The Ad and the Ego - PowerPoint
The Ad and the Ego
Appeals to our unconscious (id), the creation of our ego (identity) and our super-ego (image)
Advertising: A powerful form of education and propaganda
Doesn’t allow itself to be seen as either one, so it becomes even MORE effective
Considered too trivial to study because individual ads are stupid; therefore it’s not important
Individuals feel exempt from effects (“tune out”)
It includes a myriad of basic assumptions about how the world works: what’s “normal”
Encourages us to participate in cycles of consumption and disposal
It sells not only products, but values, images
A hypercommercial world, a “total environment”
We view at least 1500 ads per day
Effects are cumulative and unconscious
Water wasn’t discovered by a fish
Try getting a fish to think about water
(Remember McLuhan’s maelstrom?)
What is the impact of living in an ad-infused environment?
How can we know when we’re inside it?
Profit: A central organizing principle
To be consumers means that happiness can be bought
It’s an effective tool of socialization
We’ve been made uncomfortable in our own skins, our own lives
Mass production of discontent
You’re not ok -- you need salvation
Message you’ll never hear -- “you’re ok”
A brief history of advertising
19th c. advertising was informational
Assumed people were rational
1920s: less about products, more about lives
Mass production of markets (consumers)
Too many goods, need to produce buyers
1950s: material utopia
“Not enough cheese consumed”
Case Study: WWI
Propaganda first used to build support
This is well documented
It was used as a lab for persuading the masses
People were no longer seen as rational
Remember Freud? Pavlov & his dog?
Real motivation was unconscious urges
People don’t respond as easily when they think; get them emotionally involved
Psychological impact
The effect of advertising is the opposite of therapy
Designed to create an inner conflict
You’re competing with everyone around you to be noticed, just like an ad
A “de-skilled” work force depends on selling yourself as a package
“Killing Us Softly” Jean Kilbourne
There’s always been an ideal of feminine beauty
However, it’s now thrust into our faces constantly, and it’s the same face; replicated by the millions
The ideal is not for spiritual inspiration
It’s only for selling products
If women don’t try to reach this perfection, the penalties are tremendous
Words vs. Images:
McLuhan’s right brain vs. left brain?
Truth & falsity are not important
Only the image (Marlboro Man)
Rational gives way to the irrational
Journalism gives way to advertising
Words give way to images
(“seeing is believing”)
We process images differently from words
We are a species searching for meaning through symbols, metaphors and images
Ads seek to become the “dreamlife” of the culture
People as objects
The first step toward becoming violent is to think of a person as not human
We value humans less when we are surrounded by images of them as objects (tribal cultures & photos?)
When women’s body parts are displayed separately from them as humans, they become devalued
What do we really want?
Things with social answers
A good social life
A good, strong family life
Romance
Leisure time
Meaningful work
Autonomy
How advertisers get us to think they can give these to us
They inject value into objects
We’re purchasing entrance to a magical, supernatural, technologically powerful world if we buy their products
More and more of our cultural space is co-opted by commercial interests
Limits other priorities, answers, questions
Consumption as destruction
Actually makes the process of our own destruction sexy, desirable, powerful
“Human destruction disguised as intense sensual experience”
Consumption = erotic spectacle
Power = beauty
Environmental consequences? Bad!
McLuhan: What does it flip into?
Where does it lead to when pushed to its limits?
We end up viewing our own destruction as entertainment
We see power as beauty
We see danger as an intense sensual experience
We see consumption as erotic
“premeditated waste”
We consume to find meaning and destroy meaning in the process
A healthy economy = sick environment
How are we affected?
Where things come from and where they go to is invisible to us
We believe that by buying more, we save more
Our consumption habits depend on scarcity in other parts of the world
What can we do? Does fun = commercial transactions?
Decontextualize advertising
Study it away from its environment (as we are)
Circumvent the mass media
Create your own media, use alternative media
We need MORE free speech, not less
Disengage, break the monopoly on speech
Consumer culture is not the ONLY culture
Where does advertising end and “I” begin?
Focus on quality of relationships, meaning of work
Appeals to our unconscious (id), the creation of our ego (identity) and our super-ego (image)
Advertising: A powerful form of education and propaganda
Doesn’t allow itself to be seen as either one, so it becomes even MORE effective
Considered too trivial to study because individual ads are stupid; therefore it’s not important
Individuals feel exempt from effects (“tune out”)
It includes a myriad of basic assumptions about how the world works: what’s “normal”
Encourages us to participate in cycles of consumption and disposal
It sells not only products, but values, images
A hypercommercial world, a “total environment”
We view at least 1500 ads per day
Effects are cumulative and unconscious
Water wasn’t discovered by a fish
Try getting a fish to think about water
(Remember McLuhan’s maelstrom?)
What is the impact of living in an ad-infused environment?
How can we know when we’re inside it?
Profit: A central organizing principle
To be consumers means that happiness can be bought
It’s an effective tool of socialization
We’ve been made uncomfortable in our own skins, our own lives
Mass production of discontent
You’re not ok -- you need salvation
Message you’ll never hear -- “you’re ok”
A brief history of advertising
19th c. advertising was informational
Assumed people were rational
1920s: less about products, more about lives
Mass production of markets (consumers)
Too many goods, need to produce buyers
1950s: material utopia
“Not enough cheese consumed”
Case Study: WWI
Propaganda first used to build support
This is well documented
It was used as a lab for persuading the masses
People were no longer seen as rational
Remember Freud? Pavlov & his dog?
Real motivation was unconscious urges
People don’t respond as easily when they think; get them emotionally involved
Psychological impact
The effect of advertising is the opposite of therapy
Designed to create an inner conflict
You’re competing with everyone around you to be noticed, just like an ad
A “de-skilled” work force depends on selling yourself as a package
“Killing Us Softly” Jean Kilbourne
There’s always been an ideal of feminine beauty
However, it’s now thrust into our faces constantly, and it’s the same face; replicated by the millions
The ideal is not for spiritual inspiration
It’s only for selling products
If women don’t try to reach this perfection, the penalties are tremendous
Words vs. Images:
McLuhan’s right brain vs. left brain?
Truth & falsity are not important
Only the image (Marlboro Man)
Rational gives way to the irrational
Journalism gives way to advertising
Words give way to images
(“seeing is believing”)
We process images differently from words
We are a species searching for meaning through symbols, metaphors and images
Ads seek to become the “dreamlife” of the culture
People as objects
The first step toward becoming violent is to think of a person as not human
We value humans less when we are surrounded by images of them as objects (tribal cultures & photos?)
When women’s body parts are displayed separately from them as humans, they become devalued
What do we really want?
Things with social answers
A good social life
A good, strong family life
Romance
Leisure time
Meaningful work
Autonomy
How advertisers get us to think they can give these to us
They inject value into objects
We’re purchasing entrance to a magical, supernatural, technologically powerful world if we buy their products
More and more of our cultural space is co-opted by commercial interests
Limits other priorities, answers, questions
Consumption as destruction
Actually makes the process of our own destruction sexy, desirable, powerful
“Human destruction disguised as intense sensual experience”
Consumption = erotic spectacle
Power = beauty
Environmental consequences? Bad!
McLuhan: What does it flip into?
Where does it lead to when pushed to its limits?
We end up viewing our own destruction as entertainment
We see power as beauty
We see danger as an intense sensual experience
We see consumption as erotic
“premeditated waste”
We consume to find meaning and destroy meaning in the process
A healthy economy = sick environment
How are we affected?
Where things come from and where they go to is invisible to us
We believe that by buying more, we save more
Our consumption habits depend on scarcity in other parts of the world
What can we do? Does fun = commercial transactions?
Decontextualize advertising
Study it away from its environment (as we are)
Circumvent the mass media
Create your own media, use alternative media
We need MORE free speech, not less
Disengage, break the monopoly on speech
Consumer culture is not the ONLY culture
Where does advertising end and “I” begin?
Focus on quality of relationships, meaning of work
posted by Louise Mengelkoch at 9:57 AM
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