'Advertising
doesn't sell things; all advertising does is change the way people think or
feel' (Jeremy Bullmore) Evaluate this statement with reference to selected
critical theories (past and present)
"In our urban world, on the streets that
we walk, the buses that we take, in the magazines that we read, on walls, on
screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life. We may
remember or forget theses images, but briefly we take them in and they
stimulate our imagination either by way of memory or anticipation - where is
this other way of life?"
‘Ways of Seeing’, 1972 (‘Ways of
Seeing-Advertising ¼ www.youtube.com) reviewed how advertising glamorised
products suggested to our consumerist society that we could improve our lives
or ourselves by buying more and proposing our life experience can be enriched
through this even though in practical terms we are made poorer. The images
created in these advertisements are supposed to represent and are directed at
our lives and us, but in fact represent something quite distant from reality
and in fact establish a romanticized fantasy upon our subconscious. John Berger
is quite accurate in saying:
“Glamour is for everybody who believes they
can be glamorous, or, perhaps, more accurately, everybody who finds that they
cannot afford not to be glamorous.”
as we are now more than ever manipulated by
society’s norms and values where social envy is created and we become fearful
of rejection by the world. Advertising strives from this as “Without
social envy, glamour cannot exist.” (John Berger) and glamour is what
sells us into a lifestyle that becomes our obsession as it encourages our
imagination to think that this fantasy could be possible.” Therefore Jeremy
Bullmore would be correct in saying that advertising does change the way people
think or feel. However, consideration must be made for what the full intention
of this is in advertising, ie. the intention to sell things. By analysing his
statement, using past advertisements and critical theories, this essay will
demonstrate how society and advertising go hand in hand to manipulate and
seduce the public into buying, thinking and feeling differently.
In favour of Jeremy Bullmore's statement,
advertising encourages emotions within us and alters the way we think or
feel. ‘‘Persuasion in Advertising’ (J. O’Shaughnessy & N.J.
O’Shaughnessy, 2004, p.27) states:
"Emotion is a factor in persuasive
advertising that aims to change viewpoints and not simply to demonstrate the
logical implications of data. In the grip of an emotion, a person not only
feels differently, but also tends to think differently. Advertising that
resonates emotionally stands more chance of inducing a change in beliefs and
values/motives/wants/desires than one based on logic alone.”
By using emotion with the intention of
altering an individual’s beliefs and values, advertising taps into the human
consciousness changing how a person thinks or feels with that sole purpose in
mind. Advertisers use these techniques of manipulation to create a fantasy
world for the audience that leaves the subject craving that product due to
society’s already established structure of shared feelings and beliefs. The
purpose of doing this is that within the fantasy the product itself makes life
what it is (i.e. glamorous, sexy, intellectual, macho etc.) therefore selling
the product through a lifestyle by personifying it. Bullmore’s view would
be correct about advertising having a strong focus in altering the feelings and
thinking of it’s audience but in suggesting that is all it does, is, I believe,
wrong. Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' makes the connection between altering human
emotions and selling by pointing out the glamorisation of products and goods
that then suggest a social fantasy full of desires and hopes. The potential for
advertising to arouse emotions within us is strong as suggested in
"Persuasion in Advertising":
“Anything that concerns us has the potential
to arouse our emotions and, as Margalit says, emotions engage us with their
objects in such a way as to make them loose their neutrality: they become
marked by being lovable, disgusting, exciting, fearful and so on.”(J.
O’Shaughnessy & N.J. O’Shaughnessy, 2004, p.27)
The Chanel marketing team provide an excellent
example of personifying a product and using the tool of arousing emotion, in
particular for their Chanel No.5 advertising campaign. A complete story of
love, romance and the heart of a young woman are employed to sell high end,
expensive perfume. One of their most famous, most expensive and elaborate
advertisements, with a budget of $42 million and the renowned Baz Luhrmann
directing, is a perfect illustration of how advertisers represent an abstract
object by incorporating it into an unrealistic fantasy of emotion and just how
far the advertising industry will go to reach their market (nicole kidman
chanel commercial, www.youtube.com). Featuring famous actress
Nicole Kidman in what is considered to be a film trailer and of course the
excessive product placement of Chanel No.5’s equally famous logo, this
sophisticated TV advertisement challenges the fragrance market and offers their
product as a chance to escape the mundane for a lavish and exciting life that
holds the promise of love and extravagant romance. More importantly it offers
an achievable, aspirational way of life, which to the modern woman, weighed
down by a stressful career, a family and trying to sustain society’s idealistic
view of a successful woman, that she hopes for and the product becomes a
marker in her perception of herself of all that she yearns to be. It
comes as a relief to her to find that a small part of her ‘dream’ self can be
realized by the purchase and use of this product, she has bought into the
fantasy. Realistically it will cost her financially, she will own a
bottle of fragranced water, taking some pleasure in the ownership and use of
it, but the important areas of her life will remain unchanged. However
the advertisers have achieved what they intended, They have tapped into
feelings of human desire and aspiration, altering the thinking of their
audience by convincing them that in owning this designer branded product they
have exceeded in life and reached the top of society’s ladder. They continue
using this idealistic method of branding (see CHANEL NO.5 COMMERCIAL AVEC/WITH AUDREY TAUTOU /
DIRECTED BY JEAN PIERRE JEUNET, www.youtube.com) which features another alluring young woman, this time Audrey
Tautou a French actress. Her personal charisma already hints at romance
coupled with her incredible beauty while being set alongside the French
city of Paris, the package is already irresistible. All of this is
further complimented by the song 'I’m a fool to want you' by Billie Holiday
playing behind the magic and romance of a night train journey. The story
revolves around the mesmerising effect of the scent left in the woman's wake on
a man, who could only be described as typically and unnaturally attractive.
This seductive presentation instigates and builds towards the inevitable
manipulation of the audience’s emotions towards a desired life and the product
that gets them there. This is a perfect example of Berger's urban world where
we are taken in by our imagination yet where is this way of life, the night
train, and the man? (To the target audience, it’s in the bottle of Chanel
No 5.)
Jeremy Bullmore in his
2003 edition of 'Behind the Scenes in Advertising Mark III' (P.14) states:
"The truth of the
matter is that people enjoy being persuaded being courted, being wooed, being
wanted." and he'd be correct in saying this as its clear that this
commercial is intended to influence and the audience know they are being
targeted by the industry yet they allow themselves to be manipulated and buy
into the advertiser’s fantasy for them. Through publicity they appeal to a way
of life we aspire to but have not yet achieved suggesting that if we buy, our
life will have taken a step towards our dream and be different. Our home
and relationships will become luminous due to our new possessions. Playing upon
fear and the rules of the dream, those who don't have the power and lack
glamour, become faceless and using techniques such as the 'weasel claim' and
'unfinished claim' advertisements offer a promise while at the same time
threatening undesirability and invisibility without their product. John Berger
sums this up in his documentary 'Ways of Seeing':
"It suggests you
are inadequate as you are but consoles you with a promise of a dream."
This is probably one of
the most important factors in advertising from the aspect of altering the
feelings and thinking of an audience in a direction best suited to the
industry. It would appear clear that although Jeremy Bullmore says that advertising
only changes the way people think or feel, it does in fact intend to do this
with the sole purpose of selling, this method being a device used, along with
many, to influence and control society as a whole encouraging what’s already
been embedded in our nature.
In opposition to
Bullmore's theory of advertising not selling we see in the DeBeers 1948
advertising campaign, ’A diamond is forever’ (A Diamond is Forever TV
commercial "Theatre"(2001), www.youtube.com) a clear intention
of using manipulation of emotions in order to sell a product. Due to the
diamond decreasing in price and their efforts to revive the industry through
advertising, even to this day, 64 years on, a diamond is forever in our mind as
a symbol of love, attached to various important human milestones such as
engagement, birthday and anniversary. Through a series of clever advertising we
have been seduced by the portrayed imagery of wealth, success and rarity held
in a diamond and then emotionally manipulated into conforming with that
portrayal to celebrate our love by the expensive indulgence of such item.
Combined with the threat of feeling inadequate and rejected from main society
or even abandoned by our ‘love’ for not showing enough love if
non-conforming to the depicted ideal. Over the years by using the base of
couples and occasions, DeBeers have ensured diamonds as a global luxury, a
stage in life of utter happiness as well as success and most importantly a
promise we now expect. This marketing initially made necessary by the
declining price of diamonds and the powerful desire to reverse that decline
with an advertising campaign, has led to a result which was un thought of in
it’s original conception. DeBeers themselves summed up their accomplishment in
a successful statement from their history:
“The diamond became an
integral part of the modern-day ceremony of love, engagement and the
celebration of enduring relationships. Through De Beers the diamond has come to
speak a universal language, conveying its message of love, rarity and desire.”
(http://www.debeers.com/culture/current-news-and-events/9108230c-8a7f-4c43-bad6-b7699374c534/a-diamond-is-forever)
This phenomenal success
stems from an advertising campaign that created the association of diamonds
with romance and established a link between diamonds and the sacred tradition
of a religious wedding through manipulation of image in order to increase sales.
By simply capturing images of life-changing events and the emotional responses
to those events in their campaigns, we have succumbed to this image and
subsequently the diamond industry is now worth millions. Jeremy Bullmore
statement is far from realising the full potential and intentions of
advertising to sell products or goods by changing peoples thinking and feeling
and the DeBeers campaign is a successful and vividly accurate example of
showing how the two can together can impose a deep impact upon society.
In conclusion to the
theory “Advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising does is change the way
people think or feel” (Jeremy Bullmore) it has to be said that advertising
doesn’t just sell things and doesn’t just change the way people think or feel
but the two go hand in hand. In part and in agreement with Jeremy Bullmore,
that over time, the manipulation of feelings and thinking is becoming more
prominent as the market becomes increasingly competitive and there is a need to
fight for a market share and advertisements more vigorously target our
innermost desires and hopes. Although not everyone is susceptible to
manipulation, in reality everyone has values and beliefs, whether based on
society’s values and norms or of their own basis, and “Whenever something
strongly resonates with values, its produces an emotional reaction.” (J.
O’Shaughnessy & N.J. O’Shaughnessy, 2004, p.64). With emotion comes the
opportunity to change feelings and thinking, therefore comes the potential to
extract the desired response by persuasion. Persuasion is the inherent
power within a sale. It has been evidenced that advertising isn't one or
the other as viewed in Bullmores statement and on reflection, from looking at
different theories, the advertising industry makes use of our innate human
vulnerability to do their job, to advertise and to sell products.
Bibliography:
Videos -
John Berger (1972) 'Ways of seeing - Advertising', Parts
1-4, BBC (www.youtube.com)
Available
from:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmgGT3th_oI>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0JvXiZw7o>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbebPdXv70w>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAJovNjXMTs>
Chanel No.5 advertisement (2004) 'nicole
kidman chanel commercial' (www.youtube.com)
Available from:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTO4FHf8MBs>
Chanel No.5 advertisement (2009) 'CHANEL NO.5 COMMERCIAL
AVEC/WITH AUDREY TAUTOU / DIRECTED BY JEAN PIERRE JEUNET'
Available from:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVmuOhoFn3U>
DeBeers advertisement (1948) 'A Diamond is Forever TV
commercial "Theatre" (2001)', (www.youtube.com)
Available from:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAxeVj-YwAA&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF9E2695049A5FD68>
Books -
J.O'Shaughnessy & N.J. O'Shaughnessy (2004)
'Persuasion in Advertising', Philadelphia , Psychology Press
J.Bullmore (2003) 'Behind the Scenes in Advertising Mark
III', United Kingdom ,World Advertising Research Centre
S. Jhally (1990) 'Codes of Advertising', Routledge, New
York
Internet -
DeBeers, Current News and Events (2011) 'The most
Iconic Slogan - A diamond is forever'
Available from:
<http://www.debeers.com/culture/current-news-and-events/9108230c-8a7f-4c43-bad6-b7699374c534/a-diamond-is-forever>
Funnycommercialsworld (2005) 'Chanel No.5 Commercial:
The Film (Nicole Kidman)'
Available from:
<http://www.funnycommercialsworld.com/chanel-no5-commercial-the-film-nicole-kidman-387.html>
CNBC 'Top Ad Campaigns of the 20th Century'
Available from:
<http://www.cnbc.com/id/43673665/Top_Ad_Campaigns_of_the_20th_Century>Available
from:
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