Advertising: Science or Art

I don't know about any of my classmates (except for McClone), but i was somewhat irritated when we looked into how advertising worked last week. Though i am generally pretty skeptical of advertising anyway, just seeing and talking about how advertising agencies play on social fears made me feel like the entire industry is designed to manipulate us past seeing the actual products that they are trying to sell, and instead makes us think about what other people will think of us if we buy the product or not. It's just not right!

Anyways, there is often a debate about whether advertising is an art or a science, or both. Based on what i know of advertising, i feel that while it is definately a mixture of the two, it is the science aspect of the advertising that is dominant. I have a little insight to this because my dad works in the market research business, which more or less means that the company he works for collects research on consumer behaviour. Through seeing some of his work and talking to him about it, i was surprised by how much effort companies put into knowing how their customers act; who buys what, when, and why they do it.

It doesn't seem to matter what the product is, big or small, cheap or expensive, they all go through this process of understanding what the consumer wants, from underwear to luxury cars. For example, today i learned about reinforcement advertising, where advertisements are specifically designed simply to reinforce the buyers decision after they already own the product, as if to convince them that they made the right choice. Supposedly this is common in car commercials.

Either way, our class last week regarding advertising just made me more aware of what i actually see when i see a commercial, and though i am no longer irritated by them, i am definately more intrigued to figure out what the advertisers were thinking when they made the comercial.

Will The Depression Be Good For America?

The other day we were talking about how material possessions and technological advancements do not necessarily lead to happiness, shown by the fact that many impoverished countries rank higher on a supposed "happiness scale" than America does. When Mrs. Logan suggested that the new depression could possibly be good for America in the long run, i was intrigued to see if anybody had already written about this online. I ended up finding an post from a liberal news and opinion site called OpEdNews. The post, written by Gene Messick, talks about how when the first great depression came, it forced Americans to reflect upon how they conducted their lives, not only in a business way, but in how they were willing to live without what they had been taking advantage of beforehand. The author argues that out of greed and laziness, the lessons learned from the first Great Depression were forgotten, and once again we have managed to end up in the same situation.
The post is not pessimistic, however, it talks about how this time round, we are better equipped as a country to deal with the depression and learn from it, and how it may teach us to be more responsible with the way we live our lives. Maybe as a country we will start to detach ourselves from greed, and live comfortably instead of extravagantly. Or maybe not. Either way, the depression is a vehicle driving us to actually reflect upon ourselves instead of living in ignorance and neglect.
This idea, along with the idea that people can actually be happier with less "stuff" makes me feel like in the long run this depression will be good for Americans. A quote from one of my favorite movies, "Fight Club", states that "The things you own end up owning you". I think that people get more worried the more they own, for they are constantly dealing with their upkeep and security, dealing less with their own lives, and more with the focus on their belongings.
Hopefully this depression works as a wakeup call that maybe the materialistic way of life is not the way to happiness, and Americans can start to change their ways for the better of themselves, the economy, and the environment.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-a-Depression-Will-Be-G-by-Gene-Messick-081224-679.html