Advertising and popular culture

So you see that the role of advertising in American pop culture is very high: we can see hidden ads in films, on the pictures, even in music. Advertising affects on pop culture: ads can put such market conditions that a new direction in pop culture can appear.

References

1. "7 Things From Pop Culture That Apparently Piss Jesus Off". Cracked.com. Retrieved 2009-06-21.

2. "Adbusters' Ads Busted". In These Times. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

3. "Advertising - Social impact". Spiritus-temporis.com. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

4. "Annual U.S. Advertising Expenditure Since 1919". Galbithink.org. 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

5. "Commercial Alert -- Protecting communities from commercialism". Commercialalert.org. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

6. "Commercial media literacy: what does it do, to whom-and does it matter? (22-JUN-07) Journal of Advertising". Accessmylibrary.com. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

7. "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006-2010, a report issued by global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers". Pwc.com. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

8. "How Marketers Target Kids". Media-awareness.ca. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

9. "JEG - Sign In Page". Joeg.oxfordjournals.org. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

10. "Media Education Foundation". Mediaed.org. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

11. "Our Mission". The Anti-Advertising Agency. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

12. "Psychology -- Commercial Alert". Commercialalert.org. 1999-10-31. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

13. "Ralph Dumain, Cultural Sophistication and Self-Reference On American Television". Retrieved 2007-04-22. An essay on self-referentiality and American television.

14. "Scenic America:: Communities Prohibiting Billboard Construction". Scenic.org. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

15. "Sut Jhally Website - Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse". Sutjhally.com. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

16. "TNS Media Intelligence". Tns-mi.com. 2007-01-08. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

17. Advertising Slogans, Woodbury Soap Company, "The skin you love to touch", J. Walter Thompson Co., 1911

18. Advertising's Twilight Zone: That Signpost Up Ahead May Be a Virtual Product - New York Times

19. Arthur Richards, Kent USA (2008) Teacher, Pirate, renaissance man

20. Bakhtin, M. M. and Michael Holquist, Vadim Liapunov, Kenneth Brostrom. (1981) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series). Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press.

21. Baran, Paul and Sweezy, Paul (1964) “Monopoly Capital” in: McChesney, Robert W. “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas”. Monthly Review Press, New York, (May 1, 2008), p. 52, ISBN 978-1583671610

22. Boiler, David in: Silent Theft. The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth, Routledge, New York, February 2003, ISBN 9780415944823, ISBN 0415944821

23. Clark, Eric, "The Want Makers", Viking, 1988. ISBN 0340320281

24. Consumer Protection Act, R.S.Q., c. P-40.1, ss. 248-9 (see also: ss. 87-91 of the Consumer Protection Regulations, R.R.Q., 1981, c. P-40.1; and Application Guide for Sections 248 and 249 of the Quebec Consumer Protection Act (Advertising Intended for Children Under 13 Years of Age).

25. Cook, Guy (2001 2nd edition) "The Discourse of Advertising", London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-23455-7

26. Eskilson, Stephen J. (2007). Graphic Design: A New History. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-300-12011-0.

27. Giroux, Henry A., McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, in the foreword for: The Spectacle of Accumulation by Sut Jhally, http://www.sutjhally.com/biography

28. Global marketing Management, 2004, pg 13-18

29. Gloria Steinem, 'Outs of pop culture', LIFE magazine, 20 August 1965, p. 73.

30. Graydon, Shari (2003) "Made You Look - How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know", Toronto: Annick Press, ISBN 1-55037-814-7

31. Hassabian, Anahid (1999). "Popular", Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, eds.: Horner, Bruce and Swiss, Thomas. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-21263-9.

32. History of Advertising and It's Affect on Popular Culture. January 10, 2008 by Lucinda Watrous.

33. Howard, Theresa (2005-10-10). "USA Today, October 9, 2005". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

34. http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/ce6.shtml

35. Jhully, Sut, Leiss, William, Kline, Stephen, Botterill, Jacqueline (2005): Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace, Routledge; 3 edition (September 28, 2005), ISBN 0415966760, ISBN 978-0415966764

36. Johnson, J. Douglas, "Advertising Today", Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1978. ISBN 0-574-19355-3

37. Kilbourne, Jean: Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel, Touchstone, 2000, ISBN 978-0684866000

38. Kilbourne, Jean: Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel, Free Press; 1 edition (November 2, 2000), ISBN 0684866005

39. Korten, David. (1995) When Corporations Rule the World. 2. Edition 2001: Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, California, ISBN 1-887208-04-6

40. Lasch, Christopher. The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, Norton, New York, ISBN 978-0393307382

41. Lears, Jackson, Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America, Basic Books, 1995, ISBN 0465090753

42. Leiss, William: (1990) Social Communication in Advertising, Routledge; 2 edition (July 27, 1990), ISBN 0415903548, ISBN 978-0415903547

43. Louw, Eric. (2001) The Media and Cultural Production. London: Sage Publications.

44. McChesney, Robert W. “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas”. Monthly Review Press, New York, (May 1, 2008), p. 266, ISBN 978-158367161-0

45. McChesney, Robert W. “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas”. Monthly Review Press, New York, (May 1, 2008), p. 272, ISBN 978-158367161-0

46. McChesney, Robert W., Stolzfus, Duane C. S. and Nerone, John C, (2007) Freedom from Advertising: E. W. Scripps's Chicago Experiment (History of Communication), Univ of Illinois Pr (March 30, 2007)

47. McChesney, Robert, Educators and the Battle for Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-35, Rich Media, Poor Democracy, ISBN 0-252-02448-6 (1999)

48. McFall, Liz, Advertising: A Cultural Economy, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-7619-4255-6

49. McRobbie, Angela (1994). Postmodernism and Popular Culture. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07712-5. Cultural anthropologist and feminist discourse on cultural studies.

50. O'Barr, William M. “A Brief History of Advertising in America”. E-ISSN 1154-7311

51. O'Barr, William M. “High Culture/Low Culture: Advertising in Literature, Art, Film, and Popular Culture”. E-ISSN 1154-7311

52. Per Adam Siljestrom, The educational institutions of the United States, their character and organization, J. Chapman, 1853, p. 243: "Influence of European emigration on the state of civilization in the United States: Statistics of popular culture in America". John Morley presented an address On Popular Culture at the town hall of Birmingham in 1876, dealing with the education of the lower classes.

53. Petley, Julian (2002) "Advertising". North Mankato, Minnesota: Smart Apple Media., ISBN 1-58340-255-1

54. Rorty, James: “Our Master's Voice: Advertising” Ayer Co Pub, 1976, ISBN 0405080441, ISBN 9780405080449

55. Schechter, Danny (2009-04-16). "Home". Media Channel. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

56. Seabrook, John. NoBrow: the culture of marketing the marketing of culture, New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40504-6

57. Shuker, Roy (1994). Understanding Popular Music, p.4. ISBN 0-415-10723-7.

58. Storey, John (2006). Cultural theory and popular culture. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-13-197068-7

59. Stuart, Ewen. Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture, Basic Books, ISBN 9780465021550, ISBN 0465021557

60. The Role of Advertising in America - An Overview by the ANA.

61. Williams, Raymond (1985). Keywords: a Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-520469-7. Cited in Hassabian (1999).

Appendix

The Art and Science of the Advertising Slogan

by Timothy R. V. Foster

1. A slogan should be memorable

Memorability has to do with the ability the line has to be recalled unaided. A lot of this is based on the brand heritage and how much the line has been used over the years. But if it is a new line, what makes it memorable? I suggest it is the story told in the advertisement - the big idea.

The more the line resonates with the big idea, the more memorable it will be. 'My goodness, my Guinness!', as well as being a slick line, was made memorable by the illustrations of the Guinness drinker seeing his pint under some sort of threat (perched on the nose of a performing seal, for example). It invoked a wry smile and a tinge of sympathy on the part of the audience at the potential loss if the Guinness was dropped.

If it is successful, ideally the line should pass readily into common parlance as would a catchphrase, such as 'Beanz meanz Heinz' or 'Where's the beef?'

In addition to a provocative and relevant illustration or story, alliteration, coined words, puns and rhymes are good ways of making a line memorable, as is a jingle.

2. A slogan should recall the brand name

Ideally the brand name should be included in the line. 'My goodness, my Guinness!' thus works, as does 'Aah, Bisto!'. On the other hand, 'Once driven, forever smitten' does not easily invoke the word Vauxhall, nor does 'All it leaves behind is other non-bios' scream out Fairy Ultra. This, by the way, is possibly the worst endline in the history of advertising! It certainly gets my vote. It's a brand manager at P&G speaking to a brand manager at the competition and it means it doesn't leave a nasty residue in the wash -- the laundry equivalent of 'no bathtub ring'. No 'housewife' could possibly understand it.

What's the point of running an advertisement in which the brand name is not clear? Yet millions of pounds are wasted in this way. If the brand name isn't in the strapline, it had better be firmly suggested. Nike dares to run commercials that sign off only with their visual logo -- the 'swoosh' -- like a tick mark or check mark, as the Americans say. The word Nike is unspoken and does not appear. This use of semiotics is immensely powerful when it works, because it forces the viewer to say the brand name.

Rhymes - with brand name

One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the strapline rhyme with it. Here are some lines we've selected from the AdSlogans.com database. See how well it works if the brand name is the rhyming word.

3. A slogan should include a key benefit

'Engineered like no other car in the world' does this beautifully for Mercedes Benz. 'Britain's second largest international scheduled airline' is a 'so what?' statement for the late Air Europe. You might well say "I want a car that is engineered like no other car in the world." But it is unlikely you would say "I want two tickets to Paris on Britain's second largest international scheduled airline!"

In America they say 'sell the sizzle, not the steak.' In Britain they say 'sell the sizzle, not the sausage.' Either way, it means sell the benefits not the features.

Since the tagline is the leave-behind, the takeaway, surely the opportunity to implant a key benefit should not be missed? Here are some...

4. A slogan should differentiate the brand

'Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach' does this brilliantly. When the line needed refreshing, it was extended in later executions to show seemingly impossible situations, such as a deserted motorway in the rush hour, with the line 'Only Heineken can do this', and lately showing unlikely but admirable situations, such as a group of sanitation engineers trying to keep the noise down to the comment: 'How refreshing! How Heineken!'

The distinction here is that the line should depict a characteristic about the brand that sets it apart from its competitors. In the above examples, we see Swan Light, an Australian low-alcohol beer. 'Won't make a pom tiddly' is brilliant. It plays on the expression 'tiddly pom', the sort of noise a stiff-upper-lip Brit would say in the colonies when reviewing the troops as they march past, and, of course, a Brit to an Oz is a pom. And what could be worse than a tiddly (tipsy) pom? This line gets my vote as one of the all-time greats. And it runs on double-decker bus 'super sides'.

5. A slogan should impart positive feelings for the brand

Some lines are more positive than others. 'Once driven, forever smitten', for example, or 'Aah, Bisto!'. Contrast this with Triumph's line for its TR7 sports car in 1976: 'It doesn't look like you can afford it', or America's Newport cigarettes: 'After all, if smoking isn't a pleasure, why bother?' "Because I'm hooked, you bastard!" might well be the answer from those who are addicted to the weed, a sentiment the cigarette company may not appreciate as part of its message.

Publishers will tell you that negative book titles don't sell. It is my belief that negative advertising is hard to justify.

Notice how boring all the negative electioneering is in general elections. The voters just want to turn off.

6. A slogan should reflect the brand's personality

How can a brand have a personality? Our dictionary says personality means 'habitual patterns and qualities of behaviour of any individual as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes; distinctive individual qualities of a person considered collectively.'

So think of the brand as a person. Then consider whether the line works for that person.

7. A slogan should be strategic

Some companies can effectively convey their business strategy in their lines.

8. A slogan should be campaignable

This means that the line should work across a series of advertising executions. It should have some shelf-life. Then you could have a dozen different ads or commercials, each with its own unique story, with a single common tagline that supports them all.

9. A slogan should not be usable by a competitor

In other words, you should not be able to substitute a competitive brand name and use the line. For example, 'My goodness, my Murphy's!' just would not work, but 'A company called TRW' could be a company called anything. Let's look at these characteristics in more detail, illustrating the points with more examples.

So many slogans have absolutely no competitive differentiation. You could add any brand name to the line and it would make sense. And this often is proven by how many users of a line there are.

10. A slogan should be original

In advertising, originality is king. A new way of sending a message can set a brand apart from copycats and also-rans.

11. A slogan should be simple

Remember, the endline is what you want the punter to 'get'. So KISS (keep it simple, stupid!).

12. A slogan should be neat

We're using the word neat in the teenage sense. A neat line helps portray the product progressively in the punter's perception.

13. A slogan should be believable

Poetic licence is allowed. Even exaggeration.

14. Does the line help when you're ordering the

product or service, or at least aspiring to it?

15. A slogan should not be in current use by others

The more different users of a slogan, the less effective it is.

AdSlogans.com offers its LineCheck service so you can make sure your line isn't in use by others.

16. A slogan should not be bland, generic or hackneyed

Slogans that are bland, redolent of Mom and apple-pie, clearly suffer a weakness.

17. A slogan should not prompt a sarcastic or negative response.

18. A slogan should not be pretentious

This is the pomposity test.

Try reading the line with the utmost gravity, like an American narrator in a 50's corporate film, giving it the true spin of importance.

19. A slogan should not be negative

Publishers will tell you that negative book titles don't sell. It is my belief that negative advertising is hard to justify.

Notice how boring all the negative electioneering is in general elections. The voters just want to turn off.

20. A slogan should not reek of corporate waffle, hence sounding unreal.

21. A slogan should not be a "So what?" or "Ho-hum" statement

22. A slogan should not make you say "Oh yeah??"

23. A slogan should not be meaningless

These are... What on earth are they trying to say?

24. A slogan should not be complicated or clumsy

25. You should like it

26. It could be trendy - All in a word

There area two trends in slogans these days. One is the single-word line, such as exemplified here:

Budweiser: True

Hankook Tyres: Driven

IBM: Think

Irn-Bru: Different

Rover: Relax

United Airlines: Rising

It could be trendy - All in three words (or three terse ideas)

It is hard to deliver a complex message in a single word, so that brings us to the other trend - the triple threat...

Air France: New. Fast. Efficient.

British Gas: Energy. Efficiency. Advice.

ICI: World problems. World solutions. World class.

Jaguar: Grace... Space... Pace...

Marks & Spencer: Quality. Value. Service.

And of course...

AdSlogans.com:

Check. Create. Inspire.

It could be trendy - The twenty most frequently used words in slogans

We thought it would be interesting to see which words were the most prevalent in slogans, so we delved through the AdSlogans.com database.

Omitting such words as 'the' and 'and', etc, here's what we found. The percentages represent the number of lines using that word out of the total number of lines.

1. you 11.15%

2. your 7.94%

3. we 6.03%

4. world 4.18%

5. best 2.67%

6. more 2.54%

7. good 2.43%

8. better 2.12%

9. new 1.90%

10. taste 1.85%

11. people 1.54%

12. our 1.49%

13. first 1.42%

14. like 1.41%

15. don't 1.36%

16. most 1.19%

17. only 1.16%

18. quality 1.15%

19. great 1.13%

20. choice 1.08%