The World of Advertising has been of keen interest to me for its incredible ubiquity, its informational capacity, and ability to persuade. I designed this site (ArtIsInFormation.org), partially because I am interested in finding an outlet for my opinions concerning the state of advertising (and our world generally), and partially to help inform/communicate with a burgeoning generation of conscious actors—I think I may have succeeded in my first premise. To provide a bit of context to my perspective, I would like to share a little about myself.
I come from an information background. With nine years as an Air Force/DoD analyst (continuing to work on a degree in Political Communications and Environmental Geography at the University of Texas at Austin), my training and experiences have given me a broad appreciation of many important concepts: critical-thinking/acting, multi-source research, balanced skepticism, analysis of information for context/bias, concepts of sustainability, and many other more clichéd (but no less relevant) perspectives. I have been the persuader, and I have been under the influence of the persuader. Now, I am very much interested in helping foster a broader culture of conscious decision makers who have a nuanced understanding of their environment, how each of us effects the world with our actions/decisions, and the kinds of decisions that are required for the habitats on Earth to thrive.
When I began to examine the advertisements around me in greater detail (well over a decade ago now), I noticed this medium was an incredible information tool, a way for us to communicate what is possible, what is available in the environment, and to connect people with resources and information in an efficient and often entertaining manner. But as I watched the ads fill up spaces from scenic places, building tops, to people’s faces, and witnessed the internet overflow with pop-up boxes and banner-ads, I began to feel like my head and thoughts were being invaded. I could repeat dozens, if not hundreds of ad-jingles, yet could not identify common varieties of plants, animals, and other environmental features around me that could prove very useful to my survival. I looked closer at the content of the ads I saw, diving past simply the surface, into implicit meanings, and the cultural implications of selling values, lifestyles, and identities. What did it mean that I was compelled to buy x-y-z Brand like everyone around me? Was I even making my own decisions anymore? Eventually, I came to feel my own personal culture was being violated or assaulted: to sell, to alter my habits, to entice my desire, to take my resources, to influence my actions and decisions. I Decided I was against, not what advertising is fundamentally, but what it has become: a propeller for a consumer economy ponzi-scheme.
We are facing today, an informational tragedy of the commons. Advertisers continue to create an environment where it is impossible to compete, or to distribute a message without adding to the clutter of imagery, emotional appeals, annoying jingles, and clever tag lines. Yet in this environment where everyone is forced to continuously advertise more, or be eaten by the competitor’s compelling ethos, it is all the more impossible to effectively communicate and be noticed individually. Hence, there is no incentive for anyone individual to make a change. What is worse is that it also becomes more difficult to for individuals to find the information and resources that may be necessary to their survival, such as healthy food and water, health care to treat sickness, or how to obtain affordable housing and compete in a market economy without feeling like the only way to get ahead is to lie, cheat, and steal.
No one seems to be advertising how to make people self sufficient, how to teach people to make good decisions, or to craft their own products and identities. I admire advertising for its ability to entertain, inform, persuade, and even teach, but I am reinforcing my resolved conclusion that a national dialog on the reform of advertisements is long over due, and would be greatly beneficial for all; especially people interested in sustaining their trade, arts, crafts, livelihoods, passions, earth… their businesses (what ever you call want to call it). I do not believe we are that far off from a thought revolution that will change many of the ways we view and interact with our planet; one of many reasons compelling me to put the Advertising industry (in its current state) in my crosshairs of critical evaluation.
Brandon Wallace
-ArtIsInFormation.org