Questions; week of November 9th

1. “The historians and archeologists will one day discover that the ads of our times are the richest and most faithful daily reflection that any society ever made of its entire range of activities,” states Marshall McLuhan. To what extent, if at all, do you agree with this statement reaffirmed by a number of academics referenced in our textbook “Persuasion and Influence in American Life”? Consider our ads today, from those promoting cell phones that depict our lives from the phones’ points of view to others portraying a man chased after by beautiful women who sense the scent of his deodorant. If advertisements tell the story of societies, what is the story of the American society? The television show Mad Men, about the advertisement business in 1960’s New York, is acclaimed for its rather accurate depiction of the ad industry’s relation to society at the time. We see Marilyn Monroe lookalikes in the ads they produce as well as in the ad agency producing them. Cleaning material, food, etc. ads are only targeted at housewives and we hardly see any of the women (living outside of the urban city) do anything besides cook for their families or organize house parties. That is how we now view part of American Society in the 60’s. If a show were produced forty years from now about our ad agencies in the United States, what do you reckon would be the principal content? How will those viewing the show view the American society we are now living in and helping create?

2. When the subject of advertisement is alluded to, the first thing that usually comes to mind is product sales. Pepsi, Ford, Wonder Bra, Blackberry, Cheerios, etc. An aspect of the industry we often neglect to acknowledge, or perhaps connote as advertisement is advocacy. Woodward and Denton note on page 267 of their textbook: “by design, advertising is perhaps the strongest form of advocacy.” Those who sported a Barack Obama t-shirt during the President’s campaign were advocating his election. Anyone who changed their Facebook profile picture to “Vote Ref. 71” during the Washington state elections last week was advocating the passing of this bill. This is a more grassroots form of advertisement, one that doesn’t include all the expenses of makeup and a set, amongst many other things. Do you think advocacy is just as persuasive as other kinds of advertising? Can you think of anyway you advocated a cause, a person or a thing, or on the opposite end, was influenced by someone else’s advocacy efforts? Explain the advertised “product” and the impact (if any).

3. An essential element in visual persuasion discussed by Paul Messaris in the chapter “Pictures and reality” is direct eye gaze. He claims that in advertising, “having a model or spokesperson look into the viewer’s eyes is a standard attention-getting device” (21). The example he uses to demonstrate his point is what is of most interest to me, the image of Uncle Sam saying “I want you for U.S. army” that he juxtaposes with another add of Uncle Sam that does not point to the viewer. In the latter, there is more text and less visual intensity, so “the illusion of entering the viewer’s space is considerably diminished” (21). Compare these two advertisements shown in figure 1.12 and 1.13 on page 22 of the chapter. Which do you find more powerful and why? Do you think less text makes an ad more persuasive?