When I applied to the "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Consumer Culture" seminar led by Dr. Agnew, I had no idea it was going to have such a strong impact on me. I expected to learn about various historical, political and racial aspects of consumerism as well as other matters as global consumerism, sports and consumerism, the meaning of objects, etc. I did not anticipate I would become so aware of advertisement and marketing, that I now analyze not only all kinds of advertisements around me but also the language, psychology or aesthetics they use. To me, it seems we are not always conscious of all the different avenues by which we are "persuaded" daily. Advertising has always been connected with history and has always been part of it as a result of a cultural, economical, commercial, financial and technical evolution.
Everyday we are bombarded with different advertisements. It seems like we were programmed to deal with this constant subtle attack since most of the time we are-or at least some of us think we are- oblivious to it. The average number of ads that we come across daily is about 1000 in Spain and three times that amount in the United States.
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Of this vast number we only precisely remember two or three, and chances are we remember only those that impress us the most. We imbibe commercial ads through television, the radio, billboards everywhere, the web (banners or pop-ups), printed fliers, pamphlets, infomercials, magazines, newspapers, sides of buses or atop of cabs, banners towed behind planes or written in plumes of smoke, posters in stadiums, subway and train stations, supermarket receipts, stickers, etc. The possibilities are overwhelming and even though we think we can control our desires to consume, can we really? More importantly can our students? With the present unit I am not trying to persuade students not to buy the latest fashion item as feeble attempt to "be cool"- that would be a chimera- but have students learn about the world of advertisement and its characteristics and strategies through the foreign language goals I mentioned previously. I want students to be able to fully criticize and value all the different layers (or elements) that integrate into a good commercial or billboard.
Advertising: a Form of Communication
Aristotle was of the idea that there is no communication that does not try to persuade and, giving information and persuading is the dual purpose intended in any form of advertising. It is not unique to it, but it explains its existence and characteristics and its main goal is to promote the acceptance of the item or items launched.
Another important aspect of advertising that I would like students to give thought to, is the communicative and persuasive nature of the discipline. In order to define its reality and compare it to other communicative systems, we should look at it as an activity and message that leads to an economic and social phenomenon: is impossible to understand advertisement without understanding its interaction with other fields like art, economics, technology, politics, psychology and above all, trade. Advertising is a planned activity that is connected to the area of marketing and that evolves to adapt to environmental and economic changes. However, there are non-commercial advertisers who, instead of spending money to broadcast consumer products or services, are interested in promoting interest groups, political parties, religious organizations or agencies. Public Service Announcements, on the other hand, aim to benefit the public interest by raising awareness on social issues and (hopefully) affecting public's attitudes toward safety and health.
It plays with persuasion since its message is delivered to obtain a reaction from the consumer/receptor, it makes use of rhetoric to generate the message, makes use of rhetorical strategies to distinguish itself from the clutter of other advertising messages. The world of advertisement is also a social phenomenon since it contributes to the "cultural industry" and has a direct impact on the behavior of individuals.
The Oldest Profession
I would like students to learn basic history of advertising options, but I will not spend too much time on it during the unit since I consider the theoretical, linguistic and cultural aspects of advertisement will serve them better in a Business Spanish class.
As for the origin of advertising, there are various approaches, based on different ways of interpreting it. If we look at it as a persuasive method aiming to influence people in their behavior and take a close look into its communicative nature, we find advertisements´ first traces in the Luxor Obelisks or the Thebes Papyrus. The Luxor Obelisks, one remains at the entrance of the Luxor Temple in Egypt and the second one sited in La Place la Concorde in Paris, are two red granite columns decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II. Many authors agree on a section of the Thebes Papyrus as the first known written advertisement. It dates between 3000 and 2000 BCE and is kept in London's British Museum. After giving information regarding the escaped slave Shem, his master takes the opportunity to comment on the quality of the fabrics he sells:
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"Having escaped the slave Shem from his master Hapu, the weaver, this one invites all the good citizen of Thebes to find him. He's an Hittite, five-foot high, of healthy complexion and brown eyes; who returns him to the store of Hapu, the weaver, where are woven the most beautiful fabrics to the pleasure of each one, will be given a piece of gold."
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On the other hand, if we look at advertisement as an economic tool used by companies to foster demand, we would have to look back to the economic development and specifically of capitalism in mid 18
th
century England and 19
th
century in the rest of Europe. This was the time when merchants, manufacturers and entrepreneurs began introducing and promoting advertising by incorporating it into their activities until it became part of the companies as a business strategy; they realized they needed to pay more attention to marketing and to compete with other like goods in the market. It is during the second half of the 19
th
century that the brand developed to become a selling point and a guarantee. Brand products became more expensive than bulk ones and were thought to be of better quality. A few examples of the time are Colgate (1806), Coca-Cola (1886), Levi's Strauss (1873) and Goodyear (1844).
In 1864, James Walter Thompson (JWT) opened as the first American advertising agency, the first national ad campaigns appeared at the turn of the 20
th
century. During the 20´s and 30´s economic crises ad professionals converged. In the early 40´s ad men ran the government's propaganda and public information.
Advertising was not fully developed, as we know it today, until probably the postwar, when it became an integrated communication system that is considered in corporate marketing budgets, supports media financially and tries to persuade consumers. It is during this time that the modern advertisement agency becomes part of the American popular culture, with novels and movies situated in the world of "Madison Avenue", as Dr. Agnew pointed out in one of our conversations. In 1952, CBS opened Television City in Hollywood and four years later the introduction of video tapes allow prerecorded commercials.
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Advertising Agencies
In my effort to incorporate the business component into the unit as well as the advertising jargon and vocabulary in Spanish, I would like my students to learn how an advertising agency works, how are the different departments configure and what are employees´ main duties.
A classic ad agency is usually divided in five key departments: creative, customer service, media, financial and traffic departments. Each of these departments has an executive director who reports to the general director, whose job is to perform functions of management any other director would in any type of company; establish, keep and supervise relationships with prospective clients and plan, develop and supervise the agency's public and internal relationships.
In multinational and bigger advertising agencies there is a president, who is in charge of the international relations of the agency, works to strengthen the agency's public image, as well as sharing economic and management guidelines with the general director.
The Creative Department
The creative department is the core of the agency. The creative teams are responsible for the originality and coherence of a campaign, the development of ideas and the design themes, style and aesthetics. Once the ideas and notions are determined, they go to the graphic production or media production. In the creative teams, copywriters and art directors work together to create and design the ad campaigns. Every agency has several of these teams that are coordinated and supervised by one or more creative directors. All the creative team in an agency share the total of customers. There are two different services within the department: the graphic production and the audiovisual production.
The graphic production department is responsible for the infrastructure on production of print media and the technical supervisor of the printing of different materials such as photographers, artwork, models, budgets, etc. The audiovisual production is responsible for facilities for the audiovisual media like radio recordings, relationship with film producers, budgets, etc.
The Creative Process forms the most crucial part of the advertising process.
The Customer Service Department (Accounts Department)
The members of the department which include account managers and executives, keep a direct relation with clients from whom they receive requests and commissions so they can coordinate and connect them with one of the creative departments as well as other departments or divisions in order to solve all matters with customers as handling billing, research studies, and the preparation of campaigns.
Thus the director of this department is responsible for all the accounts in the agency, meanwhile the executives would have one or more clients, according to their eminence/importance.
The Media Department
The media department is responsible of planning the distribution of a campaign in different media, negotiating with radio stations, printers, TV channels, the press, etc. Employees work colleagues in the finance department very closely since they need to have a clear idea of what the budget allows them to do. They are responsible of assessing the impact and effectiveness of their "media buys". When dealing with major campaigns and media, this work might sometimes be outsourced to a media agency since they might have better contacts and be in a better position to negotiate prices, …
The Finance Department
This department is in charge of all the finances in the agency as well as bookkeeping, taxes, payrolls, social security of employees, financial management of clients, payments to contracted providers for campaigns, and so on.
The Traffic Department
The traffic department is an independent department that keeps track of the stages of all work in the agency so that the status of a particular job can be determined at any given time. The traffic department coordinates all phases of production and the acts as a go-between for the accounts and the creative departments. It is also responsible for checking production deadlines and ensuring that all the work is mailed, delivered or broadcasted on schedule. This department is especially helpful in larger multi-national agencies.
