NewsLine Column: Going To Work On An Ad

Adverts- annoying things that might pay your wages but nevertheless interrupt your film on ITV and fall out of your magazine into the lap of the person next to you on the Tube? Or creative, amusing and part of the fabric of life as we know it? NewsLine editor Anna Wise reflects, because she’s worth it…

I like advertising. There, I’ve said it. Apologies to any intellectual types who’ve ever engaged me in conversation mistaking me for one of them and are now snorting in disgust, but for me there’s nothing like a good advert. And according to recent research from the Advertising Association, I’m not alone. Last week, the AA revealed that people actually accept advertising as part of their daily environment, and even think life would be dull without it.

Too right it would be dull! How else would large swathes of the population get to see knitted monkeys with fake moustaches smiling down from giant posters, or building society employees singing reggae on the back of a swan that’s flying around the world? As a reflection of the zeitgeist, albeit in a slightly skewed and idealised parallel universe kind of way, advertising rules. Ads from bygone days might not show how people actually lived, but they show how people wanted to live, and the products through which advertisers thought they might achieve that lifestyle.

But advertising is meant to be soulless, all about grabbing money from people who can’t afford it by persuading them that they need something they don’t, isn’t it? True, but are we really that stupid? For generations we’ve been exposed to advertising, evolving to the point of sophistication where, presented with a 50s-style “Try this soap powder- it works really well” ad, we’d probably assume it was either a clever, ironic double bluff branding exercise or a promotion for a new car or insurance company.

The research also showed that while we accept advertising, we don’t accept it without thought. Deceptive or offensive advertising provokes a healthy flow of complaints to the AA each week and I’m sure I’m not alone in refusing to buy certain products because their advertising was so irritating or wide of the mark. While good advertising, according the AA research, is seen as a sign of a healthy brand, no doubt shoddy advertising can have the opposite effect. So we’re not just sitting there, open-mouthed, while the adman shovels rubbish down our throats.

But if you’re creative and working in advertising, you’re a sell out, right? Well, in less than a minute of film, or the time it takes for a person’s eyes to flash across a poster or magazine page, all the brand values and primary objectives thrashed out in focus groups have to enter a target’s head, and stick there, when seconds later they are likely to be hit with another message, and another- and the target these days has the level of understanding of ads described above…If that’s not a challenge to a creative mind, then what is? Which is why it can be such a kick when you see it done right- not necessarily expensive, but a perfect combination of words, images and brand values that really makes you think that buying the damn thing will make your life better.

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