In our modern era of consumerism, advertising has become such a part of normal, everyday life, that for many, it has become an inconvenience, and others, just another part of media that they don't even think about. American culture has become saturated with advertising to the point that it has taken the place of natural culture, and created an entirely new one for our now consumer nation.
In the Frontline documentary, The Pursuaders, we are given a glimpse into the inside culture of advertising. We are shown how it has changed over the years, that rather than a product having to be advertised as good, because now all products perform their functions(so there is no longer a need to advertise that a product makes something "whiter" or "cleaner"), they are advertised for how they make people feel.
Nike shoes make you feel faster and stronger; iPods make you feel as though you have your own personal soundtrack; cleaning products make you feel clean. In other words, these products are no longer marketed for their function, but what they do for you, how they make you feel, and what you can accomplish with them. Through this new form of advertising, it has created cultures around brands and products, loyalties by consumers to certain companies and brands, regardless of whether or not their competition is making a nearly identical product.
The problem with all this advertising though, is that it's all become clutter. There's just so many advertisements, that none of it means anything, and in order to stand out, advertisers have to create an ad that jumps out at the consumer and is different from all the clutter; what this does though, is create more ads, and adds to the clutter, thus continuing the cycle.
Since advertising has become a lot of clutter, it has started to near its peak, and many, many people, are avoiding advertising now, as much as they can. No matter how hard advertisers work to get their ads out, more and more people are getting things like ad block, or just downloading media(many times illegally)without having to go through traditional mediums.
While The Pursuaders is a bit dated, much of what it was about is still relevant, and it is interesting to see what people's ideas were about what the future of advertising would be. Since the documentary was made, it seems that advertising has become less popular as far as public demand, and whenever people get the chance, they avoid advertising. Although TiVo really isn't much of a thing like it was when the documentary was made, people have made other substitutes. Cable TV was originally started as being "commercial free", but now it has more commercials than regular Television, which may be one of the reasons as to why cable hasn't been making as much money as it used to. People are going to the internet for their media, and even avoiding internet sites that have excessive ads, or they are installing ad block to get rid of internet ads. If anything, advertising now causes many people(maybe even most)to be turned off to a product, especially when that product is something as well known as Coca-Cola.
The age of feel-good advertising may be coming to an end; it's still a battle though, one that advertisers are still fighting, as more people avoid advertising, and less are reached by it. Where the advertising game will go and what advertisers will do in the face of this adversity, will be interesting to observe; for the time being though, it looks as if advertisers have an up hill battle in winning the public's favor again.
