Marketing and Advertising Factors

Reflection of Marketing and Advertising
Introduction
Even before I enrolled in this particular class, I realized the value of marketing and advertising as it relates to social interactions and society in general. However, after taking this class, listening to the lectures, reading the sources for it, and watching videos about this subject as well, I now realize that essentially, marketing and advertising are all around us. These two aspects of business are constantly in the lives of consumers, and play a significant part in the way we come to think about both society and even ourselves.
The impact these two disciplines have is extremely significant. The “Merchants of Cool” documentary and the class notes indicate that marketing and advertising actually affects how we feel about ourselves, who we are as people, and ultimately, impact the things we buy. In this regard, as critical thinkers it is pivotal for us to realize there are both positives and negatives associated with marketing and advertising, and it is important to discern the differences between them.
The Positives of Marketing and Advertising
As the thesis of this paper denotes, there are actually several ways in which both advertising and marketing are able to produce positive effects. Although these benefits pertain to different facets of society, they also operate at the intersection of sociological issues and those relating to economics. I think an excellent example of this fact is found in some of the philosophies of Henry Ford, one of the pioneering automotive manufacturers. Obviously, there are many ways in which having cars is useful for families; practically every family should have, if not outright needs, such a vehicle. Marketing and advertising helps fulfill this sociological necessity by contributing to economic factors that make it a reality. One of the boons of these business domains is they contribute to reduced pricing. They are the primary ways in which consumers become aware of products, realize their advantages, and desire to purchase them. I realize that without these business domains, many customers and potential customers would not know that such products even exist. Since advertising and marketing help increase product awareness and demand for certain goods, these factors enable producers to maintain relatively low costs.
Therefore, there is almost a cyclical effect of which marketing and advertising are an integral component. By communicating the creation and utility of products to people, they keep costs relatively low. Thus, more people are able to buy things which, in the case of the vehicles and automotives, provide tangible sociological value. The ramifications of these facts in and of themselves also are important to this virtual cycle. By spurring market adoption rates of products, marketing and advertising enables people to consume more. I think this fact leads to the creation of jobs and opportunities for employment. Again, there are obvious economic benefits providing places for people to work to make, sell, and even market and advertise the vehicles Henry Ford helped pioneer. But equally valuable are the sociological repercussions, which enable people to have higher qualities of life via the ability to earn money and provide for their families in doing so.
Another unambiguous way in which marketing and advertising are positive business concepts pertains to issues of morality, which I think is important. Quite simply, these disciplines are some of the more effective ways to convey messages which have moral value to us. The examples of this important fact are almost too numerous to name, yet include the “Don’t Drink and Drive campaign which “does good. That’s moral.’ ‘And the Give Blood ads…they’re good too. And some charity adverts…” (1). Each of these examples showcases the power of marketing and advertising in effecting positive objects. Those objectives correlate to each of the examples. For example, the Don’t Drink and Drive Campaign saves lives. Also, campaigns urging people to donate blood can save the lives of people in need of transfusions, while drastically increasing the quality of life of those in need transfusions. Advertisements, marketing campaigns, and adverts convincing people to donate to charity help the disadvantaged and needy to get some of the basic necessities which they otherwise might not get. In each of these ways and the countless others which are applicable, “ordinary men and women in the street benefit directly” (2). I believe there is definitely a moral component to the positive nature of advertising and marketing.
I think it is also important to realize all of the different people who are positively impacted by marketing and advertising. These people do not just include the needy, but those who are more immediately involved in the marketing and advertising verticals as well. One of those groups of people is the employees working and organizations which market and advertise to customers. Advertising and marketing is a means of generating revenue so these employers can “employ and manage sizable numbers of employees”, who have jobs partly because of the earnings from these disciplines (3). I think the media benefits of advertising and marketing are also considerable. Most of the advertisements seen by people take place in various media. In the United States, advertisers’ expenditure “reaches 100% of all broadcast media” (4)—which is an enormous percentage. I also realize that advertisements help fuel creativity since there are many examples in which “numerous writers and artists worked in advertising agencies before becoming established in their own rights” (5). After considering all of these different categories, it seems clear to me that there assuredly many positives associated with marketing and advertising.
The Negatives of Marketing and Advertising
However, this course has also helped me to understand all of the different ways in which marketing and advertising can actually have a negative impact upon society and consumers. It seems to me there are two main ways in which these domains negatively impact society. The first is the reality is that advertising has the potential to manipulate, mislead, and emotionally charge large amounts of groups of people. Secondly, it can truly undermine religion and subvert its true principles as a means of simply selling items; or use religion for capital gain. Mara Einstein actually details the first of these phenomena extremely well in her book Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. This work not only indicates the different forms in which advertising and marketing are highly influential, but also how that influence can actually prey upon the psychological and even emotional vulnerabilities which many people have—especially when they are dictated by huge corporate machines and the money they regularly disseminate to the media to propagate their own advantages.
It seems to me that one of the biggest dangers about this negative aspect of marketing and advertising is it threatens to turn everything into a commodity—even people and different aspects of their lives. Oftentimes, products are marketed as the answers to some of our deepest fears, hopes and beliefs. When I think about this fact, it seems as though marketers and advertisers are actually preying on people’s ideas about themselves and each other. Einstein suggests one of the effects of the power of advertising is “We live in a never ending onslaught of fearful messages—you’re too fat, your face/body/teeth aren’t perfect, you drive the wrong car…” (6). I think advertisements and the media spend a lot of money for people to condone these beliefs which they are actually instigating. When I think about this fact, it seems marketing and advertisements have the power to control the way we think. I am not sure if I like that idea.
Essentially, I have learned that advertisements and marketing campaigns can really harm people and bring out the worst in them. These different business areas are always pointing out things that are supposedly wrong with people, but in a way that makes it seem like they just have solutions to help people be better in some different aspect of life. Those solutions, I have noticed, almost always have to do with buying their product or using their services. This tendency is discussed at length in the Merchants of Cool documentary, which is about how marketers and advertisers are almost dictating what people should like and, by extension, do. Specifically, this video discusses the fact that millennials or teenagers today are being “targeted” by corporate America’s marketing and advertising departments for their “disposable incomes”. However, these campaigns make these young, “impressionable” people think they have to buy these different products to fit in or, for people to think they are cool. Preying on teenagers in this way is detrimental to their self esteem, which is why I think marketing and advertising has a negative impact on society.
One thing I learned that really surprised me was that the tendency for marketing and advertising companies to manipulate people’s thoughts and feelings actually started quite some time ago. For example, the idea that many girls and women are chasing today of the so-called perfect body goes at least as far back as the 1950’s, if not farther. Kathryn Jay writes about how after World War II, this image of girls having perfect bodies and being “attractive, even beautiful” (7) was forced on them by the marketing and advertising community. Again, these marketing messages make girls and women feel like they must act a certain way to conform to what society—or at least marketers—want them to be. What I don’t like about this fact is that the girls themselves have little say in the issue. They simply are flooded with all of these marketing and advertising messages that affect how they feel about themselves. The idea is that girls can make themselves better by buying certain products, which gets them to believe in marketers’ messages about women. This idea is well demonstrated in AXE commercials, which actually target men. In the AXE commercial reviewed for this assignment it is clear the advertiser’s are trying to get men to think that using their products will help them get women.
I think this commercial is important because it leads into the second negative associated with marketing and advertising: that they undermine religion. The concept of angels is important in Christianity, but in this commercial angels are just a means of selling products. There is a similarity between this video and Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”, which was eventually used as a Pepsi commercial. Madonna’s video contains a lot of religious imagery; there are people in church and choirs singing, for example. Yet these images are ultimately being used to sell a soft drink. Those religious images should be used for religious purposes. The fact that they are used for commercial gain simply proves that marketing and advertising has the power to even subvert powerful religions.
Conclusion
Marketing and advertising has shaped my thinking in a couple of different ways. Now that I understand much more about how these fields work, I realize that previously, I was unaware of how much they influenced my buying decisions. Now, I know I must think critically about any advertisements or marketing I see. I have to think about them twice. I first have to think about what the images and messages I am seeing are showing and portraying. Then, I have to actually think about what they mean and what hidden agendas they might have for the company using them.
Marketing and advertising have shaped my attitudes in a few different ways. Most of those have to do with gender and my attitudes about men and women. For example, I do think that what I’ve seen and heard from advertisements and marketing campaigns influences what I think about guys. In some ways I measure men by how manly they are, which might not be right. Similarly, I know that some of my friends and I think about women in terms of the perfect body they are supposed to have. I am trying to get away from such thoughts.
Advertising and marketing has shaped my beliefs by getting me to believe in these capitalist notions of right and wrong. I now see that from a very young age I was led to believe that spending money is a way of interacting with society and being a part of whatever trends or products are popular at the time. I am also going to try to give up some of those beliefs. I believe that spending money on products should not be something I consider all the time. Now, I am not going to.






Bibliography
Einstein, Mara. Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. London, New York: Routledge, 2008.
Fletcher, Winston. Advertising: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Jay, Kathryn. “In Vogue with Mary: How Catholic Girls Created an Urban Market for Modesty,” in Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture ed. John M. Giggie and Diane Winston. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
End Notes
1. Winston Fletcher, Advertising: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), page 122.
2. Ibid, page 123.
3. Ibid, page 124
4. Ibid, page126.
5. Ibid, page 127.
6. Mara Einstein, Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age (London: New York: Routledge, 2008), page 11.
7. Kathryn Jay, “In Vogue with Mary: How Catholic Girls Created an Urban Market for Modesty,” in Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise of Urban Commercial Culture ed. John M. Giggie and Diane Winston (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002), page 177.