" The ubiquity of advertising in our lives points to a society in which people are constantly pushed to buy..." pg147
This brings to mind the phrase that with every finger you point at someone else there are four fingers that you point back at yourself. I would have to say that this isn't the first time that I have heard others vent about the manipulative power that advertising has. It is solely a medium that "feeds" on the emotions of unsuspecting c
onsumers. As if the power of retail were the amazon river and once you step foot in,you are ripped away from the firm shore of responsible spending and be thrown a pack of parahna that will enter a feeding frenzy at any signs of distress.It would be ignorant for me to deny that emotions play a large part in the creation of a campaign. Advertisers know that in order for a product to sell, it has to strike a cord with the audience. But this does not give license to dismiss the fact that every human-being has been given agency. We have the ability to choose what and how outside influences can affect us. We dont simply become jelous when we see another with that new ipod touch (for sake of the class discussion) we have been eyeing. We choose to let our envy spur us into an unplanned puchase. Then comes the million pound brick to our concious otherwise know as buyers remorse.
Oscar W
ilde mused this idea of mastery over ones emotions so nicely. "A man who is master of himself can end sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I dont want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them." We must foster the ability to "bridle your passions" as the prophet Alma taught this priciple to his sons. Emotions are natural and should be expressed not possess. "The body makes a good servant but a bad master" as Stephen R Covey put it.How might we, as professionals, approach advertising and the emotions of the consumers with respect?
Whose role is it to teach consumers the priciple of self-mastery?
35 comments:
I believe it is the role of the consumers themselves to learn discipline. Their spending is their choice. No one else is responsible for their spending. Which brings me to your other question- How do we approach consumer's emotions with respect? We realize that we have the power to either appeal to their emotions or to play with them; we need to do all we can to not cross the line into playing.
I think it's up to the consumer to learn to discipline themselves. We live in an era where no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions - advertising sways people but it doesn't drive their car to the store, get them out of the car, walk them up to the register and pay for the product. A true advertising professional does not cross the line (lie, cover up or knowingly mislead people) and respects them by offering the facts and the benefits and helping them make a decision.
I think that advertisers must be resoponsible in their presentation of facts, but that in the end is the duty of consumers to be smart in their evaluation of messages that they receive. It is true that emotions play a big part in decision making, and I think that advertising can go too far in manipulating the emotions.
i agree with the above comments-advertisers can make things look appealing and enticing, as long as they dont do anything dishonest. from there, the consumers can decide if they will give into the attempted persuasion or not
Obviously, the goal of advertising is to persuade consumers to invest. Given its pervasive nature, advertisements are so powerful that they can ultimately shape the way people think about themselves and society. Some advertisements may be regarded as manipulative. This is why consumers need to become more media literate so they know how to properly respond to these messages that surround and encourage them.
The family is the basic unit in this life where lessons and principles should be learned. Therefore it should be the role of the parents, brothers, sisters, etc. to teach discipline. After that the individual consumer is responsible for his or her own actions. Next question - We approach consumer's emotions with respect by being truthful in promoting what our product does, but not by misleading.
I believe consumers have the responsibility to learn discipline. No one is forcing them to buy or consume the things they do. Sure advertisers entice them and make things look appealing, but hey, that's their job. As long as advertisers are honest and informative about the product or service they are trying to sell, it is the duty of the consumer to make a decision.
In order for the consumers to learn the principle of self-mastery, they must choose to master themselves. No one else can really teach them self-mastery. Otherwise, I don't think that it can be called self-mastery. Also, I don't know if it's possible to approach advertising with respect to emotions, because we don't act similarly to ads, they all influence us differently.
Well, I feel like advertising is all a part of the game. There must be advertising in order to sell products. This is just how our economy works. The consumer can't blame advertisers for their purchase. Although, I will say that I feel that some advertising has gotten a bit out of control, there needs to be some limits, but I have a feeling that that is for a different topic.
Consumers need to learn self-mastery on their own. Advertisers should be monitored to make sure that they are presenting true and factual information, but the responsibility of purchase lies with the consumer. They alone can learn to bridle their passions and react rationally to the advertisers' messages.
I find the argument slightly flawed. It's true that advertisers cannot make a decision for a customer by means of one advertisement. However, as you mentioned, advertising is everywhere--and it's the "culture" of advertising that causes a problem. It's like living in a polluted city. The decision of one factory to let off fumes into the air probably won't cause major pollution issues; however, when many factories let off fumes the entire city is polluted. Initially citizens have the option to live close to or far from a factory but when factory numbers increase, the decision to live near to or far from a factory becomes irrelevent. People will be effected in some way.
The same goes for advertising. The more we are surrounded by it, the more we can't get away from it. The problem is that advertisements portray an image or message about a product--mostly that the consumer cannot live without it. The more a consumer is surrounded by the message, the more they will be effected by it.
To actaully answer the question though, I don't think it's the responsibility of the advertiser to teach the consumer self-discipline. However, their role is to be honest. I believe there are currently laws or regulations in place that force honest on advertisers, but perhaps these rgulations need to be tightened down--like perhaps a stricter connection between the product and the advertisement. (For example--Levi Jeans. I would never guess their commercials are trying to sell jeans.)
Obviously it is the consumer's responsibility to educate him or herself. As real as subliminal messages are, at the end of the day we all have our agency. The line between ethical and unethical advertising seems to be the same as what defines good and bad advertising. BAD advertising relies on falseness in order to persuade the customer. GOOD advertising relies on COMMUNICATION to get a message across. If we remember what we are trying to do, communicate, ethics shouldn't be an issue.
I agree with Abraham (top of page) who said "I think that advertisers must be responsible in their presentation of facts, but that in the end is the duty of consumers to be smart in their evaluation of messages that they receive." The advertiser can make a product look as enticing, necessary, and fun as they want, but in the end it's up to the consumer how they will process the advertisements (ie whether they'll ignore it, remember it, or go out immediately and buy it). Overall, it is the consumer who must teach themselves the principle of self-mastery since each individual consumer will be able to afford different amounts of consumption.
I agree with the stance that the article gives. While advertising does indeed play off of emotions, we as consumers still need to be responsible for our own actions. Nothing can take away our own agency. People who blame advertising for their own careless spending are simply avoiding responsibility. This doesn't discount the responsibility that advertising had to be honest though, which is why regulations for it are in place.
I agree with what you said, that advertisers need to "strike a chord" with the consumer to motivate a desired action. Like many people who have posted, I think people need to take more responsibility of their lives and stop being mere participants or, worse, spectators. Use your ability to choose to make actual choices.
I agree with the above comments. If consumers don't learn discipline in consuming goods, they will in the end let advertisements consume them. They will just by whatever people tell them to buy instead of thinking of what they need in life. I also agree with the above comments on how that the advertiser must not cross the line of deceit. They have the right to sell a product in a creative way, but must do so in a respectable manner.
As professionals, we should respect other people and their beliefs, emotions, attitudes, etc. Advertisers find out what makes the target market tick, and then create a message for those people. We should approach advertising with the fact that we are not only trying to sell a product but give the consumer a positive experience with the brand.
The consumer is responsible for self-mastery. Consumers are interacting with and molding brands, so there is no reason to blame advertising. Consumers have grown up with ads and know what they are and what the ads are trying to do.
I think if you entered the field of advertising with the intention of teaching others self mastery, you have chosen the wrong profession. At the core, advertising is about convincing others to be unsatisfied with there current condition. Maybe, as a society, we could put more emphasis on advertising that improves the human condition instead of taking it away? Imagine what you could do if you had the creative team from the many alcohol accounts do a 10 year campaign helping citizens become involved in local government? Improve society; most-likely. Have those who became involved in local government, due to the ads, foot the bill of the campaign; likely-not.
I think when advertisers get society to buy their product they are just successfully doing their job. As mentioned in the post, we as individuals have our free agency and must have some sort of self-control. In my specific emphasis of broadcast journalism, advertising is basically the sole source of revenue and income, so I'm all for it. However, we as consumers learn with experience how much to really interpret what is accurate.
In addition with what most of the class has said, it's up to you to take care of yourself. You can only teach someone so much until it's their turn to figure out on their own. As long as advertisers stick to the rules they've been given and don't deceive the public in a way that only little children should only believe, then they're doing their job to sell well and being paid for good reasons.
Like most others have commented, it is absolutely the job of the consumer to take responsibility for their own actions, and teach themselves self-mastery. Advertising *is* all about persuasion. In fact, advertising legend Bill Bernbach said, “advertising isn't a science. It's persuasion. And persuasion is an art.”
The world is always changing–the world we live in now is completely different than it was 10 years ago or will be 10 years from now. The consumer must adapt to its surroundings, not blame advertising for poor spending habits.
What people do with their money is up to them. Advertising is there to make us aware of certain products and hopefully educate us in an honest way the benefits of their products. But if I don't need something I'm not going to go out and buy it just cause an ad told me to.
As professionals we must approach advertising in a professional and ethical manner. The success of most products depends on good advertising; however, said products and advertising must be represented in an honest, non-misleading way.
Most of who we are and what we believe starts in our homes, with our parents. Parent’s have the responsibility of teaching correct principles including self mastery. It is ultimately up to the individual if they choose to exercise their mastery.
I think it is the customers responsibility to discipline themselves and take responsibility for their emotions and actions. It is the advertisers job to make things look appealing. However, I also think it is the responsibility of the advertisers to provide accurate information and follow ethical guidelines.
I agree that consumers have to be responsible for their actions and how they interpret advertisements and any other communications they receive. I think part of the problem is when people in general start thinking for themselves less and less and relying on outside sources like Wikipedia and entertainment magazines to help them guide their actions.
I believe that consumers must be the ones to take responsibility for their actions in response to advertisements. It is sad to see how some consumers give in to the emotional tug created by certain ads. However, it is the consumers' responsibility to learn how to master their emotions, regardless of the role advertising plays in their life.
I'd like to focus on the second question: who should teach consumeristic self-mastery.
My sister-in-law is a practicing nurse. She's done a number of research studies on childhood obesity and has talked about the findings with our family. What disturbed me most about lifestyle behaviors that often lead to obesity was that they are almost universally instilled in an individual during the early years of childhood. One prime example would be what you and I would call "emotional eating." Parents often unknowingly foster this habit by being quick to reward negative emotional reactions of children with a tasty treat. And how easy that can be! If you don't believe me, take a look around the next time you're in a sacrament meeting with children. Most are holding a small ziplock baggy with munchies. Why? To keep them quiet. And so the habit forms. As the child grows (and you and I are victim to this) he or she begins to associate the need to calm erratic, and usually negative, emotions with food.
I believe strong parallels exist with consumerism and the lack of consumeristic self-mastery in our society. "Getting" things is another way parents pacify their children. It is a trend that has slowly seeped into our society. I don't say this is the only cause for uncontrollable consumeristic urges, but I do offer it as one contributing factor. And where does the responsibility fall? First and foremost, on the parents.
I believe that no matter what advertisement is placed before you, it is your choice, and your choice alone, whether you decide to act upon that ad and actually buy something. No advertisement can make you buy anything. Only you have that power. Yes, advertisements are meant to persuade, but only you are the one that has the will and power to act upon that. You have your free agency, your self discipline, your self control and your ability to think and act for yourself. No advertisement can change that. I think it's silly when people blame ads for their spending because that is not true. :)
Did you take that picture of the pointing finger? Cuz who points like that!?
Just joking. I get the point. (pun, intended.)
I'm with ya. Advertising is awesome. It's a world of growing, competing, artisitc ideas. It drives increase in humor, entertainment, and economic strides in this society. I'm all for it. Rock on, ad world.
Advertising should provide the consumer who has a need for information to help him with his choices to meet that need. When advertising creates a need in the mind of the consumer which in any way harms the consumer, then I feel it is unethical. I feel the consumer has a choice to buy or not to buy a product.
I think that it is up to the bank book to tell a consumer what they should and should not buy. Advertisers send out their messages to all walks of life, all social classes. I see BMW commercials on TV and think, "Wow, that is a cool car." I have never driven one, but the ad showed it in a way that made me think the car was a good one. Now it is up to me as a consumer to think about the consequences of buying that car. Advertisers have no clue what kind of resources I have, they are just presenting their clients product. It is my job to wiegh the pros and cons.
The importance of keeping the consumer in mind is extremely pertinent. We have all seen the examples of advertisers that haven't kept their consumers in mind and the backlash they have faced. (CAMEL cigarettes?) However, despite this, advertising being the media it is, comes with a two-way street, and it is part of the consumers responsibility to take responsibility for themselves and learn to control them. Maybe even use them for their benefit.
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