Become an Unstoppable Force
In nature we often hear the term ‘an unstoppable force’ referring to the raw power that overwhelms a particular region typically during a natural disaster like a hurricane, forest fire, etc. From its infancy advertising has been a force to reckon with; the early forms of advertising flyers and newspapers sought to attract audiences by circumnavigating publishers’ rules crafting eye catching unique campaigns (Dyer, 1982). The question remains though has advertising become an unstoppable force? This paper will examine the evolution of advertising through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1943); from the functional use of advertising and its role as a rational actor to meet consumer’s basic needs (Hackley & Hackley, 2018), to the identity forming use of advertising in postmodernism to meet the self-fulfillment needs of the consumer (Goffman, 1959; Goffman, 1979; Williamson, 1986), and uncover that advertising has in fact become an unstoppable force. In its modern form, advertising can be seen as both being impacted and impacting cultural identities on a global level (Shaw & Tan, 2014). Attempts to future distinguish one’s self from the global advertising hegemony ultimately result in its adoption into a ‘Dominant Social Paradigm’ functioning as a partially co-created identity (Kilbourne, 2004; Kumar & Gupta, 2016). As an unstoppable force advertising takes on the properties of water, it’s going to find loopholes, rush in and fill all the empty spaces; the question then becomes whether or not we’ll drown in the process. This paper will conclude by presenting two potential ways society can ‘rein-in’ advertising by promoting a more situational based form of consumption and by moving away from promoting the consumption of products to the consumption of services (Ciochetto, 2011).
Introduction
Marketing Communication in its simplest sense can be seen as the attempt for a continuous dialogue by suppliers seeking to establish a favorable relationship. Advertising, on the other hand, has been considered as a promotional tool and thus a part of the marketing mix developed by Kotler (Borden, N. H., 1964; Hackley & Hackley, 2018). As such for the most part up until the turn of the century, advertising was considered as a subset of Marketing Communication (Dyer, 1982). During this time advertising was seen as a means for drawing attention or awareness. It was aimed at getting the consumer interested in a particular offering in the hopes of prompting their desire to use the offering to fulfil an unmet need. The goal, based on the AIDA model, was to get the consumer to act by taking notice of an offering though an advert which ultimately drove their decision to purchase it (Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
Advertising in Print
The early forms of advertising began during the Renaissance with the development of the printing press (Kumar & Gupta, 2016). Inventors and merchants sought to distribute their products to wider audiences, typically outside their immediate town; flyers would be disrupted to neighboring towns listing the products for sale. These advertising catalogues had the sole purpose of informing the public about goods to be sold, the adverts themselves were typically simple text, highly functional and primarily detailed the benefits of the product being sold (Dyer, 1982). As the industrial revolution came about; the reach of merchants increased, the distribution of goods became more pronounced, the concept of retailers was created, and new mediums were required to stimulate demand.
With the wide scale disruption of newspapers there was a movement to utilize the newspaper as a medium for advertising. The display of the advert was preliminary controlled by newspaper editors following strict guidelines as to preserve the uniformity of the newspaper. As the adverts failed to gather enough attention from the readers of the paper, advertisers began finding ways to circumnavigate the strict guidelines by utilizing techniques of what would now be called ASCII Art. Editors began redefining guidelines in an attempt to curb the derision of the paper by advertisers. This struggle on the display of adverts was eventually won by the advertisers as they were able to exercise more creative control and eventually became the primary source of funding for many of the newspapers (Dyer, 1982).
Advertising in Television
Television became more prominent after the second world war though its adoption by advertisers was slow. As the development of cable infrastructure and broadcast licenses increased, television quickly became the dominant medium for advertising (Dyer, 1982). As the audiences grew for the various programming content offered on the broadcast networks, advertisers sought new ways to engage with them. During this time adverts became more focused on promoting quality of life, highlighting how their products could enable one to be more efficient. Adverts also developed a new way to influence the consumer’s purchase discussion by providing sales promotions (Dyer, 1982).
Like with newspapers, advertisers were required to follow guidelines by the broadcast network, and, in some cases, guidelines from the program the adverts would appear in. The guidelines were further stringent for public broadcasting licenses and in most societies adverts were highly regulated with regards to vice products (Dyer, 1982). However because of the business model most of the broadcasting licenses were directly or indirectly supported through funding from advertisers, as a result content production became more focused on attracting and retaining large audiences so as to increase the revenue gained from the adverts; this became further intensified with the use of product placement or even sponsorship (Hackley & Hackley, 2018). Despite the guidelines and adoption for new regulations advertisers were still able to exert enough soft powers behind the scene that ultimately drove the content being broadcast.
Advertising in Digital Media
With the advent of the World Wide Web a new medium emerged for advertisements. Unsure how to utilize the medium, early advertisers replicated the user experience of print adverts by offering banner adverts. Eventually as the technology developed, consumers were presented with a new series of video adverts that resembled their experience from television. As advertisers became more familiar with the digital medium and the growing abilities for interaction as well as the developments of social media, adverts became fuller with more unique user experience abilities (Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
This led to the need for converging the types of advertising promoted across the different mediums through Integrated Marketing Communications programs (Hackley & Hackley, 2018). As a result advertisers developed complex structures to leverage the unique abilities of each medium as well as the options to collect significant amounts of consumer data enabling new levels of targeting. With the new data ,advertising was transformed, increasing its relevance through hyper segmentation which enabled unique advertising campaigns to be developed based on specific physiological triggers that would resonate with the segment; further the nature of digital media enabled advertisers to improve the speed and quality of their campaigns (Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
Each medium went through a cycle of development that is still trying to figure out the balance of objectivity and influence. Adverts naturally want to influence individuals towards a certain purchasing journey and nudge the consumer to complete it. However at the same time the collection of adverts has in many ways financed the very medium it is presented in; as a result most of the content is now either directly or indirectly being driven by the interests of the advertiser (Dyer, 1982; Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
Theory
The field of advertising has evolved beyond the functional representation of a product, towards the co-creation of identities through various forms of cultural symbolism (Hackley & Hackley, 2018; Kumar & Gupta, 2016). As a result of this evolution the impacts of advertising on the needs of the consumer and how advertising is continuously being legitimized, will need to be addressed.
The Schools of Thought
While advertising has evolved through the years, various schools of thought have gained prominence seeking to directly or indirectly legitimize the field of advertising beyond the typical ‘art’ versus ‘science’ debate (Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
The Capitalist School
The underlying idea is that consumers’ needs drive the production of goods and services which are exchanged in a free and open market that is motivated by each party’s own self-interest (Smith, 1776). Participation in this market is based on objective information that can be presented through an advert; in this sense advertising and consumption are purely functional, they are calculated and reasoned, and represent the earl forms of adverts found in flyers (Dyer, 1982). Based on this school of thought, advertising is necessary for economic growth and the creation of wealth for society (Hackley & Hackley, 2018). In some respects, this functional approach is reflected in today’s society with certain adverts presenting a utilitarian view.
The Socialist School
The notion presented here is that consumers are victims, consumption is driven by the production of goods and as a result consumer behavior directed by capitalists’ actions; worth noting, there is a disconnect between the value of the commodity produced and the value provided to the worker producing the good (Marx, 1867). Advertising is used to reinforce the consumption behavior and as a result fueling the need for production. This is reflected in today’s society with the sense of how happiness is associated with consumption (Hackley & Hackley, 2018).
The Frankfurt School
In a similar fashion to the Socialist School of thought, consumers are thought of as being duped by societal structures. Overall, they find that consumption is driven by the production of goods and directed by capitalists’ actions; however, it is the societal structures that have reinforced certain frames of identity through popular culture which is acquired through consumption (Kompridis, 2006). Advertising in this sense drives the notions of identity allowing consumption to give meaning to shape the consumers’ identity (Dyer, 1982). The goal of this school of thought is for consumers to adopt a more critical view of advertising to overcome cultural domination. Several of the modern adverts play on these notions of critical reflection through paradoxical elements, however their aim is to actually reinforce the specific identity constraints established (Dyer, 1982).
The Postmodern School
Here consumption becomes a way to communicate meaning, consumers are not only active participants in co-creating the identity with the producer but can also co-opt the meaning and form new identities of alternative expressions that they own (Boutlis, 2000; Kumar & Gupta, 2016). In this respect consumers wear the mask of the products they consume and take on their shared identity (Goffman, 1959). Like the Frankfurt School of Critical Thinking, we see modern advertising playing with paradoxical elements of homology to not only attract attention but also to signify certain meanings that reinforce the notion of identity and conform to the practices of Consumer Culture Theory (Dyer, 1982).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow in studying behavioral motivation found individuals had certain needs, based on a specific order (physiological, safety, belonging and love, social or esteem, and self-actualization), that would drive them to act (Maslow, 1943). Individuals at a specific need would naturally seek to satisfy that need to a desired level before moving into a new need; behavioral motivation would then need to be specific to the level of need the individual is primarily at. Ultimately the goal of the individual would be to attain full satisfaction at the level of self-actualization (Maslow, 1943). The physiological and safety needs can be seen as the basic needs of an individual, while the esteem and belonging needs can be seen as more psychological needs.
In this sense the Capitalist School of thought mirrors many of the elements needed to satisfy an individual’s basic needs. Adverts are primarily functional and consumption was purely rational, which was reflected in the earlier forms of advertising with informational flyers (Dyer, 1982). Similarly, both the Socialist School and the Frankfurt School of thought reflect the elements of an individual’s psychological needs; while both schools were critical towards how consumption was used, they both reflected consumption drove a psychological need of either being happy or developing identities that were used to belong in certain groups (Williamson, 1986). In the Postmodern School of thought consumers are defining their own identities however it is still in the context of a product; furthermore, the identities crafted appear to be temporal manifestations used in specific social gatherings, similar to an actor performing a part in a given play (Goffman, 1959). In that sense the Postmodern School of thought is more of a reflection of the psychological needs an individual might have.
Methodology
So far this paper has discussed the evolution of advertising; how it has been legitimized or criticized through the various schools of thought, and how it has manifested itself into shaping certain psychological needs.
To better understand this evolution, we will look at an empirical examination for a series of three video adverts from Budweiser that will highlight the different characteristics presented by the various schools of thought and how they might address the associated needs of the consumer. Budweiser was chosen primarily because of its rich history but also because of its relative salience following a series of American Superbowl adverts as well as their participation in the #SeeHer movement. The three video adverts are presented below.
To decode the adverts we will first attempt an iconographic analysis; where at the first level we look at the props and settings used in the advert, then try to determine how these relate to culture, and finally look at the broader meaning of the advert (Dyer, 1982). Additionally, we will look at uncovering potential gender issues by highlighting themes of withdrawal, sizing, distancing, or touch (Goffman, 1979). Finally, we’ll look at the adverts influence on cultural identities on a global level (Shaw & Tan, 2014) to uncover a ‘Dominant Social Paradigm’ that is driving global advertising hegemony (Kilbourne, 2004).
Discussion
In the first video we see a saxophone playing followed by an acoustic guitar and cello; as the camera pans to a female singer we see a piano player in the back. This staging appears to invoke a feeling of being at a jazz club. The advert alludes to the notion of relaxing, sitting back, and taking in a cultural activity possibly after work. The focus of the advert then moves to the beer as the singer engages in a dialogue that highlights the simplistic list of ingredients comprising the beer. The broader meaning of the advert appears to highlight the theme of relaxation, addressing the physiological need of rest. To some degree we see elements of the Capitalist School of thought where the functional elements of the ingredients are highlighted as being clear as an open book and right on the label. The advert is from the 1960s and reflects a submissive role of women; only the female singer’s face is viewable in the advert, she is engaging in a dialogue with a man offstage who is exerting authority over her, her frame appears to be smaller when the drink is poured for her. Likewise, we see a global hegemonic view promoting a set of looks women should aspire towards but also the lack of depicting non-white patrons constitutes a feeling of intentional exclusion (Shaw & Tan, 2014).
The second video starts with the scene of a man at a pub, you see a few photos hanging and two lights attempting to resemble gas lanterns. The man’s head looks up leading to a series of introspecting images of taking notes on a sailboat crossing choppy waters, resulting in an injury. When the man arrives on land, he is legitimized by a stamp however this scene is juxtaposed with other men screaming ‘you’re not wanted here go back home’. This scene is followed by a steamboat voyage over a bayou that catches fire in the middle of night. Eventually we’re caught up as the scene shows the man back at the pub where he presents his notebook. The video usages of various props from the gas lanterns — to the staging of the pub, boats, and the pier — to the clothes; these are attempts to not only capture the mid-18th century but invoking a sense of nostalgia for one’s roots. The scene of choppy waters, the man hitting his head, the stitching of a wound, later the fire on the steamboat, all depict adversities. The starting dialogue ‘you don’t look like you’re from around here’ and later the dialogue ‘you’re not wanted here go back home’ play on the challenge’s immigrants face. Overall, the advert seems to be playing on the ideas of triumph over adversity, a true ‘underdog’ story and fulfilling the need of belonging. Elements of the Frankfurt School can be seen here as the man is immigrating from Germany, presumably to seek stability and prosperity in America, however his only way to do so is by brewing beer, his identity as an individual and the story of his success is tied to the notion of brewing and selling beer. The depiction of women occurs in two scenes; the first by the dock when he comes to America, and the second scene is when he is on the rowboat after the steamboat caught fire. In both scenes the women are in the background; the lack of women in a professional setting — either as a doctor tending his wound, or as an administrator at the dock, or the captain of the steamboat, or the bartender — reinforces the cultural views of the time period and goes similarly for the non-white representation which was found in only one scene. The reinforced dominant social paradigm is that only white men have a place for their stories of triumph over adversity to be told and as a result can only have their sense of belonging met (Kilbourne, 2004; Shaw & Tan, 2014).
The last video starts with the scene on a busy New York sidewalk, followed by a woman leaving her house, then a guy leaving his house. The scene is followed by another man in a Budweiser hat pushing a canister and another man getting into a tractor. Meanwhile there is a man narrating ‘They call us typical Americans, maybe because we live typical American lives’. The scene moves to a firefighter fighting a forest fire, then moves to man pushing a car out of the snow, followed by a woman in a race using crutches, a soldier paying a surprise visit to his dad, a man helping a homeless person on the subway, a woman leading a group of protesters, a African American guy hugging the police, followed by various US sports teams celebrating, then an image of the Budweiser bottle and finally a series of portraits of different people. The narration continues detailing common negative stereotypes that have been expressed about Americans juxtaposed with the imagery detailed above. The imagery, especially the montage at the end, is clearly aimed to represent different ethnic backgrounds of both men and women as the overall representation of America. The overt meaning of the advert is to challenge the labels that are applied and, in the end, suggests only one label really matters ‘Typical American’. Elements of the Postmodern School are clearly seen here as the narration is an attempt to reclaim the negative stereotypes as positive attributes of a collective identity that should be embraced. This clearly is aimed to resonate with an American consumer, or someone who shares a connection to either America or the positive revision of the stereotypes presented. The advert looks to address the esteem needs both the feeling of accomplishment, evident in many of the revisionist stereotypes, and of prestige, if you were to apply the revisionist to the tagline ‘Typical American’. In terms of gender issues, it’s interesting to see what gender is present for each scene; a male firefighter, a male pushing a car out of the snow, a handicap woman racing, a male soldier, a woman leading a protest. What stood out was the reference of the woman leading the protest with the narration ‘yelling and being loud’, while the greater context fits with the overall messaging, it makes one wonder if there why a female rather than a male was referenced for that scene, or males rather than females for the other scenes. America has been the dominant global force since the second world war, with many of the international systems including most of the advertising agencies created and to a high degree marinated by American operations, which have led to the development of a global hegemonic culture (Shaw & Tan, 2014). Despite this the American culture has been deeply divided and in turmoil creating ripples throughout the international community; here we’re seeing an advert not only capture this but attempt to repair these ripples.
Conclusion
Overall it seems as a globalized society we remain interconnected, shifts and fluctuations continuously occur and at times they are large enough to make an impact (the movement for equal depiction of men and women in adverts, more representation of non-white males), nonetheless advertising is still a driving force that not only shapes our identities but also an active participant in fulfilling most of our psychological needs (Kilbourne, 2004). This level of power and control on the globalized society has remained relatively unchecked; as we have seen advertising’s ability to circumnavigate regulations though the vast amount of soft power it holds, and as consumers we’ve been conditioned, on a globalized level, through ‘ritualized expression’ into believing this is the only way (Dyer, 1982; Goffman, 1979). Given the environment we are in, the present forms of advertising can be considered as being insidious: it promotes a consumption culture, which has taken hold of our way of life, satisfying our basic and psychological needs; it has been responsible for driving the economic growth of society; and it is directing the identity of communities, reinforcing these hyper-realized divisions that are taking place on micro level.
The push for consumerism has manufactured an inescapable paradigm where we as a society are dependent on it to drive the economy forward but also to present us as consumers an identity that we can use to shape ourselves and the border culture of society (Ciochetto, 2011). Perhaps if we return to the functional approach of advertising to promote more situational based products we can move away from the reinforcement of gender or racial stereotypes. The other issue is as a society we cannot successfully push for environmentalism as the consumption of any ‘green product’ still consumes resources (Kilbourne, 2004). Here we might, again, need to return to earlier forms where the consumption of new products was relatively low and the marketplace supported services that repaired worn out products.
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