[Reader-list] advertising - selling fear, uncertainity and doubt == posting 3

Sat Mar 19 13:57:20 IST 2005

Hi all,

Am posting some of my notes and summaries of reference material filed at 
my blog - http://www.prayasabhinav.net/blog/index.php?cat=3.

Research: "Publicity, promises and the public space"

hope you find it interesting !
regards,
prayas

<<>>

[[Statements]]
* < advertising is a product >: advertising is creative. it employs 
creative teams. in a way the “art” which is advertised is a seperate 
entity. It is a seperate product which has its own language, its own 
aesthetic, its own message. Its creators are seperate from the creators 
of the product which they try to sell.
this simple / obvious observation can speak a lot about the process / 
direction which the growth of advertising has taken. the process through 
which it has come to take on the its present role.
small retailers and producers publicizing their shops and producers to 
attract people, with the hope that some of them might become customers. 
small producers / retailers establishing niches by the personal 
relationship / rapport they have been able to develp. that is the 
business model. [ref: Richard Tedlow, The Reader’s Companion to American 
History]
small retailers / producers have grown – become big companies, having to 
sell in situations / locales with which they have no connection, no 
roots. having a compulsion of reducing the creative process of selling 
to a bland and uniform means of mass-subjugation. this compulsion 
becoming more pronounced as money from the market is invested in the 
company (maybe) and the market has been conveniently misunderstood to be 
a cold / ruthless / mean / selfish entity in which there is no place for 
individuality, inconsistency, smallness, amicability etc. the market has 
successfully been misinteprated as a professional and commercial “forum” 
– in which people participate only for selfish ends.
and so enters the professional advertising agency. an agency which 
manufactures make-believe roles, personalities and identities for 
routine products and services. if a product does not do well, the agency 
changes—not the quality / etc.
the professional advertising agency uses well-studied tools of mass 
persuasion. The “tools / methods of persuasion” are used quite uniformly 
to sell / get support / get to vote.
persuasion can be broadly referred to as – “the process of convincing 
someone to believe or act on something.” [ref: Wikipedia: Persuasion] 
The methods used to persuade, can be classified as appeals to reasons, 
appeals to logic, scientific-logic, proof. Persuasion by creating 
psychological pressure / sociocultural pressure is also common. The use 
of fear, respect, rivalry, competition, aspiration, elitism etc. are 
very widespread. [ref: Theories of Mass Communication, M. Fleur & Sandra 
Ball]
advertising has the enviable position in mass media genres in which it 
has a generally accepted / publicly acknowledged role of persuading us 
to buy, consume, to behave / act in the way we are sought to. and living 
in a highly consumerist times – this seems to be very valid, moral and 
aggreable. So we will participate in competions by cola companies and 
detergent companies which are direct brand building exercises and border 
on being silly and ridiculous.
in advertising there has been a gradual transition from being a mere 
publicity medium to becoming a persuasive, coercive and manipulative 
medium. and these are the same words the industry uses to talk about the 
ad campaigns it makes. [see: agencyfaqs.com]

* < more on persuasion >: to build-upon, I would say that advertising is 
a "license" to persuade. it is a license to convert strangers into 
customers. the customer is paying and consuming for being treated better 
than others. when this doesn’t happen – we have consumer protection and 
efforts / consumer courts.
persuasion is licensed and apreciated when the delivery of promises 
happens in a timely. I am more likely to be persuaded more easily by 
agents who persuaded me meaningfully before. costumer loyalty and 
costumer loyalty programmes.
subliminal advertising just talks about messages communicated under the 
cover and guise of other communication. what about the promises made in 
advertising, promises which are value judgements, doubly corroborated by 
the market, media and pop culture. the promise of routes / ways to 
happiness, carreer fulfillment, domestic politics, notions of 
"independence", "security", "cool". media, pop culture and the market 
creates trends by lucky / manipulative sociocultural insights. 
advertising cashes in on it. brothers in arms ? burglars in arms ?
actually most of the anti-advertising campaigns – either led by 
adbusters or other groups have made unscrupolous persuasion [bad 
production standards, globalization, lies, selling to kids…] and the 
extraordinary power which they seem to have.
it might partially explain why even public sector ads, political ads and 
social sector / charity ads are created by advertising agencies today. 
"they know the language" "they know what it takes to make you sit up and 
take notice" "they will sell you the idea"
so public communications is now flat-shaded / anxiety-struck cautious 
field in which noone experiments with new voices / new approches, new 
tones. in our minds there are no identities. no differenctiation, no 
understanding of who says what. we just know that everyone is telling is 
to buy a lot. whether or not we have the money. /
-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Methods of persuasion [ref: Wikipedia, persuasion]

By appeal to reason:
* Argument (especially logical argument)
* Logic
* Scientific method
* Proof
By appeal to sentiments / emotion:
* Faith
* Presentation and Imagination
* Rhetoric
* Seduction
* Tradition
Other techiques, which may or may not work:
* Hype
* Hypnosis
* Subliminal advertising
* Power (sociology)
Methods of immoral persuasion:
Some of the foregoing techniques can even be used in an immoral or 
coercive way in order to convince someone to believe something or to act 
in a particular way. In addition, one might employ:b
* Coercive persuasion
* Deception
* Exaggeration
* Mind control
* Torture
< Ethics and persuasion >: The philosopher of ethics, Michael Berumen , 
requires that one not persuade or coerce another against his will or by 
making him servile, which, in effect, is to disable his will. Moreover, 
Berumen says, "the information we provide /must not be deceptive/, 
either becasue of misstated facts or the way facs are presented or 
arranged. Two, the information /must be sufficient/ in order for a 
person in a position of trust to make an informed decision. And, three, 
the information must be provided /in accordance with any relevant 
obligations/, including the terms of contracts, pertinent laws, or other 
duties implied by the circumstance." Source: Michael E. Berumen, /Do No 
Evil: Ethics with Applications to Economic Theory and Business/ 
(iUniverse, 2003)

[[Reference]] ==== refer at 
http://www.prayasabhinav.net/blog/index.php?cat=8
* Resistance - adbusting / culture jamming / anti-ad
- Commercial Rebellion - Advertising agencies cloaking themselves in the 
style of the street... to counter counter-culture ?
- Anti-advertising group takes campaign to Paris Metro - “I feel like 
I’ve been taken hostage by advertising, and this is the only way I can 
make my voice heard.”
- Why we Should Tax Advertising : kuro5hin.org- "...that advertising is 
damaging from both an economic and social standpoint, and that because 
of this the amount of advertising should be reduced by making it more 
expensive"
- CAP - Good Advertising Checklists

* Resistance in Art
- Life’s Pretty Straight Without Support - An advertising generator. 
enter a word and get an advertising slogan using it !
- TV-B-Gone™ - "...TV Turnoff Week is no ordinary social ritual. The 
goal is simple: to shake up routines and get people questioning the role 
of TV in their lives. ...How can we fight back? In years past, we’ve 
smashed TVs, postered schools and offices, aired ads, and performed 
anti-tube street theater. The hottest idea this year? TV-B-Gone—a 
key-chain remote control capable of turning off virtually any 
television. It’s the ultimate tool for reclaiming our commons...."

* Theories
- propaganda model: manufacturing consent: "The propaganda model is a 
theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that seeks to 
explain systemic biases of the mass media in terms of structural 
economic causes."
- bait and switch: "A deceptive commercial practice in which customers 
are induced to visit a store by an advertised sale item and then are 
told that it is out of stock or that it is far inferior to some more 
expensive item."
- advertising: definitions & reflections - III: Tools of persuasion: 
"Advertisers use several recognizable techniques in order to better 
convince the public to buy a product. These may include..."

[[Photographs]]: The major part of the work envisioned in done and is 
online at http://prayasabhinav.net/section21.html

------------------------<<>>

In Future Postings:
- Inteerviews with Indian advertising professions
- Interviews of Children
- Discomfort and resistance in India

------------------------<<>>

Prayas Abhinav,

http://www.crimsonfeet.org
Personal web: http://www.prayasabhinav.net
-------------------------------------------------<<>>
Mobile: +91 9227234979