Lecture 7: Advertising

I actually wasn't here for this lecture as I was at BAF, and to be honest I am quite disappointed because looking back at the slides it looked like it was going to be very interesting.

The lecture was all about Advertising, and whether we could class it as prostitution. As I've already said, I wasn't there so I'm unsure what was said on this subject and why this is may be a valid view point, but what I do know is that advertising is often considered to be a tool that changes values within a society as well as possibly change our perception of what we may need. I believe it to be successful of doing this because of how big advertising actually is. It's literally everywhere; billboards, posters, TV, the internet. Because of this and the fact that it is persistent, it's very hard to escape from it, which is why I deem it to be successful. Not just that, but there are also many different types and styles of adverts that can reach out to numerous audiences depending on what it is they're trying to sell or say.

Due to there being a variety of different styles and content, audiences generally have mixed opinions. A good example of what I mean is that some advertisements are often accused of being sexist, as they treat people as cultural stereotypes of their sex...

This being a good example

...Where as some people may not be effected by this (I know personally it doesn't bother me as I can see the humour in the advertisement), others maybe offended by it. So I can't understand why a company would want to use themes like this. Yes, people are going to be talking about the product or message because it has caused an uproar due to it's advertisement being offensive, but surely this will make people think negatively about the product. I guess it all just depends on the values and view points at the time of the advert. It is likely that this advertisement was made at a time when a vast majority of women were "typical housewives", so it was less likely to offend, but even so. It baffles me.

Even though advertising can change the values of an audience and it can sometimes be considered to be sexist and offensive, it isn't all negative. Advertising can be used as a powerful art form, and it can be entertaining and enlightening.

So yeah, advertising.