Advertising and Consumer Culture Part 1

As a student in Media Literacy and Digital Culture, it is no surprise that there is a significant need to look at our culture through the lens of advertising as well as several key concepts such as branding, consumerism, persuasion, and propaganda. I would like to offer insight into these concepts by comparing and contrasting multiple readings on the topics I mentioned. Marcel Danesi’s chapter titled, “Advertising and Branding” provides a strong background on both of these concepts in the title and their connection to pop culture. Raymond Williams’ passage, “Advertising: The Magic System” is a thought provoking piece about the rise of advertising in general. Twitchell’s, “De Beers: A Good Campaign Is Forever” reveals the real story behind an immensely successful advertising campaign that still affects society today. Jowett and O’Donnell’s “What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?” breaks down both concepts from the title and seems to consider persuasion more ethical than propaganda in nature. Tim Wu’s chapter, “Total Attention Control, or The Madness of Crowds” sheds light on advertising as propaganda and uses Hitler’s campaign as a significant example of this idea and manipulation. Although it is important to know the basic ideas within each reading, it is helpful to understand the points of agreement and differences, across and among these readings, which I will go into next. In addition, I will discuss a major common theme that I find present among the readings as well as which reading I personally find the most compelling and persuasive.

To highlight one major common theme among the five readings that were previously mentioned, the word ‘magic’ comes to mind. I’m referring to the type of magic that only advertising provides, the kind that is intentional and manipulative. When I think of magic I think of power and the ability to make people feel a certain way that they may not have felt before. Each reading reveals this power of advertising in different ways. As Danesi points out, “Advertising has become so intrinsically intertwined with pop culture that it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep the two distinct in our minds. Indeed, advertising itself has become a veritable genre in pop culture fare, being both a sponsoring source and a creative impulse” (228). While this reveals the connection between advertising and pop culture, there is a certain magic to the branding that advertising adopts. An example of this is when Danesi notes, “Creating an image for a product inheres in fashioning a “personality” for it so that it can be positioned for specific market populations. The image is an amalgam of the product’s name, packaging, logo, price, and overall presentation that makes it recognizable as a symbol standing for a personality type” (231). With that being said, it is obvious that the ‘magic’ of advertising that I referred to relates to manipulating specific groups of people in society to quickly recognize whatever item needs to be sold.

Although similar to Danesi conceptually, Williams actually uses the word ‘magic’ in his passage titled, “Advertising: The Magic System.” The other key word in his passage is the word ‘system.’ This word reveals the carefully thought out nature of advertising and as you will find out, the consequential rise of consumer culture. In the portion of the reading titled ‘The System,’ Williams notes, “It is impossible to look at modern advertising without realizing that the material object being sold is never enough: this indeed is the crucial cultural quality of its modern forms. If we were sensibly materialist, in that part of our living in which we use things, we should find most advertising to be of insane irrelevance” (221). It is clear that Williams is pointing out the significant impact of advertising and how we connect brands to the items we use in our daily lives. It is truly no wonder that consumerism is at an all time high because all of the ‘associations’ that are used with items to be sold. It seems that Danesi and Williams would agree with each other on the undeniable connection between advertising, branding, pop culture, and consumerism.

Twitchell’s, “De Beers: A Good Campaign Is Forever” is a zoomed in look at #6 on the top 100 most successful advertising campaigns. DeBeer’s diamonds paved the way for societies obsession with diamonds to be used for many different life events, especially engagements. Twitchell notes, “For half a century this campaign, selling polished transparent rocks as instruments of romantic love, was probably the least wasteful advertising ever created. Every dollar spent was worth it” (88). Clearly, the previously mentioned ‘magic system’ of advertising is being emphasized here because of Twitchell’s sarcastic tone about the immense success of the “N. W. Ayer campaign for De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited” (88). While I do think Danesi and Williams would agree with Twitchell on the overall perception that advertising is systematically magical, Twitchell’s passage seems to be the most compelling and persuasive to me. This is most likely because I am a twenty seven year old female who has grown up in a world where, if you happen to fall in love, there is a chance that your significant other may ask for your hand in marriage and they would do so with a diamond ring. That means I have bought in to the magic of this campaign since I first knew diamonds existed. The troubling part is not just the amount of money diamond companies are receiving, but the way the diamonds are cultivated in an unethical manner. In the case of this story, Twitchell explains, “Most of these diamonds were coming from Souther Africa. Everyone knew how Cecil Rhodes had run the Kimberley Mine. It was common knowledge that ‘diggers’ were treated abominably. You didn’t have to be a reader of the National Geographic to know how ‘dry’ mining was done, with humans scraping the ground like dogs after bones” (94). So not only do I, as well as many other members of society, buy into this advertising campaign, but when it comes to diamonds that were cultivated unethically, I am now supporting another questionable part of the diamond puzzle.

As for the final two readings I would like to discuss, I begin to see differences between the two in regards to the fine lines between persuasion and propaganda. Wu’s “Total Attention Control, or The Madness of Crowds” highlights Hitler’s ability to affect the minds of an entire nation (109). As leader of the Nazi party in Germany, his unfathomable ideology spurred the genocide of millions of jews and victims alike. According to Wu, Hitler knew that stirring the emotions of society was significantly easier than teaching or persuading his messages (111). The popular advertising technique of repetition spurred Hitler’s success through a number of manipulative and magical steps. Wu notes, “Over the next few years, Hitler would give hundreds of similar speeches, perfecting his performance method. Over time, he developed a winning and invariant structure. He always stood in the same, upright, and serious way, and made the same gestures. His speeches began with a long silence, broken by a soft, almost intimate tone of great personal pain and vulnerability, in which he described his difficult upbringing, service in the war, and despair at Germany’s defeat. In a bridge section, he would, with rising fury, begin to assign blame, and denounce all that was wrong in the present. In an incredibly intense finish, he bellowed a flood of unrestrained hatred for Jews, plans for renewed gestures, and finally, one more great call for German unity” (113). Considering propaganda is generally defined as public information with a misleading and political nature, it is no surprise that Wu seemingly considers Hitler’s campaign one of the most powerful examples of propaganda in history.

As for Jowett and O’Donnell’s “What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?” I begin to see differences between their passage and Wu’s. While Jowett and O’Donnell note, “Public opinion and behavioral change can be affected by propaganda” (1), their passage reveals significant differences between persuasion and propaganda. For example, “Propaganda is the deliberate systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist” (7). While it is obvious that all of the mentioned writers believe in the ‘magic’ of advertising and its many forms, Jowett and O’Donnell’s definition of propaganda reveals the important perspective of propaganda which is that it is simply different than persuasion. For instance, “A persuasive message has a point of view or desired behavior for the recipient to adopt in a voluntary fashion” (31). Therefore, Jowett and O’Donnell’s reading contrasts Wu’s in that they see a different and positive side to persuasion as a separate concept because the recipient is involved in the new point of view from a volunteer perspective.

When considering and discussing the impact of advertising and consumer culture in society today, it is important to view them through the lens of propaganda and persuasion. While Danesi and Williams agree that advertising and branding affect consumerism, Twitchell provides a clear example of the success of advertising with his writing about the truth behind DeBeer’s diamonds, where they really come from, and how society is still affected by the campaign. It is important to know that propaganda and persuasion are separate concepts, as Jowett and O’Donnell point out, but this is different from Wu’s point of view. He investigates Hitler propaganda and how persuasion and propaganda were clearly used simultaneously to manipulate an entire nation causing the genocide stemming from his horrible racial beliefs. With that being said, it is obvious that although the writers have different points of view and different subject matters that they explored, there is something eerily present; magic. We have been subjected to and are currently experiencing magical manipulation, magical brands, and magical propaganda. However, exploring the truth behind advertising and consumer culture helps us to have resilience to the magic we may or may not have asked for in the first place. As a society, may we allow ourselves to be persuaded to acquire further knowledge about these important issues.

“Advertising and Branding.” Popular Culture Marcel Danesi, by Marcel Danesi, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, pp. 227–246.

“Advertising: The Magic System.” Raymond Williams, pp. 209–221.

Twitchell, James B. Twenty Ads That Shook the World: the Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All. Three Rivers Press, 2000.

Wu, Tim. Attention Merchants. Atlantic Books, 2017.

Jowett, Garth, and Victoria O'Donnell. Propaganda & Persuasion. SAGE, 2015.