We are not Lemmings.

This blog is one of my university assignments and as part of that, I need look at the skills and structures that I believe are needed in current agencies for the type of role I would like to gain in the industry. Secondly, I need to explain why I think this may change. 

The role I would like would be one to do with planning. That's a very general statement, I know, but I haven't started my graduate job yet so I don't have the experience to pinpoint exactly the job role I want. I do, however, have enough experience to explain why I like planning.

Anyone remember this? 

This is Lemmings, a very popular early 1990s computer game. You have different kinds of Lemmings for different purposes, for example digging, climbing and building stairs. At each level of the game, you have to get as many Lemmings as you can from the hatch they fell out of into the passageway that leads them to freedom. Of course there are obstacles along the way, in the example above all you have to do is get a digger to dig a whole and they'll all be safe. I'm quite certain this is Level One. 

In this game, you always know where the Lemmings will appear from, what their roles are within their little society and you can be sure they will head straight out the door you choose for them when given the opportunity. Consumers are not Lemmings. Take the digger Lemming, we don't know how many children he has, whether or not he's into art or is an avid TopGear watcher. We don't even know for sure if he's male. 

This is what I like, I like getting to grips with who people are and what roles they play in their lives at different times during the day. My favourite module in the first year was 'Understanding the Customer' because I was learning so much about the way people's minds work. I had absolutely no idea that advertising involved so much psychology, to think that I didn't know that three years ago seems a bit ridiculous to me now. However, my understanding is struggling to keep up with my fascination. I now know so much more about what goes into advertising and I think it needs to be done better.* I mean this in terms of more sophisticated and respectful targeting, and there is absolutely room for improvement. It's possible because the advertising industry is made up of such incredible, talented people.

Someone I know in the media business  describes media planning as a craft. A combination of science and creativity. From this I took that a media planner is a bit like a creative scientist, which to me implies that you need extreme attention to detail and the ability to use your information in an unusual way. I would love to become an expert in this, and that's why I want to go into planning and play around with this plethora of information we have in order to find that little gem - insight. Whether I end up in media or creative planning, who knows?

As I've been writing this blog, I have been trying to get people to see the nicer side of advertising. How it always stems from society and culture, that it benefits the economy (£6 for every £1 spent) and what makes a good advertisement. I've tried to highlight that advertisers aren't a bunch of drunk, power hungry executives who want to make you feel fat but are actually a group of people desperate to understand why consumers do what they do. I maintain that consumers will always be more powerful than advertisers. And so, with my very limited experience, I will tell you what I think the advertising industry needs to do.

I have noticed that when a trend is spotted in the industry, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and hangs on for dear life. From the rise of digital to the current obsession with content and big data. I am in no way saying trends are irrelevant, they are essential for an agency or a client to remain profitable. My issue with trends is that people get too caught up in the them. Yes set them, follow them, learn about them, but don't become encapsulated by them. As these topics come and go or become best practice, we need to remember that brilliant advertising doesn't necessarily win awards, it simply generates a profit for the client, a large profit ideally. 

Advertising which does not respect its target or give that person an opportunity to use their own beliefs, experiences and intelligence to process it will only annoy them. I think the industry is getting better at respecting consumers, particularly now we are in an Age of Dialogue and there is a lot more interaction between consumers and brands. I think it's important not to lose sight of the people we want to reach. We can basically find out everything about them but how much do we really need to know?

There's a lot of talk about media agencies eventually becoming obsolete. Because of this and the economic climate, I think some agencies aren't very selective about the clients they work with. Be picky about the clients you take on! Not only because you need the right relationship for the partnership to work, but because your work, whether it be in creative or media, will be judged by the public solely on the activities of the brand you work with. When the public is demanding honesty from brands, how can you deliver that in your advertising if the brand isn't truthful? It won't work. Above all, agencies are bursting with creativity, intelligence and insight, make sure you know your worth. 

So what skills are needed in the industry...? Bravery, knowledge of the world around you, enthusiasm.  The ability to use Excel and Powerpoint is key. You need numeracy skills, definitely. To be honest, I think if you are willing to work hard and have a real interest in advertising and people, then you're on to a good thing. These are skills I don't think will change. The advertising industry changes at such a rapid pace, so you need the ability to learn and adapt. Just like the best advertising is simple, the skills required to produce it don't change very much despite how it transforms over time. These skills I have mentioned will, I believe, serve this year's graduates well, as well as those who graduate in a few years. It worked for the Mad Men, although they didn't have the luxury of Excel and Powerpoint.

What do I need to get into the advertising industry? All of the above, determination, curiosity, and passion. What do I need to survive in it? I'll let you know. 

*Copies of my dissertation available on request. ;-) 

Advertising, Culture & Postmodernism

It would be impossible to argue that advertising and culture are not intertwined. By looking at advertising over the decades, it provides an accurate reflection of what was going on at that time. It's clear to see the artistic and musical influences as well as the prominence of social classes and the clearly defined roles of the genders. This came particularly clear to me when I read 'Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic' by John Hegarty. His passion for creativity and art is evident, but the way he thinks about ideas highlights the importance of culture in advertising and therefore in advertising in history.

"Ideas are the most incredible thing we possess. They can change the future of brands, of countries and of course of history. They engage, entertain and stimulate, encouraging debate, dissent and adoration."

(Hegarty, 2011, p24)

Here's what's on my mind - if advertising is a reliable indication of what life was like in the past, that means those of us who are producing it now are essentially creating little anecdotes of what our lives are like now so people in the future to look back and try to understand us better. The thing is, I don't wake up everyday and analyse the culture I live in, I just live my life. Yes I might whinge about the government with my friends or have a fleeting moment of feminism, but I hadn't really considered the stage of culture we are currently in. It's not modernism, is it postmodernism? I don't think it is. 

This is an extract from my dissertation, explaining the way culture has moved on and affects consumers and therefore the way advertisers should aim to reach and engage with audiences. 

Advertising is born out of culture. Based on the statement ‘advertising [is] a meeting point or mixture of two distinct forms that may be termed ‘culture’ and ‘economy’’ (Malefyt and Moeran, 2003, p77), Bailey (2013) concluded that social culture plays a strong role in advertising and marketing content and direction. This is supported by Leiss et al (2005) who believe that primary determinants for purchase behaviour are based on cultural decisions. From this is can be implied that advertisers must appeal to cultural beliefs or draw from aspects of modern society to engage with consumers.

The fifth stage of Goodyear’s Evolution of Marketing (1999) is postmodern marketing, this means consumers are marketing literate and multifaceted, knowledgeable and cynical. In the 1980s, the idea of postmodernism began to engage professional philosophers. (Bertens, 1995) This is when it moved away from a method of defining the arts and architecture and became a way to describe society. Postmodernism can be described as ‘a… concept whose function is to correlate the emergence of new formal features in culture with the emergence of a new type of social life and a new economic order’. (Jameson, 1991) At this time, individuals were starting to recognise and showcase their individuality rather than follow traditional social norms. However, Kirby (2006) states that ‘the terms by which authority, knowledge, selfhood, reality and time are conceived have been altered’ which leads to the notion that postmodernism is being surpassed.

It has been suggested that society is moving past postmodernism into a new age potentially called the Age of Authenticism. (Partial Objects, 2011) This proposes that specificity, values and authenticity are at odds with postmodernism and therefore will not work in a time when consumers are demanding transparency from brands. Partial Objects (2011) believes that what comes after postmodernism is something ‘more authentic, more sincere, more earnest, less ironic and less sarcastic’ which may underpin the UK population’s deviation from dishonesty in brands and their communications.

Alternatively, Kirby (2006) suggests the era after postmodernism will be pseudomodernism, when people move away from ironic and playful towards ignorance and anxiety. He states that people will no longer believe in postmodern ideas and instead favour critical realism. This theory aligns with the UK public’s cynicism towards advertising whilst also supporting their desire for legitimacy. Furthermore, Kirby (2006) believes pseudomodernism will be a ‘new paradigm of authority and knowledge formed under the pressure of new technologies and contemporary social forces’.

The internet has changed the way information is exchanged and gathered and has resulted in a more sophisticated population with the power to share their views. According to Kirby (2006), the emergence of new technologies in the late 1990s and early 2000s re-structured the nature of the author, the reader and the text and the relationship between them. This draws on Bullmore’s message delivery process which highlights the consumer’s need to participate in messaging rather than simply receive it. The internet has given individuals the sense that they are managing their own involvement with a product. (Kirby, 2006) Postmodernism fixated on the author whereas pseudomodernism would put emphasis on the recipient in that they become a partial or whole author. This means more people contribute to culture and it is not lead by individual concepts but the interpretation of concepts put out into society. Postmodernism is a stage where ‘culture is a spectacle before which the individual sits powerless [whereas] pseudomodernism sees an individual’s action as the necessary condition of the cultural product’. (Kirby, 2006) Advertising can no longer broadcast to consumers, the content and context of the message must be relevant in order for the consumer to create a meaningful connection with the message and the brand. 

• Bailey (2013) Advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think of feel (Jeremy Bullmore) evaluate this statement with reference to selected critical theories [online] Available from: http://francesbaileycop.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/advertising-doesnt-sell-things-all-advertising-does-is-change-the-way-people-think-or-feel-jeremy-bullmore-evaluate-this-statement-with-reference-to-selected-critical-theories/ [Accessed 5 April 2013].
• Bertens, H. (1995) The idea of postmodern: a history. London: Routledge.
• Docx, E. (2011) Postmodernism is dead [online] Available from: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/postmodernism-is-dead-va-exhibition-age-of-authenticism/ [Accessed 11 March 2013].
• Goodyear, M, (1999) The Evolution of Marketing. In Esomar Research Congress. Paris, September. Amsterdam: Esomar.org. 2.
• Hegarty, J. (2011) Hegarty on advertising: turning intelligence into magic. London: Thames & Hudson.
• Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism and consumer society [online] Available from: http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/jameson_postmodernism_consumer.htm  [Accessed 4 April 2013].
• Kirby, A. (2006) The death of postmodernism and beyond [online] Available from: http://philosophynow.org/issues/58/The_Death_of_Postmodernism_And_Beyond [Accessed 11 March 2013].
• Leiss, W., Kline, S., Jhally, S. and Botterill, J. (2005) Social communication in advertising: consumption in the mediated marketplace. 3^rd ed. London: Routledge.
• Malefyt, T. D. and Moeran, B. (2003)Advertising cultures. Oxford: Berg Publishers.
• Partial Objects (2011) What comes after postmodernism [online] Available from: http://partialobjects.com/2011/08/what-comes-after-postmodernism/ [Accessed 11 March 2013].

Having a goal is not enough.

I recently attended a Bucks AdSoc talk by David Wethey, Chairman of AAI who advises clients on choosing the right agency to work with on their advertising campaigns. He spoke about the importance of being able to make decisions, and make them well. Seems a bit of an odd topic, at least I thought so. However I left the talk having learned something I think I've  always known, it's not enough to have a goal, you have to have a dream. 

We have all been educated to look forward rather than back, but childhood is where your determination comes from. Perhaps that stems from all the times you said, "When I grow up I want to be..." regardless of how many times you changed you mind, or maybe it simply comes from wanting better for yourself. Whatever the reason, when you're a child there are no limits and it's a shame that so many of us stray from what excited us when we were little. 

When my sister, Hannah, and I were younger, we made sure everyone knew what we were going to do when we got older. She was going to travel the world and cure AIDs and I was going to own my own business and have a big office. OK she hasn't cured any diseases and I'm many, many promotions away from a corner office, but she left for New Zealand three years ago and never came back and I'm about to graduate university and enter the corporate world. The basic drive is there and luckily for us it didn't completely disappear.

Hannah with her patient and me with my box of stationery. 



This isn't turning into a blog about my childhood, I promise. There is a point. David said that all the people he interviewed were exceptionally successful and exceptionally good at making decisions. Furthermore, they all had dreams, not just goals. The correlation between making good decisions and having dreams  is a result of the fact that the way we make decisions is naturally emotive, not logical. We've trained ourselves to think logically, likely because we have to consider those things that limit us, like money and time.

According to David, decision making is the number one life skill and most of us aren't any good at it. He once went into a bookshop and counted 83 titles on leadership and 3 on decision making, which highlights that it's a skill that is often forgotten about, hence why I thought it was an odd topic. It turns out it wasn't.

The thing that I think confuses people when making decisions, particularly in business as your reputation and someone else's money are often on the line, is that you feel you have to think it through rationally, applying logic and getting as much advice as you can. This just complicates things, normally, your gut feeling is often right and you end up a lot happier with your decision. I'm not saying you should abandon your sense of rationality, just ease up on it a bit. 

It's the same in advertising. Having a goal is not enough. Having a dream is what drives us as people, our emotions, motivations and aspirations are what drive us as consumers. You'll never achieve your personal goals if you don't respect your instincts and you'll never get through to a consumer if you don't respect their motives. 

As David said, "Decision making is like advertising, it comes from inspiration and intuition, but it does work better within a disciplined process."

Advertisers and consumers... I guess they're not so different.

Well done to Ian for running his first AdSoc event since he took over as President!

Are the best ads the dishonest ones?

You've seen it, I've seen it, we've all seen it... and it seems everyone loves it. The Virgin Atlantic Superhero ad. It makes me want to fly Virgin, it also makes me want to be the girl with the cute red shoes... OK yes I also want to be the girl turning all the heads at the airport.  Despite this, is it honest? This characteristic we all demand from marketing messages? Well... no. Not even a little bit. But my god do I want to book a flight with Virgin.  

Now, this could be a nostalgic thing for me. We always flew with Virgin when I was little and they always gave me a cool backpack. Yes, marketers, give the kids a backpack and they will fly with you forever. The best ideas are always the most simple. As lovely a trip down memory lane this is for me, it also serves a purpose. I remember the staff on Virgin being really lovely to me, and as a little girl, they were absolutely the head turning stewardess or the smiling pilot. Maybe that's why I love this ad. I know they don't have super powers, but I first met these characters when I was five years old. Everyone in the world has the potential to have hidden powers when the world is viewed from five year old eyes. Is this what the Virgin advertising team was thinking when they thought this up? That the little five year old is now twenty-three, about to embark on a career and make choices about airlines? Doubtful. This is a very happy coincidence.  

(I just read this to my mother and she has informed me they chose Virgin because of the screens on the back of seats. I'm sticking to cool backpacks.)

Now is the time when I take this glorious ad and my delightful memories and inundate you with academic references and (hopefully) intelligent musings.

Who in the advertising industry doesn't love a bit of Jeremy Bullmore? He's no Bernach of course but he certainly has his advocates. I recently interviewed a well known person at a well known agency (we've all signed things, I'm afraid to name names) and that person said, "Bullmore is always right." Bold words, I like them. Unfortunately I don't think that's enough for my dissertation. How nice it would be to stop at 5,000 words and say "Because Bullmore said so." I digress. My point is this: it was in Bullmore's book (Behind the Scenes in Advertising) where I first stumbled upon the the idea that the more blatantly dishonest an ad is, the less people are likely to find it misleading.

Hold on. If you lie to people they won't think you're trying to mislead them?

That concept certainly made me stop and think. Particularly because I am researching how people perceive advertising and am looking at how they demand honesty from advertising. It made me wonder, "If people think we are misleading them when we're truthful or economical with the truth, but not when we shamelessly lie... what's the point in trying to be honest?"  I think that people will draw their own truths from what they read or see, and so it is not the content we are subjecting them to, but the context we are putting it in. Advertisers need to respect the intelligence of their audiences.

According to Credos (2011), people feel consumers are being constructed as stupid which generates negative perceptions of advertisers. Bullmore believes that the public gets annoyed by advertising because advertisers don't have an adequate understanding of the communications process and the role of the consumer. Historically, advertisers have started the communications process by first identifying the consumer, then choosing the medium needed to reach that consumer and finally delivering the message. This process has been adapted from Shannon and Weaver’s 1949 Model of Communication which sends a message from a sender, which is encoded and passed through a channel to be decoded and received by the recipient. Neither of these processes allow the receiver (consumer) to contribute to the communications process which, Bullmore believes, increases the risk of failing at successful communication and annoying the receiver. Consumers find this inherently irritating as all consumers participate in the communications process.

The reason I am explaining this is because it seems that no matter how honest or dishonest an ad is, as long as the content allows consumers to come to their own conclusions and use their own beliefs, experiences and values when making that decision, it doesn't matter if the message in the ad isn't 100% true. Put an ad in front of an audience and allow them to interpret it for themselves, then they will draw their own truths out of it and decide how it makes them feel. Our job as advertisers is to get them to interpret it the way we want them to! Easier said than done, I'm sure.

I absolutely believe that Virgin Atlantic is endeavoring to fly in the face of ordinary. I don't believe their employees are superheroes, but I was entertained by the ad and it gave me something to talk about with friends, family and colleagues. Research by Credos and the ASA shows that these are key to getting consumers to like your advertising, which must be true because it worked on  me!

Maybe the best ads aren't the dishonest ones, but the ones that respect their audiences and give them something interesting to watch. Surely it can't be that simple...

ASA (2002) The public’s perception of advertising in today’s society [online] Available from: www.asa.org.uk [Accessed 20 October 2012].Bullmore, J. (1998) Behind the scenes in advertising. 2^nd ed. Henley: Admap Publications.

Bullmore, J. (1998) Behind the scenes in advertising. 2^nd ed. Henley: Admap Publications.

Credos (2011) Advertising: what the UK really thinks [online] Available from: www.credos.org.uk [Accessed 18 October 2012].

Recession, a Trust Crisis and the Advertising Industry

Media: the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely. (Dictionary.com)

There is no getting away from negative media these days. Every time I watch the news there's another natural disaster, another corrupt politician and countless crimes committed.

Media. For a five letter word it sure is responsible for a lot. Media is relied on to deliver the news and advertisers rely on media to reach their target audiences. Is this irrevocable relationship between media and advertising affecting public perceptions of advertising?

The media has, for the last few years, been overflowing with news about the economy. Nicola Mendelson, President of the IPA, said at an RSA event (The Mad Men we Love to Hate: Our Changing Relationship with Advertising) that the financial crisis is a crisis of trust. The recession has resulted in a nation of angry people, angry at the banks for irresponsible spending and angry at MPs for exactly the same thing, despite the austere spending cuts affecting taxpayers. According to the Guardian, 90% of people think banks are not well run, thus there is little consumer confidence in them.

Kantar recently published a report entitled Crisis of Trust. It details the severe levels of distrust in the UK towards journalists, major corporations, police officers and politicians. I know marketers and advertisers aren't mentioned in the report and they aren't bankers, but I also know the UK public trusts the government more than they trust advertisers. Ouch.

Trust in the government is declining but they don't seem to be changing their ways. Advertisers, however, know that they have no choice but to change their ways and be open and honest in their communications. Consumers are smart and nothing gets passed them, I know, I'm one of them- and so are you.

Do you think this Crisis of Trust will affect the way you look at ads? I think so. Advertisers work for large corporations, they work for the government and they sit in big fancy buildings just like those people in the city who spent your money. But here's the thing, advertisers spend their lives trying to understand the public, monitoring society and cultural shifts. Advertisers need to have an incredible understanding of the people who will see their ads in order to have any kind of success. The recession means everyone spends less, but have you noticed advertisers aren't trying to make you buy wildly expensive items at the moment? (This doesn't count if you read Harper's Bazaar or drive an Aston Martin.) They're showing you how to feed your family for a fiver, which is great for your budget but is also telling society that it's OK to spend less on essentials. Every little helps, right? (Nerdy little Sainsbury's vs Tesco quip for you there.)

Here a couple of facts that might help you like advertisers a little more. ;-)

Not only are they affected by the economy, they contribute to it.



UK GDP and Adspend 1983-2009
Source: WARC (www.warc.com)

It's clear from this graph that when the economy takes a hit, so does the advertising industry.

In 2008, the advertising industry contributed £15.6bn to the UK economy. (Take that Mrs. I'll Expense My Husband's Porn) That's about how much the government spends on public sector IT every year. That's a lot of money.

*This post is full of links but they don't seem to be coming up - trying to fix it! (Can't be fixed - references below)

Credos (2011) Advertising: what the UK really thinks [online] Available from: www.credos.org.uk [Accessed 18 October 2012].

Dictionary.com (2012) Media [online] Available from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/media?s=t [Accessed 27 November 2012].

Guardian (2010) Social attitudtudes survey: what does Britain think about inequality, bankers and the NHS [online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/13/social-attitudes-survey-british-data [Accessed 27 November 2012].

Kantar (2012) Crisis of trust [online] Availble from: http://www.kantar.com/public-opinion/policy/crisis-of-trust/ [Accessed 28 November 2012].

Mendelsohn, N. (2011) “How the role and values of advertising has changed since the days of Mad Men”, RSA, The Mad Men we Love to Hate: Our Changing Relationship with Advertising, London.
(Available online from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh0ql1w8X-Q) 

PC Advisor (2012) Prime minister's advisor wants £10bn taken out of government IT spend [online] Available from: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/software/3410874/prime-ministers-advisor-wants-10bn-taken-out-of-government-it-spend/?olo=rss [Accessed 28 November 2012].

WARC (2010) UK GDP adspend 1983-2009 [online] Available from: www.warc.com [Accessed 28 November 2012].

The Real Mad Men

Last week, I ran a Bucks AdSoc event called The Real Mad Men, an event title shamelessly stolen from the book the event was about. Andrew Cracknell, author of (you guessed it) The Real Mad Men: The Remarkable True Story of Madison Avenue's Gold Age, When a Handful of Renegades Changed Advertising Forever, came into Buckinghamshire New University to discuss how advertising got started, the journey it went through and where it's going now.

Andrew began by stating that, working in this industry, it is necessary to know about its history. The Mad Men lead a Creative Revolution by tearing down what was already there and rebuilding a more inspiring, intellectually creative industry. This era gave birth to persuasiveness, simplicity, humanity and candour within the industry and everybody in advertising owes something to the Mad Men.

Between 1948 and 1968, there was an explosion of art in New York City which naturally helped to drive creativity in advertising and change the way advertisers communicated the products they were selling. This was lead by first and second generation immigrants, whose parents and grandparents had arrived at Ellis Island in hope of the 'American Dream'. This group of people had brought their own traditions and cultures with them and once in America, they developed in a new way.

With a fresh sense of creativity came a new challenge. The Mad Men had to convince their clients that these alternative methods of advertising would be effective. At that time, clients were the part of the chain that 'ruled the roost', then the researchers, then account directors and at the bottom of the ladder - the creatives. This system wasn't ideal when it was the creative people in agencies who were  making essential changes in the industry.

In 1950s America, ads contained illustrations rather than photographs. This allowed advertisers to exaggerate certain details and lifestyles to better sell to the American public who aspired to a perfect, picket fence surburban life. For example in the ad below, the illustration shows a typical 'WASP' lifestyle and depicts alternative colours and models of car. However, as Andrew said, this was all bollocks and the public knew it.

It was up to those behind the Creative Revolution to address this issue. They did this by using photographs and cleverly written copy. It was that simple.

When the rest of America was being encouraged to Think Big - Bernbach's VW campaign told them to Think Small. This campaign was simple, but it was intelligent and managed to 'sell a Nazi car in a Jewish town'. Many other agencies tried to jump on the bandwagon but had only recognised the simplicity and not the thought behind the idea. This produced a number of substandard ads which their agencies thought were creative but fell flat. As a result, creative teams were valued more and so moved up the agency ladder.

The point behind this concept is that brands needed to talk to people like grown ups, talk to humanity and avoid talking to faceless consumers. Furthermore, it was essential to talk to people about products rather than talk about products to people. Style and gloss in advertisements remained important, but it was vital to underline fashion with ideas and recognise a product when it was brilliant.

All of this has trickled down into advertising today. Simplicity, honesty and understanding audiences remains at the heart of advertising. When the Creative Revolution was happening, the people in the leading agencies were looking to be more open with the public and stop lies appearing in ads. They were reaching out to society and when I asked Andrew what role advertising will play in society in the future, he said it won't change. 



Advertising makes me Angry

Does advertising make you angry? If it does, it may be because it's in the palm of your hand, screaming at you from your smartphone. Or because it's leering down at you making you feel small and, to be frank, a bit ugly. Perhaps every now and again it strolls up to you, taps you on the shoulder and whispers "You should have bought the other mascara."

Here's the thing. Advertising doesn't scream, leer and it certainly doesn't stroll. Advertising is content that is placed in media where planners think it will get your attention and be relevant to your life. Consumers are a complex bunch, hence the endless tracking studies, neuroscientific experiments and market research. We all know complex people, the ex-girlfriend you just couldn't read, the parent you cannot get through to and the friend who won't tell you what's wrong. Despite this, people seem to think advertisers have magic dust that they sprinkle on billboards, TV ad breaks, magazine pages and computer screens that makes people non-complex. That's why they're so brilliant at getting into people's heads and manipulating them into spending more than they earn, or changing their hair colour to look beautiful. If you read that last sentence and agreed with it, advertising is not the problem. Advertising does not have that kind of power. Consumers on the other hand, well they're in charge of themselves which gives them the power. If advertising was that powerful, the industry wouldn't be bending over backwards to understand how the mind works and how it reacts to marketing messages.

I recently watched a film from a conference held by the RSA discussing advertising in society and that's what inspired this blog post. It made me angry. Advertising itself doesn't make me angry, but misplaced perceptions, definitions and identification of advertising does. Much of the discussion in this film was based around the importance of advertising within public taste and that ads have got the power to do good. I agree with this and advertising does stay within public taste (unless the whole point is that it doesn't and this is often a tactic employed by charities) and there are many cases where advertising has made positive changes in society.

In the film, the speakers started discussing marketing to children and this is what annoyed me. This is obviously a widely debated, sensitive subject so I understand how it's easy to digress when talking about it but it all got a bit stupid at this point. When speakers are told to talk about advertising in society, they should talk about advertising in society. Two of the presenters rambled on about marketing to children and one even presented a Playboy pillowcase which was  apparently aimed at teenage girls. A pillowcase isn't an ad. Playboy would absolutely never be allowed to advertise to children, they are scarcely allowed to advertise to adults. Therefore that example meant nothing in terms of advertising. That's a debate about the sexualisation of children which advertisers would never support.

The other speaker said we should celebrate culture (advertising is inspired by culture so we can tick that one off) and ban advertising to children. Ban advertising to children?! They enjoy ads and view them as a way of finding out what's new in the world of toys. The children's ads I have seen are about toys, magazines and TV shows all age specific. Of course children will watch ads and say "Mummy I want that! Can I have it? Please?!" To put it very simply, it's up to Mummy to say no. A ban on advertising to children is not only impossible but pointless. However, it would remove advertising as the scapegoat and perhaps people would then be able to get down to the root cause of the materialistic nature of children, which in the film was blamed on advertising.  

Back to the point, what struck me about this discussion was the amount of power afforded to the advertising industry. As I mentioned earlier, the consumer is far more powerful so why do people think ads affect us so much? Advertising is nowhere near as powerful as people perceive it to be.

Hands up if you think when you spray this on yourself you become a supermodel in designer clothes. No one? Didn't think so. 

I've come to the conclusion that people who hate advertising probably don't know what it is. So in my Heart of Advertising blog I will try to explain why advertising isn't a satanic force and that advertisers are in fact very sensitive to public issues and abide by the regulations imposed upon them. And maybe advertisiers do like to enjoy the occasional 'media lunch', but hey, we all have our vices.

Guardian (2012) Playboy TV's lorry advert banned by watchdog [online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/07/playboy-tv-lorry-advert-banned-watchdog [Accessed 12 November 2012].
Youtube (2011) Advertising in society: what's the deal [online] Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chotX0c3aQA&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 9 November 2012].