Advertising

and Commercial Culture

 Our increasingly sponsored
lives
• David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest
• College football bowl games:
 Our increasingly sponsored
lives
• David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest
• College football bowl games:
– Nokia Sugar Bowl
– Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
– Fed Ex Orange Bowl
– Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
 Our increasingly sponsored
lives
• Sports facilities:
 Our increasingly sponsored
lives
• Sports facilities:
– Coors Field (Denver)
– United Center (Chicago)
– Fleet Center (Boston)
– Bank One Ballpark (Arizona)
– McLeod Arena
Our increasingly sponsored
lives

Where have you seen ads lately?

TV: 1 hour prime time TV
– 1988: 10:17 ads
– 1998: 15:40 ads
– 2004: 16:27
– 2005: 17:00
– 2007:
 Advertising History
• 3000 B.C. - ancient Babylon, shop
owners hung signs
• U.S: early 1800s -- first ad agencies
were space brokers. Bought
newspaper space and resold it.
• 1875: N.W. Ayer, first modern ad
agency, Philadelphia.
 Advertising History
• Late 1800s -- department stores and
patent medicines as major advertisers.
• Advertising invented “problems” that
needed to be solved by products
– E.g., Odor Oh No
– AXE soap
• Radio: first ad, 1922
– Advertise to people in their living rooms
– Targeted kids
– Sell soap on soap operas
• Slogans
– No More Tears (Johnson & Johnson)
– Nobody Doesn’t Like Sara Lee (Sara Lee)
– Nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the
oven (Pillsbury)
– Once you pop, you can't stop! (Pringles)
– M'm, M'm, Good! (Campbell's)
– Quality is Job 1. (Ford)
– Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Kellogg's Rice Krispies)
– See the USA in your Chevrolet. (Chevrolet)
 Advertising Today
• Influence of visual design:
– 1960s-70s -- European design
– 1980s --
 Advertising Today
• Influence of visual design:
– 1960s-70s -- European design
– 1980s -- MTV -- changes visual style for TV
ads, makes hit music part of advertising
– 1990s --
 Advertising Today
• Influence of visual design:
– 1960s-70s -- European design
– 1980s -- MTV -- changes visual style for TV
ads, makes hit music part of advertising
– 1990s -- the Internet
• Google
• Yahoo!
• MSN
 Advertising Today
Agencies
– Mega Agencies --
• Omnicom: $6.7 billion (21.5 %)
• WPP Group: $4.54 billion (14.6%)
• Interpublic: $3.65 billion (11.7 %)
• Publicis: $2.76 billion (8.9%)

• GOOGle: $16.6 billion

 Advertising Today
Agencies

– Boutique Agencies -- like Wieden &

Kennedy, Digital Kitchen, Peterson Milla
Hooks
 Advertising Today
• The Structure of Agencies

– Market Research - VALS (SRI Business

Consulting)
– Creative Development
– Media Selection
– Account and Client Management
 Persuasive Techniques
• Famous person testimonial
• Plain folks
• Snob appeal
• Bandwagon effect
• Hidden fear
• Irritation
• Unique selling proposition
 Persuasive Techniques
• Association Principle -- associate
product with a positive cultural image or
value
• Disassociation Corrolary
• Liberation Marketing - product takes the
language of rebellion, nonconformity
 Persuasive Techniques
• Myth Analysis
(Claude Levi-Strauss)

– Narrative -- tells us a story

– Binary Opposition - conflict
– Resolution
 Critical Issues in Advertising
1) Children and advertising
– Influence $500 billion in spending each
year
– Advertising in Schools
• Channel One
 Critical Issues in Advertising
2) Health and Advertising
– Eating Disorders
– Tobacco
– Alcohol
– Prescription Drugs
• Not advertised until 1997
• $4.7 billion in 2005
• FDA enforcement of misleading claims on the decline
 Critical Issues in Advertising
Advertising and Democracy
Broadcasters earned from political ads:
1996 -$400 million
2000 -$665 million
2004 -$1.6 billion
2008: $2.5 billion

Campaign ads are about 10% of total

revenue in those years. How does this affect
broadcasters’ support for campaign finance
reform?