Advertising and Commercial Culture chapter. 11

1.       Whom did the first ad agents serve?

The First American advertising agencies were newspaper space brokers, individuals who purchased space in newspapers and sold it to various merchants. In the US, national advertising initially focused on patent medicine. The first full-service modern ad agency (N. W. Ayer & Son) worked primarily for advertisers and product companies rather than for newspapers. The Agency helped create, write, produce, and place ads in selected newspapers and magazines.

2.       How did packaging and trademarks influence advertising?

Manufacturers came to realize that in their products were distinctive and associated with quality, customers would ask for them by name. Advertisers let manufacturers establish a special identity for their products, separate from those of their competitors. With ads creating and maintaining brand-name recognition, retail stores had to stock the desired brands. Product differentiation associated with brand-name packaged goods represents the single biggest triumphs. Studies suggest that although most ads are not very effects in the short run, over time they create demand by leading consumers to associate particular brands with quality. 

3.       What role did advertising play in transforming America into a consumer society?

As US advertising became more pervasive, it contributed to many social changes in the twentieth century. First, it significantly influenced the transition from a producer-directed to a consumer –driven society. By stimulating demand for new products, advertising helped manufacturers create new markets and recover product start-up costs quickly. From farms to cities, advertising spread the word – first in newspapers and magazines and later on radio television. Second, advertising promoted technological advances by showing how new machines such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and cars, could improve daily life. Third, advertising encouraged economic growth by increasing sales. To meet the demand generated by ads, manufacturers produced greater quantities, which reduced their cost per unit, although they did not always pass these savings along to consumers.

4.       What influences did visual culture exert on advertising?

By the early 1970s, agencies had developed teams of writers and artists, thus granting equal status to image and words in the creative process. Visual-style ads soon saturated television and featured prominent performers. By the twentieth century a wide range of short, polished musical performances and familiar songs were routinely used in TV ads to encourage consumers not to click the remote control. Visual design had evolved to become more three-dimensional and interactive. Also, logos appeared on mobile phones and internationally.

5.       What are the advantages of internet and mobile advertising over traditional media like newspapers and television?

Many formats of internet and mobile advertising have emerged such as banner ads, video ads, sponsorships, and “rich media” like pop-up ads, pop-under ads, flash multimedia ads, and interstitials. Paid search advertising has become the dominant format of Web advertising. Companies in 2011 and 2012 continued to shirt more of their ad budgets away from newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. 

6.       How does the association principle work, and why is it an effective way to analyze advertising?

The association principle is a persuasive technique used in most consumer ads that associates a product with a positive cultural value or image even if it has little connection to the product. Advertising may associate advertising with nationalism, happy families, success at school or work, natural scenery, freedom, or humor. It is an effective way to analyze advertising because it gives them a way to link products with stereotypes. An example of this is women being portrayed as either sex objects or clueless housewives.

7.       What is product placement? Cite examples.

Product placement is strategically placing ads or buying space – in movies, TV shows, comic books, and most recently video games, blogs, and music videos – so products appear as part of the story’s set environment. An example is Starbucks becoming a name sponsor of MSNBC’s show Morngin Joe – which now includes “Brewed by Starbucks” in its logo. Product placement started out as subtly appearances in realistic settings has turned into Coca Cola being almost an honorary  “cast member” on Fox’s American Idol set.

8.       What is the difference between puffery and deception in advertising? How can the FTC regulate deceptive ads?

A puffery ad features hyperbole and exaggeration. Deceptive ads are likely to mislead reasonable customers based on statements in the ad or because they omit information. A certain amount of puffery ads are permitted, particularly when a product is “new and improved”. When a product claims to be “the best,” “the greatest,” or “preferred by four out of five doctors,” FTC rules require scientific evidence to back up the claims. An example is when the FTC brought enforcement actions against companies marketing their herbal weight-loss supplement ephedra. When the FTC discovers deceptive ads, it usually requires advertisers to change them or remove them from circulation. The FTC can impose monetary civil penalties for companies, and it occasionally requires an advertiser to run spots to correct the deceptive ads.

9.       What are some of the major issues involving political advertising?

Political advertising is the use of ad techniques to promote a candidates image and persuade the public to adopt a particular viewpoint. Political consultants have been imitating this market-research and advertising techniques to sell to their candidates. Can serious information on political issues be conveyed in thirty-second spots? How does a democratic society ensure that alternative political voices, where are not well financed or commercially viable, still receiving a hearing? Although broadcasters use the public’s airwaves, they have long opposed providing free political campaigns and issues, since political advertising is big business for television stations.

10.   What role does advertising play in a democratic society?

Our society has developed an uneasy relationship with advertising. Favorite ads and commercial jingles remain part of our cultural world for a lifetime, but we detest irritating and repetitive commercials. We realize that without ads many mass media would need to reinvent themselves. At the same time we should remain critical of what advertising has come to represent: the overemphasis on commercial acquisitions and images of material success, and the disparity between those who can afford to live comfortable in a commercialized society and those who cannot.