Wado the words mean in th comext of pcagig ad adverts 7 Wn words doorionwsascinsus nics rnc 2. lat adrees the eader ayo throughout the essay Why do you think be waite nthe second peso? How dcs ths chee sect he in pot athe cscs overall exten? 3. eomnections | Compare Lists Seas! words’ with the various techaiucs in Donna Woolak Cross “Propeands: How Nef Be Bamboo” (p. 71). Atording toh epapnda vrs by ek ‘ng, by momentarily darating th fe wae the rate pops oat ‘em bereath the lth (par 2) Doe te leading langues tn Lies ey tensa of Woo Cos categorie? Beate “eas! word a propoganda 4 Late gives ql thin hs sy o et our awareness of tas, ‘Sats ad doesent nsvercng Chose an advenisanen nln, in magazin, on leon ahd examinee ngage Doct contin asl > Wha do tey mee oe keading or deliberately ambiguous? I the advertsement coming mags, do they theo, orredest utenon fom te rosa DONNA WOOLFOLK CROSS Propaganda: How Not To Be Bamboozled Bors 1947, Dons Wooo Crass graduated fram the University of Ponsa andoarned a masters degre in English from UCLA. She hs wten severed nonfiction books, including Word Abs: How the Words We Use Use Us/1979) and Mediaspeak How Televison Makes Up Your Mind (1954). She i also the author of novel, Pope Joan ‘In “Propagonda: How Not T> Be Bambootled,” Wooo. Cross Alves and classi a varity of logical alacies and propagenda tech rigues hat help shape or tides ona thousand subjects "She also pointedly rtnds readers not to presume We ae immune fo prope Enda, Indeed propagate use these sratepes reese they work According othe autor propaganda isa meats of persuasion tha cast te put to god uses or bad ones, Ax yu rad, conser how you dist tush betocen “goo en ad propaganda, When does i Sam just while? Propaganda. If an opinion pol were taken tomorrow, we can be sre that nearly everyone would be against it because it sounds 50 bad. When we say. “Oh, that’ just propaganda,” it means, to most people, "Thats a pack of Hes” But really, propaganda is imply 3 ‘means of persuasion and soit can be put to work for good causes as well as bad —to persuade people to give to charity, forexampe, (tto love their neighbors, ort stop polluting the enviroment. Fer good or el, propaganda pervades our daily lives, helping to shape our attitudes ona thousand subjects, Propagan prob hly determines the brsnd of tothpsate vou use, the movies tre the candidates you elect when you go to the polls, Prope anda works by ticking us, by momentarily distracting the eve ‘while the rabbit pops out from beneath the cloth. Propaganda{NAME-CALLING Asits tle suggests, this device consists of labeling people or ideas with words of bad connotation, itera, ali them sansa {ere the propagandist tre o arouse our contempt so wl tns the had name” person o den without examining is nec Bad names have played tremendously inportan tule the sory of the worl. They have ruled epuatons and ended fe, sent people to prison and to war, and fast gencaly me oe ina a eachother for centuries. eee Name-caling can be used against polices, practices, belief ul ideals, aswel as agaist individuals, groupe races eaooe Namescalling ig at work when we heat & candidate for tice described asa “foolish delist cra "we-faed liar whan aa Incuinbents policies are denounced as “veehless“reachoneeg? ‘just plain “tape” Seme of the most efoctve nares pubhe Sigur canbe called are ones that may not denote anything sp elie: “Congresswoman Jane Doe isa Heding heart” Wat te Note for funds to help paraplegies?) or "The sent le eo Wasinson!” Did happen to agree withthe president) Seng {or Yaatot uses name-calling whe he denounces hs oppencats ‘adie polices” and eal thn andi) "scala "pekoroed ba ofa Theat plot” He ls set when ell sal crs ‘huldlejumpers,” ean openers” and “moter baby Basa 1 Rhepointhre ith wen he pees se ee ae fhe doesn't want us‘ think ~ merely to react, blindly anngvecion ‘ng. So the best defense against being taken in by namsecaling is to top and ask, "Forgetting the bad name atached tot, what are the merits ofthe idea tse? What docs this name really mean, anyway?” 2. GLITTERING GENERALITIES Chivering generals ate relly name-calling in reverse. Name calling uses words with bad connotation: sitering geveralites fre words with good connotations ~"vitue words asthe Inst tute for Propaganda Analysis has called them. The inate explains that while name-calling tics to gt to reject and con: {fanm someone or something without examining the evklence, tliterin generalities fry to et us to aocpt and age without teaming the vidence ‘We believe in, ight for, live by “vstue words” which we fel deeply about “istic” “motherhood, “the American Way “Out Consitionsl rights” “our Chitin heritage” These sound 00d, but when we exatnine them closely they tum out io have no specific, definable mesning. They jst make us feel good. Senator ‘Yakalor uses gltring generalities when besa, I stand forall thats good in Amerie, fr ur American way and our American birthright” Bot what exactly is gad for America"? Hw can define out “Atnrian brthiight? fst what prt ofthe Annerican Society and etre does “our American way er to? ‘We often make the mistake of assuming we are personaly snaffcted by elitering generale, The next time you ind your Self assuming that, isten to political candidates speech on TV toes owen te ar tering geese cheers Sind applause. Thats the danger of propaganda; it works, Once again, ur defense agnns ts fo ask questions: Forgetting the vir words attached ot what are the erie ofthe dea ie? What docs “Americanism” (or Trcdom” or “rath’) really mea her? Toth name-calling and sitcring generalities work by string our emotions inthe hope that this will loud our thinking Another approach that propaganda uses Isto ceaea distraction, 4 "ved herig,” that will make people forget oF ignore the real isss. There ar several Kinds of red hecrings that canbe sed3. PLAIN.FOLKS APPEAL “Plain folks” be the device hy which a speaker tries to win our confidence and support by appearing to be a person tke oo Sches— "jst one of the plain folks” The plain-folke appeal feat work when candidates go around shaking hancls with factory ‘workers, hissing babies in supermarkets, and sampling pasta with Italians, ried ehicken with Southerners, bagels and blntzes with Jews. “Nove Im a businessman like yourselves" is plan elle ‘appeal as is "Twe been a farm boy all my life” Senator Yakalot ‘ies the plain folks appeal when he says, “Tm just «sallow boy like you fine people." The use of such expressions once prompted Lyndon Johnson to quip, "Whenever I heat someone ‘as. Tm just an old county laser the fst thing T seach for -my wallet to make sure if stil th ‘The irelevancy of the plain-folks appeal is obvious: ever if the ‘man fs “one of us" (which may not be true at all) that doesnt mean that his ideas and progratne are soundl—or even thet honestly has our best interests at heart. As with pitering gene lites, dhe danger ere is that we may snistaenly assume we are immune to this appeal. But propagandists wouldat use it unless it had been proved to work. You can protect yourselt by ashing, ‘Aside from his ‘nice guy next door” fmage, what does this sus, stand for? Are his ideas and his past record really supportive of 4. ARGU FeNrxB-RORLILLSEROKING) Aruonenuon ad populm means “argument to the people” or ing the people what they want to hear” The callout fom the Watergate era is “stroking,” which conjures up pictures ‘of small animals or children being stoked or soothed with com bliments until they come to like the person doing the compl ‘menting —and, by extension, his or het ideas, ‘We all ike t Bear nice things about ourselves and the group we belong to we like tobe liked —s0 i stands to reason tha ee will espond warmly toa person who tells us we ate “hand-working taxpayers’ or “the most generous, free-spirited ation in Ue “ world.” Politicians tell farmers they ae the “backbone ofthe Ace Jean economy” and college students that they ate the leaders sodpolicy makers of tomorow" Commercial advertisers use strok Ing more insiiously by asking 2 question which invites a latter ing answer: "What kind of man reads Playboy?" (Does he really drive a Porsche and own $10,000 worth of sound equipment?) Senator Yakalot is stoking his audience en he alls them the “decent law-abiding citizens that ae the great pulsing heart and the lifeblood ofthis, our beloved county.” and when he repeat aly refers to them as “you fine people” “you wonderful folk. CObsionsly the intent here ist sidetrack us from thinking cl fcally about the man and his ideas, Our awn good qualities have nothing to do with the ise at hand. Ask yourself, “Apare from the nice things he has to say about me (ancl my church, ny nation iy ethnic group, my nelghbors), what does the candidate stand for? Are his or er ideas in my bes interests” 5. ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINES Anguonentann ad ToTReRWREATSargument to the man" and thats exactly what itis. When a propagandist uss argument | ad hominem, he wants to distract our attention from the ise | nder consideration with personal attacks on the people involved, For example, when Lincoln fed the Emancipation Prclama. tion, some people responded by calling bm the “baboon.” But Lincoln'slong arms and awkward carriage had nothing todo with the merits ofthe Proclamation or the question of whether or not slavery should be abolished. Today argiomentiom ad hominern is still widely used and very effective. You may oF may not supper the Equal Rights Amend ‘ment but you should be sure your judgment is based onthe me tof the Idea Isl, and not the result of someone’ denunciation ofthe people who support the ERA as "fanatic" or "lesbuns” oF frustrated old maids” Senator Yakalot i using argusntn ad hominem when he dismisses the Idea of using smaller automo biles with a reference to the personal appearance of one of supporters, Congresswoman Doris Schlepp. Refuse to be wala by argument ad hominem and ask "Do the personal quaitics "Bal Rp Aenea propel cnaitinal amend deseo feed Wit edt te Hae sae Sm.ofthe person being discusted have ansthing to do with the issue [Stina Leaving him or her aside, how good is the ides itsll? ee ea Sexpert py at ezine Soe eee again when he mentions that Mr Sta Pott “sports a Fide Castro beard, ow can we lear to spot the transfer device and distinguish between the fair and unfatr associations? We can teach ourselves co suspend judgment until we have answered these questions: “Is there any legitimate connection between the idea under discus son and the thing is associated with? Leaving the transfer device out ofthe pcture, what are the merits ofthe idea by sell” Ever hear ofthe small, ratlke animal called the lemming? Lem mings are arctic rodents with avery odd habit periodically, for Feasons no one entirely Knows, they mass together in a large herd and commit suicide by nishing into deep water and drowning themselves. They ll ran in together, blindly, and not one of thet ver seems to stop and ask, "Why am I doing this? Is this really What I vant to-do?" and thus save itself from destruction, Obvi- ‘ously lemmings are driven to perform thelr strange ma suicide rites by common instinct People choose to "follow the herd” for ‘more complex reasons, yet we are stil all foo often the unwitting vietims ofthe bandwagon appeal Essentially, the bandwagon urges usto support an action or an ‘opinion because itis popular —because “everyone clse is doing it" This call to “get on the bandwagon” appeals to the strong desire in most of us to be one of the crowd, not to be let out oF alone, Advertising makes extensive use ofthe bandwagon appeal (loin the Pepsi people"), but so do politicians (Let us Join together in this gret cause”). Senator Yakalot uses the band wagon appeal when he says that "More and more citizens st rallying o my cause every day" and asks his audience to "join them—and me—in our fight for America." ‘One of the ways we can see the bandwagon appeal at work is 3 inthe overwhelming succes of various fashionsand trends which {apture te Interest (and the money) of thousands of people for = short time, then disappear suddenly ond completely Fora year or {son the ities, every child in North America wanted a coonskin cap so they could be like Davy Crockett; no one wanted to be Tell out. Alter that there was the hulachoop eraze that helped t0dislocate the hips of thousands of Americans. [hn the 1970s), what ‘made mllons of people rush out to buy their very own "pet rocks"? The problem here is obvious: just because everyones doing it doesnt mean that we should too, Group approval does no prove that something seo is worth doing. Large numbers of people Ihave supported actions we now eondenn, [Within the last cet tury], Hitler and Musslint rose to absolute and catatrophicaly fepressivw rule in two of the most sophisticated and cultured countries in Purope- When they came into. power they were welled up by massive popula support from silions of people ‘who dit want to be “let ot” at a great historical momen Once the mass begins to move—on the bandwagon—it becomes harder and harder to perceive the leader ring the band wagon. So dont bee lemming, rushing blindly an to destruction because “everyone is doing it” Stop and ask, “Whereis this band wagon headed? Never rind about everybody eke is this what is hes for me?” As we have seen, propaganda can appeal 10 us by arousing our tions or distracting our attention from the real Issues a hand But here’ a third way that propaganda can be put towork against us—by the use of faulty logic. This approach Is eally more ins os than the ther two Because itgives the appearance of reason able fairsrgument 13s only when we look more closely that the holes in the logical fiber show up. The folowing are some ofthe vices that make use of faulty logic ta distort andl mislead 8. FAULTY, Ashe name suggests, this device sets up a cause-and-effect rel Yionship that may not be true. The Latin nae for this logical {allay s posh eo propter hoc, which means “after this, there- fore because of this” But jst because one thing happened after another dorset mean that one caused the other, ‘An example of false cause-andefect reasoning is offered by the story (probably invented) of the woman aboard the ship Titanic, She woke up from a nap and, fsling seasick. looked around fora call button to suninon the steward to bring her some medication. She finally located a sill button on one af the walls of her enbin and pushed it, A split second later, the Teac razed an leabery in the leribie crash that vas to send the entire Ship tits destruction. The woman screamed and sai, "Oh, Go ‘what hase I done? What have I done?” The hursor of tht ance. dote comes from the absurdity of the woman's assamption that pushing the small re button resulted inthe destruction of a ship Wweighing sexeral hundred tons “It happened after ¥ pushed it Therefore it mast be because I pushed if" post hoe rea proptet hoc reasoning. Thee is, of course, no cause-and-effect relation ship there, The false cause-and-ffect fallacy is used very often by political candidates. “After I came to office, the rate ofinfistion dropped to 6 percent.” But did the person do anything to cause the lower rate of inflation or was it the result of other conditions? Would the rae of inflation have dropped anyway, even iT he hacnt came to pice? Senator Yahalot utes flee case and effect when he says “our forefathers who made ths country great never had free bot seal handout! And look what they dd for our county!” He does icagain when he concludes that “driving illszed ears means & better car safety record on our American roads today” alse cause-and-effect rensoning is trsbly persuasive because it seems so logical. ts appeal is apparently 40 experience. We swallowed X product—and the headache went away, We elected Y¥ official and unamployment went dossn. Many people think “There must be a connection.” But causality Is an immensely complex penemenon: you need a good deal of evidence o prove tat an event that fllows another i ime was "therefore caused by the fist event Dont be taken in by false cause and elfect; be sure to ask, “s there enough evidence to prove that this cause ed 1 tha elect? ‘Could thee have been anyother causes? 9, FALSE ANALOGY ‘An analogy is 2 comparison between wo ideas, events, oF things. Bur comparisons can be fairly made ouly when the things being compared are alike insignificant ways, When they are ot, flue mnalogy isthe res ‘A famous example of this is the old proverb “Donhorses in the middle ofa stream,” often used as an analogy to convince voters not to change administrations in the middle of \var or other crisis. But the analogy is misleading because there are so many differences between the things compared. In what ‘ways sa war or politcal erss lke a steam? Is the president or head of state really wery mc like @ horse? And ist nation of tullions of people comparable (o a man trying to get across a stream? Analogy is false and unair when ft compares two things that have litte im common and assumes that they are identical ‘Senator Yakalot tries to hoodtwink his listeners with fale analogy when he says, "ying to take Americans out ofthe kind of ears they low isas undemocraticas trying to deprive them ofthe right Of course, analogies can be drawn that are reasonable and fie 1 would be reasonable, for example, to compare the results of busing in one small Southera city with the possible resulls in another, the towns have the same kind of history, population, and school policy. We can decide for urseives whether an ana. 049s alse or fair by asking, "Are the things being compared truly like insignificant ways? Do the differences betwen them affect, ‘he comparison?” 10. BEGK JON Aciwally, the name ofthis device fr Fathersnisleading, because it {oes not appear inthe form of a question. Begging the question ‘oeeurs when, In discussing a questionable or debatable point, person assumes as already established the very point that he i ‘tying to prove. For example, "No thinking citizen could approne such a completely unacceptable policy as this one." But ist the ‘question of whether or not the polly is acceptable the very point 'o be established? Senator Yakalot begs the question when he announces that his opponents plan won't work "because it ‘enworkable,” We can protect ourselves against this kind of faulty logic by asking, "What is assumed in this statement? Is the assumption reasonable, or docs itmeed more proof?” 11, THE TWO-EXTREMES FALLACY (FALSE piesa) Linguists have long noted that the English language testo view realty in sels of two extremes oF polar opposites, In English, things ae either black or white tall or short, up or down, front or back, left or ight, good orbad, silky or not gutty We can ask for a “stiaightlarward yesconno answer” to 4 question, the under Standing being that we will not accept or consider anything in between. In fac, reality cannot always be dissoted slong sich sleet lines. There may be (usally are) more than just wo poss bilties or extremes to consider. We are often told to “stn t both sides ofthe argument.” Bit who's to say that every argument has only two sides? Cant here be a third —even a fourth ot filth—point of view? The two-extremes fallacy i t work in this statement by Lenin, the great Marxist eader: "You cannot eliminate one basic assump ‘ion, one substantil part of this philosophy of Marxism (iti a= iF ic were « block of stel), without abandoning truth, without falling into the arms of bourgcois-reactlonary falsehood.” In cther words, we dant agree 100 percent with every premise of Marxism, we must be placed at the opposite end of the pial economic spectrum—for Lenin, "bourgeoiseactionary false hood." If we are not entirely with him, we must be agains him, those are the only two possibilities open to ue. Of course this is logical alley; in eal ie there are any nme of politcal pos. tons one can maintain Between the two extremes of Marxisa and ptalism. Senor Yakalot uses the two-extremes fallacy in the Same way as Lenin when he tells is sudience that “in this world 4 man’ either for private enterprise or he's for socal, One ofthe most famous examples of the twoertremes fallacy in recent history Is the slogan, “Americ: Love itor leave it: with lis implicit suggestion that we either accept everything jst as itis in America today without complaint or get out. Agait, it should be obvious that there sa whole range of action and belief between those tno extremes, Dont be duped: stop and ask, “Are those really the only two options Tean choose from? Are there other alternatives not me toned that deserve consideration?”12, CARD STACKING Sofie GHESFons are so Mulifaceted and complex that ao one can make an intelligent decision about them without considering Wide varoty of exidence. One selection af facts could make us fel fone way and another selection could make ws fecl just the oppo- site, Card stacking i a device of propaganda which selects only the facts that suppor the propagandists point of view. and ignores all the others, Fr example, a candidate could be mad to look like a lepslave dynamo if you say, "Representative MeNerd introduced more new bills than any ether member of the Cot res," and neglect to mention that most of them were so prepos terous that they wore laughed off the floor. ‘Senator Yakalot engages in card stacking when he talks about the proposal to use smaller cas. He talks only about jobs without mentioning the cost 10 the taxpayers or the very real~—though still denied threat of depletion of resaurces. He says he wants to help his countrymen keep thelr jobs, but daesn' mention that the corporations that offer the jobs will also make large profits, He praises the “American chrome industry,” overlooking the ‘that most chrome is imported, And so on “The best protection against card stacking fs co take the “Yes but...” atitude. This device of propaganda is not untrue, but then again it isnot the whole truth, So ask yourself, “Is ths per son leaving something out that I should know about? Is there Some other information that should he brought to bear on this aqestion?” So fa, we ave considered three approaches thatthe propa sgandist can use to influence our thinking appealing t out emo tions, distracting our atention, and misleading us with loge that may appear to be reasonable but is infact faulty and deesiving, [But thereisa fourth approach thats probably the most common propaganda tick ofthe all 13, TESTINO: The testimonial device consists in having some loved or respected person give statement of support (testimonial) fora given pro let or idea. The problem s that the person being quoted may ot ean exper in the elds in fact, he may know nothing ta it Using the name of a man who is aklled and famous in one feld © give a testimonial for something in another fed is unfair aed ‘Senator Yakalot tres fo misled his audience with testimonial when he tells them that "fullsize cars have been pais by great Americans lke John Wayne and Jack Jones s wel as by leading experts on ear safety and conor. Testimonial is used extensively in TV ads, where it often appears in such bizarre forms as Joe Namatis endorsement ofa pantyhose Brand. Here, of couse, the “aathorits” giving the tet Imonial not only és no expert about pantyhose, but obviously stands 10 gain something (mones!) by making the testimonial When celebrities endorse 2 politcal candidate, they may not 5° bbe making money by doing s0, but we should still question whether they are in any beter postion to judge than we 04 Selves. Too often we are willing to let others we like oF respect make our decisions for us, while we follow along acquiscently. And this I the purpose of testimonial—ta get us to agree aid ‘without Stopping to think. Be sure to sk, “Is thre any Feason to believe that this person (or organization or publication or whatever) has anv mare knowledge or information than | do ‘on this subject? What does the idea amount toon its ow mits, ‘without the benefit of testimonial? ‘The comerstone of democratle society i reliance wpon ait informed and eclucated electorate. To be Tally effective citizens ‘we need 19 he able to challenge and to question wisely. A danger tus Tecing of indifference toward our political processes exists today. We often ahandon ourright, our day, octeiz and eval uate by dismissing al pollcians as “crooked,” all new bills and proposals as “Just more government burestictaey” But thee are important distinctions to be made, and this kind of apathy can be fatal co democracy Ifwe are 1 beled, let ws not beled blindly, but eriically intel ligentl, with our eyes open. Hr we are 1 continse to bea govern ‘ment “by the peopl,” et ns become informed abut che methods and purposes of propagands, so we ean be the masters, not the Slaves of our destinyyr Discussion and Writing ow would you define betting the seston” in your own words? ‘Whi doer te author lim tt the name oft devise father. misleding (par 3)? Wool Cross ase many examples in her ona: What dierent de of cxaraples dove she uses bow woud you etegoriv theo? [sth way do they help to seuerure hr argument? Which ones do ‘connections In “Fhe Uline Marketing Machine” fom the ‘Ezowost (p97), the vrs Suggest that een people who are Increasingly imine vo the techniques, cces, nd pho er tg on een and older mata may be more sveptne a ae "ising ast exis online. Do you think propaganda fe aated by ‘eam? Are some propsasta techniques beter std to ee ‘sion rte Intmet? How might diferent media forms make fro ‘sande moe dificult recopnze-~and more elective? Find an example of propaganda—an advertisement politcal "peech film an imge, a public service campaign an appeal to ‘hus, and soon and sabe throws the lens of Weal Cost’ essay What makes it propegandisti? Wha techniques does use? How door cence ur nt t think but ores, Badly, enqussion leg par)? Your cxample might more sublet Wool (Chota which ed to be Obvious JASON TANZ Selling Down: The Marketing of the Hip-Hop Nation Jason Tb, 1974 isa senor editor at ined magazine that covers teclmology ants fects on cure, politics, and the economy. He has titan forthe New York Tires, Esquire, Spin deter publications Tine aso the azhor of Other Peoples Property: A Shadow History ‘of Tip-fop in White America (2007), whic examines the asin tion of hip-hop music and culture into the American mainstream ‘As you read “Selling Down: The Marketing ofthe Hipp ation td from Tac’ book), consider how once subversive or edgy” Subculaves become integrated int the mainstream. What specif tapes of hipsop have led ot assination? Yo, Blood... You wan fresh? Bea playa fost of your posse ind hood to have your ticked out wari’ dub? If om et de Bling yu sot haved juice. Tabi’ cheddar ere, oo. ersp Beans. Lots of em. Then our ris be ek Yeu, iyo wanna be da bomb... hat’ gy you rnaophytes.-the tire of choice for ie ide of choice has become the color of coo big, blak Pelt. Bigger the bee. ‘east tha what rel Tre North America Tc execs, Sigmund J, Mikolsfzyk,"Hlp-Hop Help Tine Busines, November 8, 2004 1 tend to grow paranoid when I think about advertising nd mar keting, Can you blarne me? Tc san industry that seems to tive by tapping into our deepest fear, insecurities, ansieles, andaspirations. Edward Bernays-—Sigmnd Freuds nephew, who i ‘considered the father of modem public eations-—deew om his ancl theories of the subconsciotis to craft hi marketing cac Dalgas. Inhis 1928 book, Propaganda, he wrote that "the truer Ing power of aur country” belonged fo those who could practice ‘the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions ofthe masses." Almost thirty years Ite, [ls 1987 book The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard argued that some adverusers were “systematically Teeling ut our hidden ‘weaknesses and frailties inthe hope that shey can more efficiently influence our behavior"? Today, consultants promise markets tha they can use psychological techniques to uncover consi: fxs’ subliminal desires. One of the most successful marketing consultants a former child psychiabist named Clotaite Rapaille that his company excels at tapping into our rept in “Most of the time, people have no dea why theyre doing what thes'e doing,” he said “I's fascinating to Uy to lunderstand, to break the code” hed now levels when [saw a recent tle: vision advertisement for T-Mobile, a cellphone company, that Scems to crack my own personal code and tap direc fato my reptilian brain. The ad begins in a bowling alle, where a tll attractive Arican American man i engaged ina celephane con ‘ersation. From the snippet that we can hear °So, you want me {© come over tonight? Thats cool), he sounds as if he has just secured some bigtime sexual guarantee. Jus then, with a sami Fal scream, 4 small Aslan man wearing a powder blue jumpsuit runs across the sereen and wraps himself around the black mans thigh. He is, ft turm= ont, a representative from Poser Mobile, the phone company the black guy is sing, and he's fined by bx others, all of them ronblack they appear io be white, Laing, and Asian), and all dressed in ridienlosly oversized and outa date hip-hop fashions. “Poser Mbile says youre out of prepaid min utes, yo!” the Aslan man announces, and when the black guy Pro tests, he shouts back, "Fees, shor! Fees!” But his abvious int thenvicty makes it hard to take him seriously and the protagonist Just grins and calls the gang “clowns.” The Poser Mobile team stares silently for a second before breaking into n painfully Ccacophonous and arthythmic bout of bestboring. Eventually the black man leaves fo pice up a phone from T-Mobile To Go, which Jets hlim avoid the hidden fees—and fake posturing —ol Poser Mobile. “Sualaht up prepaid the ad closes, "suppose that fam meant co identify withthe black gu; a cool customer under siege from eluelese marketers hoping to fap into hie prefered lifestyle in order to sell him products. But {don't fdentty with the Poser Mobile guys, They remind ine of sy own embarassing atiempis to prove myself ax fullfledged mer ber of the hip-hop community: Whether EMobile’ marketers intended fo oF not, they have brought up a long series of uncon fortable memories the time alized that everybody a the Third ‘World Centr at my college was Inughing at my dancing, the tine that the Digable Planets dismissively refered tome and. my fiends as “evils the time thae guy laughed at my Malcolm X hat: the palpable ansety and selfub I felt sa many times when Thad to inter "help but think, Is this working? Are they buying i? Am La poser? But apparently all ofthat unease and despair wasn't the product of history or ior frustration or inequity. just wasn using the igh ‘One of hip-hop’s most powerful and elusive promises is that it will help us come fo terins with, understand. and mayne even participate in blackness. That we cay change oursches through ‘ur listening. make ourselves beter and more comfortable and ‘more accepting and accepted than we ae. That roth hip-hop, \We can become down—completely and utteriv comfortable with, and de facto members of, the black community, And because flown is one of those unattainable states of grace that we can "symptoicall approach but never actually achleve-—like supreme self-confidence or utter peace or Zen-like enlightenment —we Koop coming back over and over asin, ‘We all Know that marketers thrive by exploiting urges and desires that ean never be setisied, and at long lst i seems that knowingly of not, they have stumbled upon our neverending aquest ta be dows. Hip-hop has always tossed up rapperapproved Signifiers, commodities that promised to grant down status to anyone that consuines them” Adidas sneakers, Cross Colours ssveatsirts, Cazal glasses, basketball jerseys, the muse iselt Now marketers hase enlisted hip-hop ta extend that promise to a‘mind boggling array of products, aching deep into the heart of Imainstrenm Americs, White kids seeking 8 hip-hop stamp of approval are encouraged to buy slacks at JC Pen, which used Black Sheep's "The Choice Is Yours to score a recent ad cam paign. They ean go backioschool shopping at Target, which epurposed Sir MiA-Lots "Baby Got Back, an infamous ode to the black female form, as “Baby Got Backpacks.” Virwally any footwear white kids care to select can offer them a shot of hip hhop credibility; they ean pick up Ludacrisendersed Pumas, oF Jay Zapproved Reebok, or "Hunicanes "sneakers designed by the gangsta-rap sensation The Game. I they dom fel ike gesting '8 EMobile phone, they can grab one from Boost Mobile, a Nextel brand with an ad campaign that features such luminaries a Fat Joe and Eve, and a tapline—"Where You At"~that positively ‘rips with hip-hop stitude, “For beter or wore, for good orev hiphop has became s weapon of choice for marketers,” says Rob Schwartz, exeeutve director ofthe Los Angeles office of TBWA\ ChiatDsy, an adverising agency ‘Of coure, part of hip-hop’ appeals that its impenetrable to exactly the kind of poopie who tend to run stodgy major corpors ons. Fornntly for the captains of industry, there are now jozens of boutique marketing, advertising, and publicreations firms dedicated to guiding big businesses through the someimes forbidding landscape of the urban marketplace, In 200, the pe former then known a P. Diddy created Blue Flame Market Advertising to help corporations tp into the next wave of tate ‘makers. Steve Stoute former manager ofthe acclaimed rapper Nas, formed Translation, an agency tht has helped isk branes sich as Crest and Reebok. to high-profle hip-hop stars. The Web Site for Burvell Communications, an advertising firm, promises that it can "make your logo the next hot ankle tatoo,” while ‘describing the Afican American market asthe fms "specialty of the hous.” Moris Rei, the managing director of Westin Rine hart,» Washington, D.C., publi afta rm that works wih mal: tinational business and government agencies, deseribesthe ser vice that urban masters provide thusly: "Tm the person tha an tel you what's going on inthe hood, and Tean also come into ‘your boardroom and not seate anyane””tis not hard o sce why corporations would tum to hipchop 28 4 markting platform. Ftst sind forcmon lt overahetaingly Feopular the clue of tenage Amer and this mae tthe i tus franca that any fete marketer must speak urthemore, Compared 0 oer social movements, hip-hop seems to lend oa paricelrly wel to marketing messages From its ay day hs bred he distinction between rt and adversng: rai writers splashed thts tags across subway ans a a ay of creating roll ingblboars for themselves the fet MICs acted as pitches who existe solely to praise the Dé lls and ge te cow ed up (Coda that oes played by the appropriately naancd “hype man and rapers trod themselves ito supersero icon, eng he Selves new nares, creating logos, sd adopting certain verbal ties—for instance, the watynincics rap dao Das PPX fone for dropping “ley” into the middle of words to define hem. selves as entertainers More than anshing es, hip-hop has boon about marketing.” Jameel Spencer the prosdent of Bue Flame Marketing + Averising, tol the Nov York Times in 2004 "Youre creating bral for youl” Neison George ha writen that hip. hop arose as away of “announcing nck ceatene ihe eat Could there be any beter defniton ofthe pals of marketing? ‘But if hip-hop rose to power asthe woe of the stcets h does it mean that one a those sticts snow Madson Sveti? Ia iny cruster moments, itis easy for me to conclude that hip-hop has gone from black peoples CNN to everybodys Home Shon. ping Network, And these moments have heen coming faster sed nisi Phave ane almost evry time 1 turn on MEV and find myself wondering whether de iPods and Sidekicks and Hummes {hat pop up never hipehop video are pa plugs Thave one hen og on to Business Weeks Web sit and rend about conference puttogtir by he youth martin don of can Erion In which'a group of rappers took the stage in font of brand representatives of corporation inching Wends, LOveal, and Verizon Wireless tell hem “wat kind of sponsorchip and ‘marketing deals they woul be interested nT had anther one "Nano Gere oy Amie (eng, 1985 14, when I Jearned about American Bandstand, @ survey by @ San Francisco marketing frm, Agenda In. thst tracks the number of mes that brand names are mentioned in the songs that make up {he Blboord Top 20, ‘Why does this bother meso much? Partly because Fm clinging tosome pretty qusint notions of artistic purity Blame the Romar tics, They're the ones who, in the nineteenth century, came up ‘with the idea tht ast had « duty to oppese the compromises land corruptions of mainstream society. And thats been a har latitude to shake It led to dhe ides of the councercuiure, which held thatthe only tmie enlightenment could came from living fon society's margins. The countercalture has given ws Giacomo Puccinfs Le Bolime and Ralph Waldo Emerson's and Henry vid Thoreau retreats hack to nature. After World War Il, the counterculture Becaine a defining cement of American if, Underiying the promise of the best, folk, hippte, eck, and ppunk movement. Infact, one of the great ironies ofthe counter Eultre Ib that its ideals of nonconformity and independence are 0 widespread that they have become integral pars of the mai Stream soctety that the counterculture was crested to counter. I. ‘was these ideals that drew me to hip-hop in the frst place. Who ould imagine that music 20 dificult, so aggressive, so black ‘Would ene day be nsed to sll backpacks? Tf this makes me a curmudgeon, at least Lam not slone. “I think what made hip-hop compelling to white kids is that it Seemed to exist outside the corporate-driven suburban monot Sno. says Douilas Rushkoft, 2 social theorist and writer of = Fronaline documentary, “The Merchants of Cool,” about youth ‘marketing, The function of hip-hop in the early days was to gal ‘ace its audiences around certain kinds of values~—ol pride, of Facial unity. of urban creasivity. It was relatively hard to listen to "The Message’ and not go, ‘Whoa, There's something happening here." But now, when Tisen t hip-hop, I thin, Is this going to stay at number two? Is this going to be on a commercial? Are those diamonds in his teeth feal” Thats a very different set of auestions But hip-happers tend not to share my enistrust of corporate culture, Indeed, in hip-hop America, marketing is the sincerestform of flattery. Witness the response to Sprite’ mi-1990s "Obey Your Thirst advertising campaign, one of the most influential and successful of the deeade, Between 1994 and 1997, Sprite pro diced television advertisements featuring some of hip-hop most respected stars, Including A Tribe Caled Quest, Grand Pula Large Professor, Pete Rock, CL. Smooth, KRS-One, MC Shan Nas, AZ, Eve, and Missy Elliot. By the end of the campaign Sprite, previously 2 distant second to 7-Up, held # dominating lead in the lemon lime category. The campaign also proved tha, unlike other musical movements that gestured toward ideolog cal purity and athentiity hip-hop fans would not necessarily febject to tholr cultures commercialization. Far from being shunned as an exploiter, which is how many Beatles Tans ponded to Nike when the company sed the group "Revol ton” to scorea sneaker ad, Sprite was enthusiasjally welcomed 84 fledged member ofthe hip-hop community. “Back in 1994, hip-hop artists didnot have big budgets with which to caret dbemselves,” Darryl Cobbin, ane of the exec Lives credited with creating the Sprite campaign, tells me." "You didnot have major companies platorming the culture. You had couple of them that were dabbling in jingles, but not truly under Standing the culture. We began to creat a platform for those rap- pers that were most authentic and eredile to talk about thls ure, ad to use ‘Obey Your This as a vessel to fill with the ‘creativity that is hiphop. And that helped hip-hop... this 's ‘wat the best companies do. Fd a way to help advance the el ture and you wall berewsrded.” sounds cartoonish that people were bigupping [praising] products for using hip-hop, Alan Light the former editor in ehiet Of Vibe, says." “Bot atthe time there was so much feat, so mitch "sistance [1 hiphop from mainstream and corporate Ametica that it meant something,” 1 doesnt mean that mich anymore, Now, almost every youth rmarketer recognizes the power and appeal of hip-bop. And while itwould be nce to conclude that today's massive comporateinves- mens are coming about a8 result of a sincere desire to help spread the culture—-or even a desire to sell product to the inner city black customers who constitute hip-hop coe audience —its far more kely that big business soes hip-hop as a means vo a ‘ore familiar end: the wallets ofa those white kids out there, Black kids are what are knot in the industry as “influencers,” group of consumers who have an inordinate impact on the tastes Bnd behaviors of the rest of the country. As TvanTuzang, the head of a Philadelphia frm that specializes in marketing to urban ‘oth, told reporter "IFyou den’ target the hardcore, you don tet the suburbs" And so corporations go after the urban market because they've realized the truth of what the editorinchief of Frontera magazine triumphantly concluded in an opinion piece that ran inthe Daily Nes of Los Angeles back in 1997: "Middle American teens and twentysomethings dont want to buy prod ucts pitched by suburban kids who look just like them." Nat everybody views this as something to celebrate. Hae ward University’ Douglas Holt and Sulit B. Schor—matketing esearchers who, i is safe to say, are no fans ofhip-hop—have argued thatthe street image “has proven to be & potent commod fey because its asthetc offers an authentic threatening edginess that is very attractive both to white suburban kids who perpet ally recreate radical youth eultare in relation to their parents Conservative views about the gheto, and to urban cultral elites Tor wham it becomes a form of cosmopolitan radial chie™* ‘But Daryl Cobbin, the creator ofthe Sprite campaign, wo is African American and felong hip-hop fan, seas differen: forces at work. He tells me that hip-hop sueceeds asa markeding plat form because it connotes values that people simply eannot help ‘but respond to. “Whats more honest than an MC describing ‘whats happening in his neighborhood?" he says. “Who is mors sili than a b-boy rocking his block on a piece of cardboard? ‘Obey Your Thirst’ means trast your instinct, bo tre to yoursel and athers, and operate with confidence and swagger: Tha! for us Fepresented what hip-hop cultures all about Ashe tll me this, Teantthelp bat notice that all ofthese adjectives honest, stylish, ets. Doe “Lcting Wher At” ul Ns of a nls, ry 24 ‘hit B. Schor, Bom a Buy: Te Commercial Cli andthe New Conse?Instinctive, tre, confident, swaggering—prety neatly describe all the characteristics that, in my younger day, in the deepest, eaches of my subconscious, Talay flt tha lacked and that | assumed those mysterious, authentic Black folks possessed in sundance, Nore My study of the nexus between commerce and culture was greatly aided by Thomas Frank's Conquest of Cool (University of Chicago 1997) and by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potters Nation of (HarperCollins, 2004). The PBS Proniline documentary “The Persuader directed Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin was also very helpful For Discussion and Weting ‘ane writs,“ ot hard to ste why corpnstlons would tien 2 Tipshop asa marketing platform (pat 2) What rnsons dos ten one) be consn olan man ps Ho does sop onnecthona InThe End of White Amar” (p14) Hs Spas cursocley bexpeencing "Uap of macau ieteer prc (ga 90) a0 -pop cle oy ral rod Mediated clon tat somo a ey ‘y-nessp ubone” (gu 5) bo you te Haus mee the authors! arguments and conclusions similar? How are they igen 4. Ta das that hp has alas a ats and dent bran promoting rapperapgrowt sgniers comedies tit ‘ads sneaker, Cross Colours sweats, Cara lasses, basicball fra he musi tet (ga 3, Thnk ai be anda your Cif om he ter od wea oe schocs ya tan tended Doyo ee hats legate arc of serpin and BOOP esr Wit de Yor brands ny aa a? THE ECONOMIST The Ultimate Marketing Machine Despite its mame, the Beanomise covers issues besides economics, including international pits, work! news, ceiewc, elution, and the ats, The London-based magazine, founded i 843, ix knows For ter elite readarsip es global perspective, and its ardestated prose le, The Eoonomist generally ovoid giving Bln, striving intend fara nied editorial voice ha some indry anu precise, wie ates find stuffy aed pretentious, In his 2006 atc, the magazine analyzes the preset sate—oed future prospects--of marketing ard advert tthe Internet, As ow read, consider your ow experiences a ah ‘online consumer Do ow find Internet advertising relevant” Fa, "or In torms of eficenc, if not sz, the advertising industry is only now starting to grow out ofits eenturslong infancy, which might be called “the Wanamaker era.” It was John Wanamaker, 2 devoutly Christan merchant from Philadelphia, who in the 18703 not only invented department stores and price tags (to eliminate hagaling since everybody should be equal before God and pric), Dbut also became the first modern advertiser when he bought space in newspapers to promote his stores. He went about tina (Christian way, neither advertising on Sundays nor fibbing (Uhus rminting the concept of “uth in advertising". And with is pre Cs business ming, he expouinded a witticism that has ever sincs ‘seemed like an economic law: “Half the money T spend on adver tisngs wasted” he said, The trouble’, Ldn kaw which hal” ‘Wanamakers wasted half f not entirely proverbial. The world ‘wide advertising industry Is kay tobe worth $428 billion in rev- tenues this year, sccording toZenithOptimedia, a market research firm. Grex Stuart, the author ofa forthcoming book om the indus: tay and the bose of the Interactive Advertising Burest, a trade ”