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| Times Square in years past |
Long Winded Answer: I live in New York City, and some people think it is the financial capital of the world, tourist capital, attitude capital, but actually I think its the advertising capital of the world. When you walk through times square, your not walking through a historical site where the artifacts of the place move you, you are moved by gigantic signs and lights and pictures of clothes and cameras and drinks that are inspiring you to believe in the product.
I remember since I was a little kid I loved the steam that came off of the cup of noodles ad in times square, it felt so real I could almost smell the MSG flowing through the New York air. And the crisp bubbliness of the coca-cola ad drawing me in to stare into effervescent creamy goodness. Ive grown up since then and I am still trying to kick the habit of soda, but those ads still stir my taste buds almost as strongly as the day I had first seen them.
And so to this day I continue to be a lover of good advertising and a criticizer of bad advertising. One thing that has occurred to me recently is some advertising is very in tune with the communities they advertise to , but some seem to be out of sync not only with my personal appeal but also with general good taste and aesthetics. Some advertising can be effective but also have a character of sleaziness, cheapness, baseness, appealing to humanity's most basic desires without any hint of tact or creativity. If you've seen the world of online advertising and how cunning and tricky it can be, you may come to appreciate when advertising is honest and wholesome and somehow even maybe might have to do with the product.
I believe if we have to live with advertising, why not live with marketing like an abrasive monster that's always demanding something of us, let's make it appealing to live in a well marketed beautiful world, with products that reflect the way we would like to live and the environment you would like to live in. The fact of the matter is marketing is based around getting the consumer to consume, now they have two routes. The first is to use tactics that grab your eye through force, such as a beautiful half naked girl next to car ie. shock value or confusion. But isn't it more satisfying to pick up product such as a beverage that both has aesthetic pleasing qualities and has some ingredient that you would appreciate to see in a drink. Now the second example is what I call substantive marketing , it has thought about what the consumer likes and how the product fits in the consumers world.
My goal for this site is to rant about marketing , the way I always do, but I also hope to hear some responses from people that aren't me. I'd love to know how other people feel about certain ads or marketing and see if I am not alone out there. Leave some posts , I'd love to chat about it.
