Advertisers and Artists

In examining the different groups of artists and the philosophy behind advertisements in the 20th century we came upon two related, but very different groups: Persuaders (Such as Rosser Reeves and Edward Bernays) and Artists in Advertising (Such as Pentagram).

These two groups are related because both work in the world of advertising, and fundamentally, both are trying to use advertising as a medium to convey an idea; however, I would contend that they approach the world of advertising from completely different angles.

It's important to have a mini-refresher on the two groups so that we can determine what is similar and what is different:

Persuaders

The persuaders are a group of people who have shaped the way people advertise. Some, like Rosser Reeves and Edward Bernays, have been responsible for pioneering the way we do advertising today. Notably, Bernays was the nephew of Freud and used his uncles ideas to sell products and ideas to people based on their unconscious desires (and was very successful, I might add). Bernays also was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Ministry of Propaganda under Woodrow Wilson, which was one of the first programs of its kind in the United States.

Bernays and Reeves both approached advertising in terms of what the desires of the customer were - both tried to sell their ideas based upon the elusive idea of fulfilling desires of the public.

Artists in Advertising

Hillman Curtis made a series of short documentaries showing people who are working as artists in the world of advertising. What he showed is that each of the artists approaches their work form the perspective of loving art - while some enjoy the challenge of trying to fit a particular work of art to the goals of the advertising campaign, every one of them was in love with art and pursues art in of itself.

What this shows us is that people involved with the creation of advertising often have different motivations than those who founded the modern methods of selling products to the public.

Signifier-Signified

After completing a project where we were to create campaign videos for and against politicians on the issue of gun control, it was given to us to examine each others' work and to look for signifiers and to explain what they signified. If some of this is unfamiliar you should brush up on semiotics (check my earlier posts).

With each of these videos I looked for 3 signifiers (signs) and tried to determine what it signified (what the signs meant). While this is a casula examination, I will nevertheless attemp to show a signifier and explain what it means.

Video 1:

1- The White House = Presidential aspirations.

2- Crime tape = Danger.

3- Guns and a caption reading "Robbery" = Criminality.

Video 2:

1- Newscast = Authority and reliability.

2- A press conference = Openness /honesty.

3- Classical music = Intelligence.

Video 3:

1- Automatic weapons = Firepower.

2- Members of a SWAT team = Protection.

3- Police officers = Security.

Conclusion:

As can bee seen from each of the videos, a simple examinations can reveal signifiers - signifiers are a means of communication, and communication surrounds us wherever we are. Regardless of whether or not this communication is overt, it has an affect upon us.

It is the duty of the wise consumer of media to know what is being said - verbally or nonverbally. If you do not pay attention to the signs, chances are you won't know what someone is trying to persuade you of either...