At first glance, our society appears to be built, layer up layer, on the outrageous ideals and more-than-often unrealistic expectations that barrage us nearly every moment of every day. From ads soaked in sexuality to YouTube videos that make you cry form laughter — product marketing and effective marketing succeeds in drawing out a full spectrum of human emotion. Although most advertisements appear to be fluff, to make a fleeting impression for less than a fraction of your life, the “plastic” image that most consumers have of the advertising world can be peeled back to reveal more than materialism.
One video I have been replaying the past week shows a different side of the spectrum.
Video Creds: Kaveh Sarhangpour
One could relate this video to art. Art, after all, only exists because of our human reaction to it.
Such is marketing — it thrives from a conversation between consumers and the company; and somewhere between the banter, there is value creation. This leads me back to what I stated in the first paragraph: “plastic” advertising. I find it ironic that people complain that businesses perpetuate consumerism; yet marketing simply turns our wants and needs into visual/physical manifestations. Then is marketing the true cause of our society’s current infatuation with materialism? Or have we ourselves thrown each other into the loop of consumption? We really don’t know whether it was the chicken or the egg that came first.
Just as there is the Old Spice ad and the sobering video I posted above, there are so many facets to what marketing really means to us as customers. As diverse as we are in humanity, there will be just as many advertisements to play to our wants and needs.
Self control simply arises from how good of a filter we have.
Cheers.
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I really enjoyed this post! You did a remarkable job discussing diversity and the consumer in marketing, well done!