The Allure of Advertising

"It is acknowledged, once again, that some of these ads are manipulative and some annoying and some less than completely honest. (The Marlboro man, for instance, the most successful ad symbol of all time, the supposed symbol of rugged independence, is really a symbol of enslavement to an addictive drug, isn't he?)

But these advertisements, most of them, are something else, too. They are treasures. For one, they are important artifacts in our culture. Woe betide future anthropologists and historians who try to trace the American experience without pondering what, exactly, it is that her hairdresser knows for sure.

And that's because the greatest advertising isn't great for moving merchandise any more than the greatest literature is great for compelling plots. Somehow -- in the service of carmakers and brassiere manufacturers and car rental agencies -- these campaigns have discovered our humanity. They have touched us, understood us, reflected our lives and often enough enriched them" -Bob Garfield.

...But I'm not talking about the allure that Garfield describes. I have a different problem. My Principles of Public Relations and Advertising class has switched to the advertising portion, and I'm finding myself just as intrigued by the advertising world as I was by public relations. It's sucking me in the same way a commercial can draw a viewer to purchase a certain brand. I've always been interested in communications as a whole but how to channel that interest specifically is where my future becomes unclear. Like Garfield describes, the anthropology aspect of communications-- how humans interact with each other and the world around them-- has always interested me (probably why most of my electives are sociology classes). It fascinates me even more to know that there's a billions-of-dollars industry dedicated to manipulating these beliefs and interactions. Christina Malik, a PhD student at UNC, came and spoke to our class about the different divisions of advertising, and I learned that there's an entire division (account planning) dedicated to this concept. Account planners research consumers, brands and what makes them tick. I never knew that there was a medium through which I could channel this interest until now. Of course her talk fell on the same week that I need to choose my concentration for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication so now I have to choose: Advertising or Public Relations?