Advertising - the Root of all Evil?

I'm very aware that I'm embarking upon a career in an industry that deeply divides public opinion and towards which quite a lot of people feel a considerable amount of hatred. Bill Hicks has a really funny piece about advertising and marketing, and it is guaranteed to make you laugh, but deep down you can tell he really fucking hates advertising, everyone who is associated with it and everything it stands for. And he's not alone.

This is something I've thought about a lot and I've often questioned whether or not I'm doing the right thing by getting into advertising. I don't disagree with a lot of the reasons people have for disliking the advertising industry. I'm not in this to sell greasy burgers to overweight kids. I'm not interested in making a living out of conning people into thinking that 'light' cigarettes aren't as harmful as regular ones. I don't care for using pseudo-science to convince people that they need to guzzle expensive yogurty drinks everyday just to keep their gut happy.

But I also don't buy into the notion that we don't need advertising, and that the world would be better off without it. I think there is an important role for advertising that is honest and up-front with people (I nearly typed 'consumers' instead of people there but I hate the way that word labels people and strips them of a personality). Advertising appeals to our emotions, and so it should. We are, by nature, emotional beings. How often do we rule with our hearts rather than our heads? As long as advertising doesn't take advantage of that then I see no problem. Whether or not that's possible is something I'm still trying to figure out. At the moment I think it is.

Maybe I'm naive, I probably am, but for me advertising is ultimately about creativity. Sure, there's a whole load of crap that goes along with, but is there any industry, or any aspect of modern life that can claim to be completely bullshit-free? I don't think so. I love telling stories, I love creating new ideas and I love how people interpret, use and re-invent those ideas in their own unique ways. Advertising does all that, and working in advertising allows me to do all that too.

Rory Sutherland has been in advertising an awful lot longer than I have. I doubt he has all the answers, but I like what he had to say at TEDGlobal 2009. He also makes me excited about working in advertising, which makes the long, difficult hours of study a little easier.



When it comes to morals and ethics there are ultimately more questions than answers. I haven't even come close to answering all of my own questions about the advertising and marketing industries and this blog isn't an attempt to change the minds of people who abhor advertising and everything it stands for - if I can't even make up my own mind how can I begin to make up the minds of others? But I really do think there is a middle ground between a utopic world free from advertising, where all decisions are made based on rational analysis of facts, and the world of greedy, capitalist, exploitative marketers. I guess I'm just trying to find that middle ground and, hopefully, build a career on it.