COP Lecture - Advertising

This morning we had a COP lecture on advertising by course leader Fabio. Advertising is often considered as a tool used by capitalism to change and establish values within society. It changes the way we think and has a large influence on our day to day lives. Advertising changed the view of woman (no longer as a passive object) but now dominating and some seen as an sexual objectification. Advertising is also considered influential in changing our perception and what we we may need and what we want, for example, clothes, cars, make up etc. 

Barbara Kruger 1987

We looked at a poster by Barbara Kruger, "I shop therefore I am" written in white futura bold on a red card (very bold and eye-catching), Barbara Kruger takes that sentence to a materialistic level - in other words, a person is defined not by what they think, but what they own (through shopping and advertisements). She is saying that we don’t just shop for the things we need.  We shop to gain an identity and certain status and we do this so that we feel that we fit in to a certain group in society.

We often link adverts with sexism, and the exploitation of women. Here is an example of Tom Fords fragrance posters for men. 

I'm kind of glad at least some ad agencies aren't pressured into making safe, bland ads. Clearly Tom Ford is a very edgy and sexual advertiser. Many of his other ads (for clothes or accessories) feature fully nude women and men who are totally nude and exposed. His fragrance ads are defiantly targeted to a male audience demographic. We live in an increasingly sexual culture where images such as this are becoming less taboo.

Advertising is often accused to explore sexism treating people as cultural stereotypes...
1. It drives global economies
2. It drives creativity- the 1st wave of creatives were revolutionaries who were creating a utopia
We looked at Alexander Rodchenko (one of these revolutionaries) he was a russian soviet graphic designer, below is one of his posters. 

Rodchenko was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design. Constructivism is a style/movement in which assorted mechanical objects are combines into abstract mobile structural forms. The movement originated in Russia in the 1920s and has influenced many aspects of modern architecture and design. Rodchenko was one of the most versatile Constructivist and Productivist artists to emerge after the Russian Revolution. His work is still largely influential today, for example, Franz Ferdinands album.

Advertising is a very powerful form of art, art feeds advertising and vice versa. A good example of this is Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol (a pop artist) made Campbell soup popular through advertisement. Reflecting on his career, Warhol claimed that the Campbell’s Soup Can was his favourite work and that, ‘I should have just done the Campbell’s Soups and kept on doing them ... because everybody only does one painting anyway.’ 

Main points taken from the lecture: 

• Advertising can enlighten and inspire
• Advertising reflects values, hopes and dreams 
• Advertising challenges you to do something, for example 'challenge yourself' campaign by nike Nike: Just Do It 
• Advertising questions social norms and attitude
• Advertising raises social awareness, for an example this poster by charity organisation, Childhope Asia Philippines