Shrinking Advertising and Mother's Milk.
Joseph Raglione
February 04, 2010
Gentle readers within this American Chronicle, when I was knee high to a Grasshopper, a new thing was introduced into our home. It was called a Television and it had all kinds of great people doing all kinds of great and often funny things, and once in a while a nice man would announce that our favorite Television show was being brought to us live by a nice sponsor who was trying to improve our lives and to save us work.
Every show had a sponsor! The afternoon shows had Soap companies sponsoring the day time mini dramas, and these dramas became known as Soap Operas. It did not take long, however, before the nice man who was standing live on television, was replaced with small films featuring the sponsor's products. Those small films were repeated as often as possible, cutting into the live show. When Video with instant playback was discovered and introduced, the shows became "canned" and the name changed to "programs". At that point T.V. advertising became a multi-billion dollar industry. The audience was being programmed and we were all being turned into something the sponsors called "consumers."
Because of one advertising commercial, Babies all over the World were pulled away from their Mother's Teats and a Rubber tipped Bottle was popped into their mouths. How traumatizing was this for a whole generation of children...not to say damaging because the special nutrients of a human Mother's milk was being replaced with Cow's milk...will never be known? T.V. became the new baby sitter, and it gave slightly more freedom to women who then decided they would need to go out and work in order to help pay for all the nice new products they were buying from the dozens and dozens of smooth talking and dancing and smiling people on T.V.. The business economy prospered at the expense of religion and social groups and basic civilized behavior.
As people around the world soon discovered, those not so nice people on Television were no longer trying to simply entertain us, but were now deliberatly trying to sell us their products utilizing a form of hypnotic repetition. Television advertising became the new religion and it was worshipped by business companies all around the world, until today...>
Advertising Industry Is Experiencing Shrinkage
Erik Assadourian Consumer Culture, Culture of Sustainability, Media 2010-02-01
Advertising expenditures worldwide fell 2 percent in 2008 to $643 billion, according to Worldwatch´s newest Vital Signs Online trend, which expands significantly on the discussion of advertising found in chapter 1 of State of the World 2010. While that´s bad news for the advertising industry it´s good news for the world. Even better news for the world: ad expenditures are projected to decline another 11 percent in 2009. Yes, I´m sure some won´t be happy that I´m celebrating the decline of an industry and the resulting loss of jobs, but let´s be honest: advertising stimulates consumption (or 1 percent of the Gross World Product wouldn´t be spent on it), consumption at current levels is undermining Earth´s systems, and we depend on Earth´s systems for our ability to thrive as a species. Translation: the reduction of total advertising expenditures selling consumerist dreams will improve human security. You won´t see that in Advertising Age!
But what you will see is more good news. In the January 25th issue, Emma Hall writes about Spain´s probable new ban on "advertising certain beauty products and services ´that encourage the cult of the body´ on TV before 10 p.m." Super! No more primetime ads for diet products, plastic surgery or other products that play off and fuel insecurities of the body. And Ms. Hall points to other exciting possibilities as well: France is trying to add warning labels to airbrushed images to make it clear that models don´t really look that good.
Ads Courtesy of Adbusters
Of course, as Jonah Sachs and Susan Finkelpearl discuss in their article Social Marketing: From Selling Soap to Selling Sustainability, advertising can be used to promote sustainable living as readily as excessive consumption, but they also note that less than a fraction of a percent of the industry goes to these types of advertising, so restrictions on the most pernicious forms of advertising is exciting. One day, maybe $643 billion will be spent promoting how cool it is to walk to work (and only work half time), live in very small homes, go to community theater instead of zoning out in front of televisions, repair your old appliances, vacation in one´s own region instead of in far off places, and so on. But until then, a decline of the industry is a welcome development, as hopefully it´ll lead to a strategic redirection along these lines.
Every show had a sponsor! The afternoon shows had Soap companies sponsoring the day time mini dramas, and these dramas became known as Soap Operas. It did not take long, however, before the nice man who was standing live on television, was replaced with small films featuring the sponsor's products. Those small films were repeated as often as possible, cutting into the live show. When Video with instant playback was discovered and introduced, the shows became "canned" and the name changed to "programs". At that point T.V. advertising became a multi-billion dollar industry. The audience was being programmed and we were all being turned into something the sponsors called "consumers."
Because of one advertising commercial, Babies all over the World were pulled away from their Mother's Teats and a Rubber tipped Bottle was popped into their mouths. How traumatizing was this for a whole generation of children...not to say damaging because the special nutrients of a human Mother's milk was being replaced with Cow's milk...will never be known? T.V. became the new baby sitter, and it gave slightly more freedom to women who then decided they would need to go out and work in order to help pay for all the nice new products they were buying from the dozens and dozens of smooth talking and dancing and smiling people on T.V.. The business economy prospered at the expense of religion and social groups and basic civilized behavior.
As people around the world soon discovered, those not so nice people on Television were no longer trying to simply entertain us, but were now deliberatly trying to sell us their products utilizing a form of hypnotic repetition. Television advertising became the new religion and it was worshipped by business companies all around the world, until today...>
Advertising Industry Is Experiencing Shrinkage
Erik Assadourian Consumer Culture, Culture of Sustainability, Media 2010-02-01
Advertising expenditures worldwide fell 2 percent in 2008 to $643 billion, according to Worldwatch´s newest Vital Signs Online trend, which expands significantly on the discussion of advertising found in chapter 1 of State of the World 2010. While that´s bad news for the advertising industry it´s good news for the world. Even better news for the world: ad expenditures are projected to decline another 11 percent in 2009. Yes, I´m sure some won´t be happy that I´m celebrating the decline of an industry and the resulting loss of jobs, but let´s be honest: advertising stimulates consumption (or 1 percent of the Gross World Product wouldn´t be spent on it), consumption at current levels is undermining Earth´s systems, and we depend on Earth´s systems for our ability to thrive as a species. Translation: the reduction of total advertising expenditures selling consumerist dreams will improve human security. You won´t see that in Advertising Age!
But what you will see is more good news. In the January 25th issue, Emma Hall writes about Spain´s probable new ban on "advertising certain beauty products and services ´that encourage the cult of the body´ on TV before 10 p.m." Super! No more primetime ads for diet products, plastic surgery or other products that play off and fuel insecurities of the body. And Ms. Hall points to other exciting possibilities as well: France is trying to add warning labels to airbrushed images to make it clear that models don´t really look that good.
Ads Courtesy of Adbusters
Of course, as Jonah Sachs and Susan Finkelpearl discuss in their article Social Marketing: From Selling Soap to Selling Sustainability, advertising can be used to promote sustainable living as readily as excessive consumption, but they also note that less than a fraction of a percent of the industry goes to these types of advertising, so restrictions on the most pernicious forms of advertising is exciting. One day, maybe $643 billion will be spent promoting how cool it is to walk to work (and only work half time), live in very small homes, go to community theater instead of zoning out in front of televisions, repair your old appliances, vacation in one´s own region instead of in far off places, and so on. But until then, a decline of the industry is a welcome development, as hopefully it´ll lead to a strategic redirection along these lines.
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