CTS essay

To what extent can advertising be used as a force for positive social change?

Advertising is a way of communicating with people. The majority of advertising is used to persuade or encourage the audience to buy something. Some advertising is used for political campaigns and some for a social change. Ideological advertisi­ng is also very common. Brands can use advertising to generate sales and increase consumption of their products. They do this by “shoving” their campaigns in our faces in as many places and as many different ways as possible. Our world is now polluted with TV adverts, billboards, posters and many other forms of advertising, offering the latest things on the market. Advertising encourages us to buy things that we don’t even need; and more often than not, somehow, someway we are persuaded to buy into this product’s regardless of whether it be a car, those new jeans, a watch, that new I-pod, phone or trainers. We always do it. The reason for this is because:

 “Advertising appeals to a way of life we aspire to but have not yet achieved. A publicity picture suggests that if we buy what it is offering, our life will be different from what it is... Not only will our home be different, but all our relationships will become radiant because of our new possessions; but we can only achieve such radiance if we have money. And so publicity also works on our anxieties about money, urging each of us to scramble competitively to get more. Making money appears as if it were itself magical... According to the rules of the dream, those who do not have this power, and those who lack glamour, become faceless, almost non-existent. Publicity both promises and threatens this play upon fear; often the fear of not being desirable, and of being unenviable. It suggests that you are inadequate as you are and consoles you with a promise of a dream” .

( Berger, 1990).

           

‘Ogilvy and Mather’ advertising agency was built on David Ogilvy’s principles’, “In particular that the function of advertising is to sell”. With advertisers saying things like this, it’s no wonder that people view advertising as a modern day evil. Arnold Toynbee stated, “I can not think of any circumstances in which advertising would not be an evil,” (1988). Anyone who shares this opinion would not be blamed for thinking so; The Pope John Paul II himself is quoted as saying “…people are threatened by… the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire” (1988). What the Pope is trying to say here is that advertising tries to sell you a dream, an idea, or a notion, that all of your worries and problems will be resolved by purchasing something to fill a void in your life. However, in reality, this is a short-lived dream, only giving the consumer a minimal amount of time with whatever he or she has purchased. Unfortunately, the product the consumer has purchased will be thrown out, run out, break or become obsolete eventually.

The advertisement above is a great example of how the sole purpose of advertising is to sell. This Nike advert is aimed at women and the point of the advert is supposed to be that, no matter what, nothing will beat hard work. However, what this advert is really saying is that with the help of the technology within these shoes and hard work combined, you will find your ultimate quick fix to staying toned and fit. Yes, the technology in these shoes may ‘activate muscles how they are supposed to’, but the reality is that there is no quick fix. With most trainers you can stay toned and fit; it’s about the effort you put into doing this and it is not down to the trainers you are wearing. The slogan ‘the shoe works if you do’ is very clever and targets an audience that likes to keep fit, but this slogan could be applied to any other advert about a pair of trainers and still work. Nike is selling a dream. The person purchasing these trainers may not even be purchasing them to use for exercise purposes, they may just like the look of them. Therefore this idea that advertising’s main function is to sell, “stimulating people constantly to want things” (M Muggeridge 1988), is true for commercially based advertising. Non-commercial areas of advertising however, are not solely used for the purpose of generating sales; for example, in public service advertising. Public service advertising is used in the public’s interest of the general public, to encourage positive social change. Public service advertising attempts to improve the world we live in, by making people aware of environmental, social and ethical issues, through supporting charities. These sorts of charities are usually government departments or donation-funded charities. These adverts still have to be funded and paid for. Some advertisers offer discounted rates and some will do the campaigns for free as they are for a good cause.

            David Olgilvy once said, “Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest- it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes.”(1985). However, this shows he has relized the immense power when used in a positive social change, which can be seen through public service adverts David Olgivy’s agency have made, such as the WWF campaigns “What will it take before we respect the planet.”

These adverts show a world where nature has finally given in to its urban surroundings and the pollution of humans. The graffiti from an urban city has defaced these animals. It is a reminder of how close our two worlds really are, and the effect our world has on theirs.

There are already lots of campaigns out there appealing to the good nature of people, hoping that they well take heed of the messages they are seeing about issues that relate to people and creatures from all over the world. They are not always just messages or acted out scenes; a lot of these adverts use graphic imagery and real life photography to get their point or messages across.  Below are some great examples of how public service advertising can use shock tactics to gain publicity for their campaigns. 

        

The graphic imagery in these adverts is quite hard-hitting and horrific. However  it is hard-hitting and they are straight to point and make’s you take into consideration the consequences of your actions. You would not see these images used to sell or promote alcohol, cigarettes or knives. These adverts have been cleverly created, relying on the fact that the graphic imagery will play on people’s emotions and moral obligations not to do these things, in some cases to, donate or volunteer.

            United Colors of Benetton is a clothing company that have been producing thought provoking and controversial adverts since 1986. All of the adverts that they produce are very clever, and have important messages within them. The first slogan that they used was ‘All the colors of the world’. It later changed to ‘United Colors of Benetton’. The adverts they produce are aimed at uniting everyone no matter what your race. 

These adverts are visually, very moving. I find I have to look at them for a while to really to take in what is being said. Theses adverts broke the mould when they were released, they were something very different. They are not as visually upsetting as the previous campaigns; but instead they have subliminal messages about uniting people of all skin colours and races. Accompanied by their slogan.  This simplistic and clever approach has brought them recognition from around the world.

“When Benetton produced this advertisement in the 1990’s of a black woman nursing a white child, a range of interpretations were possible. This advertisement was published throughout Europe, but magazines in the United States refused to run it…” The image is supposed to convey the relationship between mother and child… However “In the United States this image carried the troubling connotation of the history of slavery and the use of black women slaves as wet nurses to breast-feed the white children of slave owners” (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009).

Advertising like this is made to provoke. Because of the different interpretations of this advert, you can expect a variation of responses. But this is the beauty of this type of advertising- because selling is not the key element when designing for an advert like this, the shock factor can be thrown in to get a reaction from the audience, “appealing to the public’s conscious” (Berger- 1990).

            Jeremy Bullmore is quoted as saying “advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think or feel.'(2003). And, in a sense he is right. United Colours of Benetton adverts are great examples of a company that have taken advantage of their advertising campaigns. They have done this, not for increased sales and profits, but to convey a message; a message of bringing people together.

In conclusion I believe that advertising is a necessary evil, from which a lot of good can come from. Although it’s primary function is to sell, however when used it the interest of people, animals or our environment it is a very powerful tool. It can help bridge the gaps of racial divides, save peoples lives, make people aware of world issues. It makes us think about issues that are far from our minds, things that we know are happening but choose to ignore or forget about. These issues are only addressed because they are brought to our attention through the same advertising techniques used to sell a brand’s products; ‘communicating’ the message to the public, ‘persuading’ the audience to take a moment to sympathise and it ‘encouraging’ people to help by making them aware about the problems in the world. So the same techniques are used for a positive social change

            Instead of selling, this type of advertising asks for people to help themselves, help each other, volunteer or donate. This type of advertising can change people’s views and attitudes. By simply having these adverts out in public view people are constantly reminded that there are problems that the world needs to address. So to answer my original question ‘to what extent can advertising be used as a force for positive social change?’ The best way of gaining support and awareness for these type of campaigns is through the medium of advertising.