The Brave New World of Advertainment

In 1957 social critic Vance Packard wrote his classic best-seller The Hidden Persuaders, in which he purported to reveal all of the secret techniques used by advertisers to dig deeply into the psyches of consumers and manipulate them. When interviewed 40 years later, Packard was still fuming over what he saw coming out of Madison

Avenue. Packard was angry not because advertisers had sharpened their brainwashing skills; rather, he was puzzled by modern-day advertising because it seemed to be unrelated to selling anything at all. He noticed that a change had taken place in the way marketers advertise their products, as there is now an obsession with images and feelings and a lack of concrete claims about a product and why anyone should buy it.

Packard was indeed correct in his observation that advertising has changed. However, what he failed to notice was that marketers have actually become less dependent on the traditional forms of mass-media advertising that he felt could be used to manipulate consumers. In the modern-day world of marketing, the debate is less over the ads that consumers see and hear and more about the persuasive messages they receive unknowingly. In recent years marketers have recognized that consumers are tired of the myriad of advertisements and other forms of promotion they are exposed to every day and are becoming very cynical about the sales pitches. To get around this problem, many companies are obliterating the line between marketing communications and entertainment by creating and delivering ads and other messages that appear to be part of popular culture. New-age marketers are redefining the notion of what advertising and other forms of marketing communications are and how they can be used. "Stealth messages" are being woven into our everyday lives, and as consumers we are often unaware of their persuasive intent.

Product placements have been around for years, and branded products are now commonplace in many movies and TV shows. However, the concept of paying to have a product or service promoted covertly has moved into other arenas, often without consumer awareness. Celebrities such as Lauren Bacall, Kathleen Turner, and Rob Lowe have appeared on talk shows and praised prescription drugs without revealing that the drug companies were paying them or making donations to their favorite charities in return for the endorsement. Producers of soap operas and sitcoms and even authors of best-selling books take money to build plots around certain brands of products such as makeup or jewelry. And of course marketers are hiring trendsetters to generate "buzz" for their products on college campuses and in trendy bars and nightclubs as well as other places. Many of the people who recommend products to us are actually pitchpersons in disguise who are being paid to deliver subtle promotional messages.

Belch: Advertising and I VII. Special Topics and I 22. Evaluating the Social, I I © The McGraw-Hill

Promotion, Sixth Edition Perspectives Ethical, & Economic Companies, 2003

Aspects of Advtising & Promotion

Critics of these stealth marketing techniques say they are tinkering with our minds. The executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy has called the phenomenon the "brand washing of America." Many advertising industry executives are worried that it could all too easily backfire, making consumers even more wary. Keith Reinhard, chairman of DDB Worldwide, has spoken out against the covert techniques, noting: "I'm against any form of deception. In the end, its bad business." Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has accused marketers of creating "prime-time infomercials" with no line between entertainment and ads. He notes, "What these people on Madison Avenue don't understand is, consumers will reach a saturation point. They'll reach a point where they just tip over and go, Tuck.'"

While many marketers realize that they may be alienating consumers with all of these stealth techniques, they argue that they really have no choice. That's because the old approach of relying on 30-second TV spots and other forms of mass-media advertising is becoming less effective. They note that digital video recorders such as TiVo will soon become as common as VCRs and give TV viewers the ability to banish commercials. Some media experts argue that commercial-supported free TV is an endangered species and marketers have to find new ways to reach consumers with their messages. Thus, like it or not, consumers are probably going to see more and more unexpected, and undercover, messages.

Many advertising experts argue that "branded content" is the wave of the future, and there is a growing clamor to reinvent advertising and other forms of marketing communications to be something more akin to entertainment. However, advertising and marketing watchdog groups such as Commercial Alert note that the memories of the movies and TV shows Hollywood is making today are being corrupted by commercialization that has mushroomed beyond mere product placement to include script doctoring and related sins. Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, argues that artistic concerns take a back seat when advertising is integrated into films and TV shows. He has also expressed concern over the effect "advertainment" will have on children who cannot identify or properly process the barrage of advertising messages directed at them, particularly when they are embedded in movies and TV shows.

Many argue that the Brave New World of adver-tainment and branded content will be exciting and cool. However, critics argue that people would like to have some places in their lives where they are free from ads and efforts to sell them something. Unfortunately, these places are becoming more difficult to find.

Sources: Daniel Eisenberg, "It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, World," Time, Sept. 2, 2002, pp. 38-41; Jennifer Davies, "Where Do Films Start, Ads Stop?" San Diego Union Tribune, Aug. 8, 2002, pp. C1, 3; Michael McCarthy, "Ads Are Here, There, Everywhere," USA Today, June 19, 2001, pp. 1, 2B.

If I were to name the deadliest subversive force within capitalism, the single greatest source of its waning morality—I would without hesitation name advertising. How else should one identify a force that debases language, drains thought, and undoes dignity?1

The primary focus of this text has been on the role of advertising and other promotional variables as marketing activities used to convey information to, and influence the behavior of, consumers. We have been concerned with examining the advertising and promotion function in the context of a business and marketing environment and from a perspective that assumes these activities are appropriate. However, as you can see in this quote from economist Robert Heilbroner, not everyone shares this viewpoint. Advertising and promotion are the most visible of all business activities and are prone to scrutiny by those who are concerned about the methods marketers use to sell their products and services.

Proponents of advertising argue that it is the lifeblood of business—it provides 750 consumers with information about products and services and encourages them to

22. Evaluating the Social, Ethical, & Economic Aspects of Advtising & Promotion improve their standard of living. They say advertising produces jobs and helps new firms enter the marketplace. Companies employ people who make the products and provide the services that advertising sells. Free market economic systems are based on competition, which revolves around information, and nothing delivers information better and at less cost than advertising.

Not everyone, however, is sold on the value of advertising. Critics argue that most advertising is more propaganda than information; it creates needs and faults consumers never knew they had. Ads suggest that children won't succeed without a computer, that our bodies should be leaner, our faces younger, and our houses cleaner. They point to the sultry, scantily clad bodies used in ads to sell everything from perfume to beer to power tools and argue that advertising promotes materialism, insecurity, and greed.

One of the reasons advertising and other forms of integrated marketing communications are becoming increasingly criticized is because they are so prevalent. Not only are there more magazine, newspaper, outdoor, TV, and radio ads than ever, but more and more public space is becoming commercialized. Advertising professor David Helm notes: "Between the stickered bananas and the ads over the urinals and the ones on the floor of the supermarkets, we're exposed to 3,000 commercial messages a day. That's one every 15 seconds, assuming we sleep for 8 hours, and I'd guess right now there's someone figuring out how to get us while our eyes are closed."2

As marketers intensify their efforts to get the attention of consumers, resentment against their integrated marketing communications efforts is likely to increase. As discussed in the opening vignette, concern is growing that there will be a consumer backlash as integrated marketing efforts move to new heights and marketers become increasingly aggressive. Diane Cook, a former advertising executive who founded the AdCenter at Virginia Commonwealth, says: "The growing practice of placing ads and logos everywhere seems a desperate last attempt to make branding work according to the old rules. As telemarketing, advertising, promotions and the rest continue at a frenzied pace, the value of the messages decrease. The system seems headed for a large implosion."3

Because of its high visibility and pervasiveness, along with its persuasive character, advertising has been the subject of a great deal of controversy and criticism. Numerous books are critical of not only advertising's methods and techniques but also its social consequences. Various parties—including scholars, economists, politicians, sociologists, government agencies, social critics, special-interest groups, and consumers— have attacked advertising and other forms of marketing communications for a variety of reasons, including their excessiveness, the way they influence society, the methods they use, their exploitation of consumers, and their effect on our economic system.

Advertising is a very powerful force, and this text would not be complete without a look at the criticisms regarding its social and economic effects as well as some defenses against these charges. We consider the various criticisms of advertising and promotion from an ethical and societal perspective and then appraise the economic effects of advertising.

In the previous chapter, we examined the regulatory environment in which advertising and promotion operate. While many laws and regulations determine what advertisers can and cannot do, not every issue is covered by a rule. Marketers must often make decisions regarding appropriate and responsible actions on the basis of ethical considerations rather than on what is legal or within industry guidelines. Ethics are moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group.4

A particular action may be within the law and still not be ethical. A good example of this involves target marketing. No laws restrict tobacco companies from targeting advertising and promotion for new brands to African-Americans. However, given the high levels of lung cancer and smoking-related illnesses among the black population, many people would consider this an unethical business practice.

Throughout this text we have presented a number of ethical perspectives to show how various aspects of advertising and promotion often involve ethical considerations.

Continue reading here: Social and Ethical Criticisms of Advertising

Was this article helpful?