Page 33 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

1 | Advert s ng and Persuas on

aDvErTising anD PoLiTiCs
If we look at social-cause marketing from this point of view, we might say that
every aspect of our lives, even political ideas, becomes fertile ground for market-
ing products. Some popular commercial campaigns now revolve around politi-
cal ideas, many promising social change and a more peaceful world through the
purchase of products. In fact, a prominent critic of consumer culture, Thomas
Frank, argues that one of the only spheres where protest and criticism are cur-
rently acceptable in our culture is adverting. Online messages for Diesel clothing
tell consumers that to achieve “successful living” they must “take action,” fight,
shout, and wake up “the rebel inside you.” With visual references to baby-boom
hippies, a young woman in a headband makes the peace sign and compels us
to “reject the established mints” and eat Mentos. Another Mentos ad references
“flower power,” a countercultural slogan from the 1960s, with a daisy and the
words “peace, love and happy mints.” Playtex promises a new “women’s move-
ment” by which the company means “freedom from seams and stitches” with
the Only You bra. Like many “postmodern” commercial messages, these ads are
presented with a sense of irony, making claims, yet making fun of themselves at
the same time for making such silly claims. Nevertheless, they successfully tie
political impulses for peace, social change, and women’s liberation to consumer
identities and purchasing products.
Social-causal marketing, both serious and comedic, has been criticized for
making arbitrary claims that mislead consumers and negatively effect political
participation. Critics argue that advertising in general, and “socially conscious”
commercials in particular, lead to a passive, uninformed public. Such adver-
tisements appeal to the political desires for freedom and equality, yet offer no
real strategies to achieve social change. Purchasing products does little to move
the world in the direction depicted in the ads. Buying Mentos will not lead to
world peace; wearing Diesel clothing will not change the world; and women
cannot achieve equal status, respect, and independence by wearing a particular
bra. When political sentiments are directed toward consumption, the public is
compelled to consume, not actually participate in politics in ways that might
achieve social and political goals.
This leads us to understand the commercialization of politics in a compli-
cated light. Advertising’s effect on American politics has been felt more directly
through election campaigns that have become a type of commercial politics, in
which highly targeted political messages are designed through the use of focus
groups and directed toward voting subgroups, each of which is watching or lis-
tening to its favorite program. In a process that mirrors the selling of products,
an image of a political leader is also sold to the public, turned audience and then
consumer. As politicians devise persuasive messages they must “stay on mes-
sage,” and authentic discourse becomes harder to find in the political arena. It
reaches greater levels of distortion with negative political advertising that often
plays on fear, anxiety, and disgust. “Going negative” is also known to “turn off”
the voting public, causing political analysts to charge that commercially driven
election campaigns create a cynical, politically disengaged citizenry. For these