In this section the book discusses advertisements, consumerism and
What I find most interesting is the complexities of advertisement.
Not only do they need to avoid any politically sensitive topics and angering certain groups of society, but they also have to become more and more complex to keep interest.
The book likens this to having to battle for a consumers attention because they're always about to fast forward their TiVo, change the channel, or go to another website.
The result of how hard advertisers are trying to maintain the focus of the consumer is both good and bad for the consumer.
It's good because the consumer then is growing smarter, realizing that an air freshener is not going to make a family happy, fulfilled and loving. Compared with the typical image of the masses as a mindless flock that'll buy up anything thrown at them, this is quite a good thing.
The flip side of that though, is that advertisers have to delve deeper into what people want from life, just to sell some soap or laundry detergent. This makes the advertisements stronger, almost making them into something more than an advertisement (Perhaps more like a social statement of what people find important).
The entire idea of advertisers having to come up with new and innovative ways to present the same products also touches on the general issue of society's members becoming more and more caluse through the mass production of. products and services.
Interesting stuff.
-Thomas Holland
Interesting indeed. Good comments here, Thomas. Do you believe that artists advertise their own work; do they participate in branding campaigns to garner attention, attraction, commentary? Do institutions like museums and galleries and academies also support these tactics? Who stands to profit from such things? Is this all related to economics or are there other factors as well? What say you? :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think that artists promote themselves through branding much at all. Those who "make it" simply make/sell their work, whether that work has a running theme or technique I think is coincidental and not made for purposes of making their work/themselves into a brand. .
ReplyDeleteMuseums and Academics would only support this in the way that they show the work, or talk about it.
To an extent, an artist selling their work with a running technique or style would be about economics. Regardless of whether it is the way that they want to create art, there is a certain marketability that some artists must be taking advantage of. An artist who is doing well likely will stick with a sellable or recognizable theme in their work until money no longer becomes an issue.
In short, I don't think artists brand themselves much, and I'm unsure as to whether to say that they should (to garner more attention to the art world) or whether they are maintaining a more pure artistic lifestyle by creating for their own personal purposes.