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| No | 18% | 71 votes | Total: 391 votes | |
| Yes | 82% | 320 votes |
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Add to FavoritesWhen advertising is a creative art form people can respect it for what it is, will talk about it to their peers, and it will create a viral buzz that leads to interest in the company and the advertising agency. For one ads aren't so much false as they are poorly executed. As far as being jaded you have to appeal to people's intelligence and offer a compelling argument, the times have changed, people are not as innocent as they once were, and you have to come at them correctly. There is nothing jaded about that whatsoever. There are creative ads, such as those with Geico, particularly the Cavemen ads. Now I do think that developing a television show out of the commercial, or any commercial for that reason is overkill. It is one thing when television personalities bleed over into advertise coincidentally, a whole different thing when one personally makes a point of taking advantage of the platform they have.
No one really has a problem with advertising when it is done in the right way. What people do not like, is to see ads plastered everywhere for no reason out of context. It is like the social commentary we see in movies like "Josie and the Pussycats", advertising that has run amuck and is more of a nuisance than it is a help. That is the real problem with advertising; why do we have to see ads on the side of buses, on mailboxes, trash cans, lockers in high school, cafeterias and so on and so forth? Creative advertising can convey a message without being cheap or sleazy about it; you can hit below the belt if you are going about it the right way.
Take the Cola ads of the last two decades, for example, both are offering the same thing essentially, the only difference being the taste. Yet ads would associate cola from everything from partying and having a good time to being part of a revolution or a "new generation". You simply cannot make those empty arguments these days though; people are rather firm in their loyalty to either Coke or Pepsi and there isn't much that can be done to dissuade anyone anymore. Computer commercials would make empty arguments about one Operating System over the other. Those arguments held some relevance back in the eighties, but the new Macintosh ads annoy me. They conveniently omit and overlook some of the limitations of what the Macintosh offers; for example it isn't the best enterprise system out there and it's productivity offerings are limited.
It was better when advertisements simply sold the merits of the computer itself, than for them to attack the competition, but going on the defense is a lot of the hyperbole that sells the Macintosh to begin with. Clearly, being Debian based, it's operating system runs cleaner and is more efficient and is easier to use, that much should be enough of an argument in and of itself. But claims about PCs having issues performing certain tasks are smoke and mirrors when you look at the real reasons why Windows has issues to begin with. They are often unrelated to the programs that are being used. The ad has won over the admiration of some, and irked others. But then again the ads aren't really tailored for technicians and programmers anyway, in fact computer ads if any are.
In this same way you can't really sell a mechanic a car through a nice advertisement; one individual may like the way that Mazdas "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" or the way that Hondas are chic or that Lexus have a nice ride supported by a myriad of on board computer technologies but a mechanic already knows all of this. Going on the attack almost always presumes that someone has some insecurity of which they want to expose the competition before someone can find out the truth about what they have to offer. It is one thing for you to tell me something that isn't completely realistic about your product but a different one for you to call out the competition when your own product isn't the best. Advertisements do not need to be false, and of course they will always play up the best, most accessible features that they have; this is perhaps all that one can really expect from advertising to begin with.
Learn more about this author, Christopher Kendalls.
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Yes
Constant exposure to lies erodes our ability to trust, making us cynical and jaded. False advertisements are a big part of the problem because they consistently promise more than they have any intention of delivering. Have you ever been served a burger that bore any resemblance to the one pictured in the television ads? The chances are slim since the items photographed for those ads are not even edible. They are props, manufactured to please the eye. Everybody knows this and accepts it. Customers never even consider taking an unappetizing sandwich back to the service counter and saying, "Give me my money back. This burger looks nothing like the one I saw in your advertisements." Perhaps we should start doing just that.
We are definitely jaded, because we are so accustomed to lies that we are surprised by the truth. When a repairman shows up at the agreed upon time, I am shocked. If a clerk in a department store goes out of her way to help me find something, I am astonished. A manager who returns my call has me stammering in disbelief. These businesses all promise good customer service, but the reality is usually so different that we are amazed when it actually happens. Society has thrown away many of its standards in an attempt to move on to a new age where everything is exaggerated by advertising hype.
Even charities have joined the fray, asking for money, which rarely gets to the people who need it most. Expensive ad campaigns and wages for employees who choose careers in charity work account for a large percentage of the donations received by some charities. People become cynical when they sacrifice to give money to an organization, only to discover that the funds have been misused or wasted.
We are encouraged by advertisements to borrow money in order to have bigger and better things. No money down and low monthly payments, and we can have new furniture, or a car. Why should we keep making do with our old stuff, when all we have to do is sign on the dotted line? It sounds so easy, but many people get themselves deeply in debt, and they cannot escape the vicious circle created by the power of the media. Do we really need that sofa we bought on ten years credit? The reality is that changes in our lifestyle and fashion mean we will probably grow tired of it before we have even paid for it.
Advertising campaigns are about sales and making a product look appealing to the customer. Healthy bottom lines are more important than truthfulness. That is what drives our economy. In essence, our lives have become entrenched in untruths. Most of us have become so used to it that we do not give it much thought.
If we do not even expect honesty, why should anyone feel obliged to treat us honestly? Integrity is a word we do not hear much any more. Perhaps we should change that.
Learn more about this author, Kathy Downey.
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