This
blog is going to be a little different than my others so far. Instead of focusing on a single ad, I wanted
to take some time to talk about something I noticed when I visited LA and
Hermosa Beach over my spring break in early March. Ads were everywhere, on billboards, posters,
pretty much anywhere where someone could sell a patch of white space. This is very different than Virginia and even
Washington, D.C. It was almost like
being in an entirely different world.
Entire buildings were designed as advertisements, selling 20 story high
posters of movies and games.
In an
earlier post, I talked about an ad in the super bowl this year and how it was a
bit of an insight into our society. The advertisements
I saw spread all over the city of Los Angeles were no different. In fact, to me it’s a great representation of
how societal values tend to be not only molded by advertising but how they are reciprocated
by them. In a world where everyone
desires perfection and upholds this ideal image of how they should be,
billboards everywhere show perfect women selling products simply with the connection
that the buyer might be able to feel like the women in the photo once in possession
of the product being marketed. In a
world where everyday life can be quite difficult and dissonant, commercials
emphasize easy escapes from it. Whether
it is a movie, an amusement park, or just a day of golfing, every ad provides a
feeling of relief from the stress of real life.
Honestly
I was kind of conflicted by the whole thing.
I loved the colors, the sights, the vast collection of different
marketing approaches and styles in the same place. Yet at the same time, I would be lying to say
it wasn’t at times overwhelming. Sure it
was easy enough to tune out some of the stimuli, especially those that I didn’t
recognize. But when I saw billboard
after billboard where I recognized the product (or even the model for that
matter), it became quite distracting. I
found it difficult to imagine living in a place where I was constantly
bombarded by images not of my choosing.
I can understand now why so many consumers find advertising such a
problem…no wonder people don’t trust it.
Some of the advertising was ingenious, marketing a great solution to a
consumer need in an ingenious way.
Others just used worn out ideas like half-naked models or celebrity
endorsements. I mean if your Victoria Secret,
the model thing probably is a good idea.
For a plumber…yea not so much.
Luckily most of these issues were
just in the city instead of the entire area I was visiting. Laws in the beach cities are much more
restrictive than those in the city toward advertisement placing, so there was
much less clutter where I spent a good amount of my spring break. I
still could relax when I wanted to, blocking out whatever visuals I wanted to
without much thought. Still, it was an
interesting experience that made me think the connection between society and
advertising as an industry.
