Advertising - Friend, not Foe!
They say advertising is excessive: it interrupts TV series,
preceding movie shows and dominating music award ceremonies.
Some even lament that advertising not only occupies the media,
but is also present everywhere else; the latest music editor
softwares could be seen at bus shelters, and online VoIP
products pictured in public telephone booths. It is irrelevant
and disruptive.
If you agree with my last sentence above, continue reading.
You might decide to change your mind.
First of all, I don't think advertisers occupy the media. As a
matter of fact, it is the media that courts companies, maybe
except for over-popular shows. TV stations need funds to run
your favorite programs, and radio broadcasts have to pay for the
Music on Demand. It boils down to us consumers: we demand, and
the media provides, at a price of course.
Ah, you might now argue that it is the advertisers who flock to
the media and pay for available ad space. True! But how many
time slots are so coveted over? Shows like the Super Bowl
Football are rare. Other less endowed channels, in fact, have
some hard time securing long-term ad contracts to be financially
sufficient. It is thus fair to conclude that advertisers and the
media, and us, are in a multilateral relationship.
Besides its commercial relevance, there is more to this
misunderstood industry that we often miss out on, like how
advertisements might effect cultural understanding, especially
in this globalizing world of business. HSBC features newspaper
ads of cultural differences across countries. FedEx has their TV
ads filmed in Japan, showing the way Japanese people live and
work. And I actually learned from a MasterCard ad that in India,
people release white doves for luck. Interesting, isn't it?
In addition, informative ads feed useful information to our
preoccupied minds. Public service messages could be conveyed
effectively through ad-works on air. And people get to know the
latest products available on market during review hours. I mean,
it would be a pity if we work so hard to produce all these
commodities just to, in the end, know nothing of them. And
because we work so hard, we could hardly afford to find out
about what's going on ourselves. Informative ads keep our
society functioning as it is meant to.
But most of all, advertisers are creative (e-mails are not
advertisements; they are spam). The appealing advertisements
that crack you up or hook your eyes for the hundredth time take
much more than the 30 seconds of airtime. Creativity, and the
resulted attention, increases sales, and the advertising
environment is so competitive nowadays it truly stimulates the
human edge of creativity and nurtures it to flourish.
Advertising signifies the human drive to succeed.
To me, what makes modern advertising desirable, besides bridging
cultural gap, informing the populace or generating new ideas, is
that it empowers every individual possible. It no longer takes
an established firm to put up an ad. Any one anywhere can
promote their ideas, products and even themselves through the
thriving medium of the internet. 15-year-olds can now
economically design and effect ads to promote their companies
(yes, don't look down on these young entrepreneurs). Any one
could adopt different voices using voice changer softwares, and
edit audio as well as video ads with the many music editor
softwares and video editor softwares available. Because
advertising could so omnipotently enable far-reaching creativity
of expressions, it is relevant to our human society that values
progressing thoughts and selective reception of ideas.
The staunchest critics of advertising might ask, what would be
the future of advertising, now when people are able to get rid
of the commercials. MythTV offers a plug-in that automatically
filters out commercials during recording, whereas video editor
softwares allow you to freely cut out unwanted ads from
pre-recorded clips. Yes, people are actually paying to be free
of advertisements.
But hey, think again! Advertising is not that inconsiderate.
Have you ever listened to radio broadcasts so excessively loaded
with audio commercials it's impossible to follow? And
advertising might be excessive and disruptive, but I suppose
only to a minority few. In fact, like I have said, informative
ads are actually desirable. Don't you or your children feel
excluded if you are not aware of the new iPod, or the latest
music editor gadgets?
Trust the media. They are doing their work. Isn't Google putting
into place keyword-related ads to better suit your preference?
Trust the authority, too. They approve all circulating ads, or
at least those we often see. And most of all, trust the
advertisers. We are mutually dependent; we need them for our TV
shows, and they need our money votes.