by Lanae

Created on: September 21, 2009

Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century. This quote, insists that advertisements are the media which can serve as a marker or a microcosmic snapshot of the thoughts, feelings, drives, desires, passions and values of society in the twentieth century. The creativity, high publicity, usefulness and effectiveness of these culturally defining advertisements therefore help to add validity to the quote; Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century. Both of these and many other insights helping to define the links between media, society and culture were derived by Marshall McLuthan (1911-1980). Serving as director of the Center for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, McLuthan is also an author and famed guru of media culture.

Marshall McLuthan developed a well known theory that defines all forms of media as falling into one of two categories; either hot media or cold media. Hot media, McLuthan defines as those which are high in resolution, high in intensity and high in definition. These definitions can be described as those which engaged multiple senses, are full of color, movement and are extremely engaging on their own accord. The concentration of these various sense engaging methods leaves little effort to be made on the part of the audience to notice and understand the message. In fact, McLuthan even makes the point that experiences themselves cause people to act even if they have not completely understood the message. Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior. It is in this way that brand imagery, helping to develop a sense of familiarity and comfort work to push a product without any verbal insistence that the product or services is of great value.

Cold media on the other hand, uses low resolution or definition and thus insists upon greater participation on the part of the audience. The audience in this case must willingly and actively engage themselves with the media in order to derive comprehension. A book for example is one which the audience must expend their own effort read and understand order for this media to be effective. In comparison, the radio may be used to reach the ears of audience members who had no intentions of hearing such a message. Stores, offices and businesses of all sorts play radio broadcasted music stations that are heard by any who enter the premises. Even unwilling or unaware audiences members receive the information

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