Art in Advertising
by Kimberly Bozeman

As a number of governments, including Britain and France, have approached passing censorship laws on advertisements, a number of critical discussions have come to light in the courtroom. Some parliamentarians have speculated that censorship is this or that while others fully support the policies. The biggest arguments have been over the literal versus the emotional. The debate between advertising as a business expense and advertising as art is a huge battle being played on the ethical playground.

Image courtesy of Cyclelicio.us

In the wake of the current technological revolution, advertisers have been caught in a creative vice. Though the use of traditional media like television, radio and print play a vital part in any advertising campaign, marketers are finding target markets harder to reach. Glitz and glam no longer catch the attention of specific demographics as most are over media-saturated. In efforts to wade through the online noise and social media clamor, advertisers have taken to guerilla tactics in order to captivate their audience. Innovative collaborations include:

• Numerous bikes spray-painted neon orange were left all over New York City to promote DKNY.com. The bikes were located in front of coffee shops and chained to street poles at major intersections with the Web site painted on the side.

• Piles of mock gold bullions complete with the phrase “If you have me, I was stolen” were planted throughout the streets of London promoting artist Paul Insect’s latest exhibit.

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force created Lite-Brite type advertisements all over Boston to promote the Adult Swim Network show. The ads caused several large traffic shutdowns when they were mistaken for bomb threats.

Image courtesy of Weburbanist.com

Although it is exciting to see artistic creativity displayed through marketing there can be a serious danger in associating advertising with art.

With certain marketing tactics advertising can take a manipulative turn for the worst as marketers work to draw an audience to have an emotional connection with the product, idea or person. This was wildly popular throughout the mid-90s thanks to brands like Saturn and Coca-Cola and has now become standard practice in promotional planning. Advertisers have consistently found that if an audience has an emotional connection with a product, a loyal customer can be forged. Ethical lines begin to blur as speculation asks if this particular advertising strategy has an association with brainwashing.

The important thing to keep in mind is that although advertising is vital to advance in business and commerce, a solid system of checks and balances should be formed. Advertising needs a clean frame to work inside of and until a better solution is created the censorship debate will rage on.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Coca-Cola, DKNY, guerilla advertising, Kimberly Bozeman, Lite-Brite, Paul Insect, Saturn