Download Advertising, Manipulation, and Consumer Culture

UNIT 3: ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING
HANDOUT 2: ADVERTISING, MANIPULATION, AND CONSUMER CULTURE
1: UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER CULTURE
A second type of criticism of the advertising enterprise has to do with its connection to consumer
culture. Understanding this criticism requires understanding what is meant by consumer culture as
well as the role that advertising plays within it.
1.1 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE
In order to understand the idea of consumer culture, we must first understand the notion of culture
itself.
As defined by McCracken (1988), culture is the ideas and activities by which each of
us, as individuals, constructs our world. Culture can be seen as a way to interpret
everything we interact with (CCA, 16).
Culture is comprised of the transmitted beliefs and practices which allow us to determine meaning in
our daily lives. Importantly, culture can give different meanings to the exact same physical events or
occurrences. Consider the following example.
On Inauguration Day 2005, President George W. Bush raised his fist, with the index
and little finger extended, to give the time honored hook 'em horns gesture of the Texas
Longhorn football team to the marching band of the University of Texas.
Newspapers around the world expressed their astonishment at the use of such a
gesture. Italians refer to it as "il cornuto," which means that you are being cuckolded
(that is, that your wife is cheating on you!). It's considered a curse in some African
countries, and is clearly an offensive gesture in many other parts of the world.1
Furthermore, the actions that are deemed appropriate will vary depending upon our cultural context.
Consider the following simple example.
For example, culture influences how you act in the classroom. In a large lecture class,
you might never think about shouting out ideas without first raising your hand. In
fact, you might not think about speaking at all! But in a smaller, more informal
discussion section, you might feel very comfortable speaking your mind, and the
culture may influence you to speak without raising your hand and to debate others in
the class, including the instructor (CCA, 23).
1.2 CONSUMER CULTURE AND COMMODIFICATION
The question we are most concerned with is what sorts of values and meanings are communicated
by consumer culture. There are a number of important aspects to take into consideration when
characterizing consumer culture.
1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayle-cotton/cross-cultural-gestures_b_3437653.html
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Consumer culture exists in a society where “people own many consumer goods” (CCA, 17).
Consumer culture has a role in shaping the meaning that we place upon those consumer
good. Some claim that consumer culture exists in a society “in which human values have
been grotesquely distorted so that commodities become not ends in themselves but
overvalued means for acquiring acceptable ends like love and friendship” (CCA, 17).
In a consumer culture nearly all aspects of life are subject to some degree of
commodification and evaluated in terms of the value they have on the free market.
According to the first point, a society cannot be characterized by consumer culture unless it has
some degree of economic prosperity (i.e. a society of aesthetic monks, who own little personal
material possessions, would not live in a consumer culture). Furthermore, in line with the second
idea, a society is only characterized as a consumer culture if it places a particular sort of importance
on those consumer goods.
For example, a consumer culture suggests to us that if we want to be attractive to
others, we should buy this perfume, or if we want to have an exciting love affair, we
should drink that beer. Our attractiveness or our ability to be loved has nothing to do
with who we are internally but rather with what we buy and how those purchases are
seen by people external to ourselves (CCA, 17).
In a consumer culture, consumer goods are sought not just for their utility (or usefulness) but for
the connection they have to other desires and values. Finally, consumer culture is characterized by
significant commodification of the goods people own and the practices they engage in.
Commodification is the process of “stripping an object of all other values except its
value for sale to someone else” (CCA, 17).
Sheehan provides the example of how consumer culture effects the holiday of Christmas. Christmas
is no longer seen solely (maybe even primarily) as a religious holiday, it has now turned into a
“festival of gift giving” where “our self-worth can be affirmed based on how good the gifts are that
we give and receive” (CCA, 17). Consumer culture, then, is a cultural context in which connects
human goods (love, friendship, sex, etc.) with consumer goods and in which value of an entity is
seen in terms of its ability to be sold (i.e. commodification).
1.3 TRANSFORMATIONAL ADVERTISING AND BRANDING
What role does advertising play in consumer culture? Sheehan distinguishes between informational
and transformational advertisements. Informational advertisements are meant to inform consumers
about products they may want to purchase and facilitate economic exchanges. Transformational
advertisements, on the other hand, have a different purpose.
Instead, a second group of advertisements, transformational advertisements, provide
information that suggests how we as consumers will feel if we buy the product or
service. Advertising can transform us – that is, suggest that our lives will somehow
be different and better – if we purchase the advertised product or service (CCA, 19).
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Recall that an important aspect of consumer culture is that we see the products we buy as imbued
with meanings that transcend their practical function. Sheehan explains this in the following way.
Let’s face it, many products have the same basic qualities. In blind taste tests, many
people cannot tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. Is a box of Kellogg’s
Corn Flakes fundamentally different from the store brand? […] If two products do
not differ materially – that is, in terms of the actual function of the products – they
can be made to differ in terms of attributed qualities, which is also known as image
(CCA, 21).
Consider the following advertisement which Sheehan also discusses on pg. 20.
This advertisement does not inform the consumer about how using StubHub will make it easier to
get tickets to events they might enjoy attending. It also sells the idea that those who use StubHub
lead more exciting lives. The ad, then, seeks to create a certain sort of image. Advertisers accomplish
this task via branding.
The process of branding, then, is the assignment of attribute qualities that distinguish
one brand from all others (CCA, 21).
Advertisers aim to associate a particular brand of product with a particular image that will be
attractive to consumers. Consider the following example.
You may recall a famous old advertisement for the Avis Rental Car Company. Their
ads positioned them as the number two company, second to Hertz, and said that
when you are number two, you try harder. This idea of number two resonates with
consumers because many people can think of a time when they were working hard
and trying their best, and they appreciate the effort it can take (CCA, 22).
In this way, advertising plays an important role in supporting the connection that is present in
consumer culture between consumer goods and personal meanings or values.
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2: ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER MANIPULATION
Having seen how advertising plays a role in supporting consumer culture, we will now consider
some criticisms of the advertising enterprise that arise from this role. First, we will look at the
criticism that advertising’s role in consumer culture causes manipulation of consumers.
2.1 MANIPULATION AND PERSUASION
Understanding this claim first requires understanding the difference between manipulation and
persuasion. Both manipulation and persuasion aim at getting someone else to do something else or
convince them of something. The difference lies in the means used.
Manipulation occurs when one is convinced of something, or made to do
something, in a way that does not treat them as rational decision makers.
Persuasion occurs when one is convinced of something, or made to do something,
in a way that does treat them as a rational decision maker.
For instance, imagine a politician was trying to convince a community to vote him or her into public
office. If the politician hired a hypnotist to brainwash the community into doing so, or threatened to
have secret agent’s kill their families, then this would be a form of manipulation. However, if the
politician attempted to garner their vote by outlining his or her platform and explaining its
advantages, thereby allowing the public to evaluate and make their own decision, then this would be
persuasion.
2.2 ACTIVE AND PASSIVE CONSUMERS
Whether or not advertising is manipulative depends in large part upon the nature of consumers.
Sheehan distinguishes between viewing consumers as passive and as active.
Those who view consumers as passive do not think that consumers play a
substantial critical role in their decisions about what to buy. For instance, “[d]uring
the 1940s, a group of scholars known as the Frankfurt School saw individuals in
mass capitalist cultures as having lost all powers of critical perspective.” According to
this view “we are powerless over advertising” (CCA, 12).
Those who view consumers as active see consumers as capable of playing a
substantial critical role in their purchasing decisions: “An active consumer, in
contrast, is a pragmatic participant in communications. Active consumers critically
evaluate messages and learn as much as they can about purchases from several
sources, not just advertising” (CCA, 12).
If we think of consumers as passive, then it seems they would be subject to advertising
manipulation. However, if we take an active view of consumers then this may not be the case.
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2.3 SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING
Does advertising render consumers passive and subject to manipulation? One way in which some
have argued that advertising is manipulative is by using subliminal advertising. However, Sheehan notes
that claims about the effectiveness of subliminal advertising have been largely refuted.
The idea that advertising is subliminal suggests that it works beneath the
consciousness level of individuals. Discussions about subliminal advertising began
with experiments in movie theaters, where a cinema owner interspersed messages
saying “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” into the movie. The owner’s findings
that sales of soft drinks and popcorn increased because of the messages were later
discredited (CCA, 12).
2.4 THE DEPENDENCE EFFECT
Outside of subliminal advertising, some have also argued that advertising is manipulative (and
renders us passive) by creating desires. This idea was popularized by John Galbraith in what is
known as the dependence effect.
Galbraith argued that companies creates specific products and services and then use
advertising to create desires among consumers that the products they have created
can satisfy (CCA, 27).
In Galbraith’s view, advertisers intentionally create desires for the products they are trying to
sell. Galbraith noticed two important aspects of advertising technique.
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Advertising creates the propensity to consume by portraying the message that
consumption is the “quick, easy way to solve problems and attain the good life”
(CCA, 27).
Advertising makes deceptive suggestions. Even if it does not outright lie, it still
suggests that a product has a certain meaning which likely will not come to fruition.
For instance, Marlboro sells the idea that smoking will make one “manly” when in
fact smoking will likely not inculcate many traits that are seen as associated with
masculinity (CCA, 27).
If Galbraith is correct, then consumers are highly passive in their decision making. However,
Sheehan notes that there are some problems with this characterization. There are a variety of ways in
which we see consumers exercising choice (CCA, 28).
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Advertising is not the only source of information that consumers use when making buying
decisions. Thus, consumers exercise a degree of choice regarding what sources of
information to use.
Consumers also actively select, and ignore, advertisements. This suggests that consumers
actively decide whether they want to listen to advertising or not. Even for intrusive
advertisements, studies show that people only remember those ads they were actually
interested in.
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Sheehan does not deny that advertising has an influence upon us, “[b]ut for advertising to affect
consumers, the consumers must actively choose to look at the advertisements” (CCA, 29).
2.5 BRANDING AND CONSUMER IRRATIONALITY
Still, one might argue that to the extent advertising influences us that it does so in a way that
encourages us to make irrational decisions. Sheehan notes that many have been concerned about the
branding process which supports consumer culture.
Advertising that transforms has been criticized because it suggests that important
qualities and values can only be achieved through purchasing specific goods and
services. You cannot have a fun, carefree life without Coca-Cola. You are not a good
parent unless you take your kids to McDonald’s or buy Jif peanut butter. You are not
a safe driver unless you drive Volvo. In particular it is this use of intangible attributes
having little to do with product performance that causes critics to become alarmed
about advertising. Creating such emotional connections between product and
purchaser is seen as manipulative and inherently unfair (CCA, 22).
We might think that this aspect of advertising (that it sells not just products but an image of what it
means to use that product) is morally problematic. Understanding this criticism requires
understanding the distinction between real and perceived value.
An item’s real value is determined by the objective benefit it has independent of
what one thinks about that value. For instance, regardless of whether or not I believe
it to be the case, water is valuable to me insofar as it quenches my thirst.
An item’s perceived value is determined by how one believes that the item will
benefit him or her. For instance, imagine that two running shoes, shoe X and shoe
Y, are exactly the same except for the brand which is associated with them. Shoe X
may have a higher perceived value than shoe Y for a given customer if that customer
has a preference for its brand.
Based upon this distinction one could argue that advertising is makes us irrational consumers in the
following way.2
Advertising Makes us Irrational Consumers
P1 A purchasing choice is only rational if that choice is made with regard to the real
value of a product and not its perceived value.
P2 Advertising encourages us to make choices based upon the perceived value of a
product by branding that product (making us value a running shoe, for example,
because Nike makes it).
C Advertising encourages us to be irrational consumers.
Objection 1: It may be true that consumers often do not make buying decisions based upon
the real value of products. However, it may not be the case that advertising is really to blame
2
Hyman and Skipper, “Advertising: Questioning Common Criticisms,” 89.
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for this. Some have argued that artificial and culturally produced desires have been present
throughout human history. James Twitchell makes this point in the following way.
Let’s face it, the idea that consumerism creates artificial desires rests on a wistful
ignorance of history and human nature, on the hazy, romantic feeling that there
existed some halcyon era of noble savages with purely natural needs. Once fed and
sheltered, our needs have always been cultural, not natural.3
As Sheehan also notes, “[p]eople’s needs have never been ‘natural’ but always cultural, always social,
always defined relative to the standards of their societies” (CCA, 22). Thus, the picture of what it
means to be a “rational consumer” in the above argument is unrealistic because “we are viewing the
world through this cultural lens, it is difficult to make decisions based on the rational attributes of a
product” (CCA, 22).
Objection 2: Following the consequences of the above objection, we might question
whether the distinction between real and perceived value even makes sense. Consider
something like food. It seems to have real, objective value because all humans need food to
survive. However, the value of food seems to also be dependent upon the consumers beliefs
and values. For instance, someone on a hunger strike would not value food in the same way
as someone who is not.
Objection 3: We might also criticize the argument for not taking into account certain positive aspects
of branding for consumers. There can be rational reasons for sticking to a particular brand (apart
from increased perceived value).
Obviously, we are not going to be active consumers for all types of purchases: If we
did exhaustive research before we purchased soda from a machine, for example, we
would spend all of our time on these simple purchase decisions. Therefore,
consumers develop heuristics – that is, rules that help us streamline the decisionmaking process. Heuristics often involve individualized brand preference and/or
brand loyalty; that is, positive experiences with brands in the past result in
subsequent purchases of the brand. Actively invoking these rules, though, provides
additional evidence that the active consumer model is indeed the appropriate model
(CCA, 13).
In addition to saving time, buying branded and advertised products can help reduce cognitive
dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance is an internal conflict about a decision that occurs after the
decision is made. After an individual purchases a product, he or she may question
whether the purchase was the best choice or whether the purchase should have been
made at all (CCA, 21).
Constantly questioning our purchases can produce a psychological harm which branding of products
can help to assuage by making us more confident in our decisions.
3
James Twitchell, Lead Us Into Temptation, 238.
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3: CONSUMER CULTURE AND THE CORRUPTION OF VALUES
Another concern dealing with advertising is that the consumer culture it supports corrupts human
values. This type of criticism is made by Sut Jhally in his essay “Advertising at the Edge of the
Apocalypse.” From the outset we see Jhally aims at defending a rather bold thesis.
Twentieth century advertising is the most powerful and sustained system of
propaganda in human history, and its cumulative cultural effects, unless quickly
checked, will be responsible for the destroying the world as we know it […] Simply
stated, our survival as a species is dependent upon minimizing the threat from
advertising and the commercial culture that has spawned it (Jhally, 99).
3.1 CAPITALISM AND THE PROBLEM OF CONSUMPTION
In Jhally’s essay we see him distinguish between two different problems pertaining to the
transmission of goods and services: the problem of mass production and the problem of consumption.
Problem of Mass Production → How can people be motivated to produce a vast
surplus of goods?
Problem of Consumption → How can people be motivated to consume that
surplus of goods?
Jhally believes that capitalism, by mobilizing self-interest in a competitive environment, has already
resolved the first problem: “no other society in history has been able to match the immense
productive output of industrial capitalism” (Jhally, 100). As we have seen, consumer society is
characterized by the vast proliferation of consumer goods. The real problem is that of consumption.
Once produced, commodities must go through the circuit of distribution, exchange,
and consumption, so that profit can be returned to the owners of capital, and value
can be realized again in a money form. If the circuit is not completed, the system will
collapse into stagnation and depression. Capitalism therefore has to ensure the sale
of commodities on pain of death (100).
Because consumption is absolutely essential to the system as a whole, a new industry is created to
ensure that consumption occurs: the advertising industry. Over time, advertising has begun to
monopolize more of the public sphere: “High schools now sell the sides of their buses (Jhally, 101).
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The result is that the public sphere is so saturated with advertising that advertisers are finding it
increasingly more difficult to stand out from the crowd: “the main competition for marketers is not
simply other brands in their product type, but all the other advertisers who are competing for the
attention of an increasingly cynical audience that is doing all that it can to avoid ads” (Jhally, 101).
Consequently, we are left in a situation where (i) advertising exists everywhere and (ii) massive
amounts of money (and energy) are spent upon making creative and appealing advertisements.
3.2 ADVERTISING, HAPPINESS, AND MAGIC
Jhally claims that all societies have a story to tell about what it is to be happy and, because
advertising makes up such a large portion of our culture, much of the story that industrial capitalist
societies tell about happiness comes from advertising. Jhally claims that advertising gives the
following answer to the question of what it is that makes human beings happy.
The way to happiness and satisfaction is through the consumption of objects through the marketplace
(Jhally, 102).
This is one reason why advertisers have largely stopped selling the public on the material qualities of
products. Instead, they focus on the supposed meaning that owning objects can add to our lives.
However, various studies and surveys have shown that what people really want from their lives has
very little to do with wealth and material goods themselves.
The findings of this line of research indicate that if the elements of satisfaction were
divided up into social values (love, family, and friends) and material values (economic
security and success), the former outranks the latter in terms of importance (Jhally,
104).
In order to ensure the consumption of products, advertisers aim to connect the possession of
material goods with the values that people truly want most.
No wonder then that advertising is so attractive to us, so powerful, so seductive.
What it offers us are images of the real sources of human happiness – family life,
romance and love, sexuality and pleasure, friendship and sociability, leisure and
relaxation, independence and control of life. That is why advertising is so powerful;
that is what is real about it (Jhally, 104).
Consider the following Coca Cola advertisement.
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Unfortunately, Jhally notes that this is a “cruel illusion” and that actually advertising “draws us
further away from what really has the capacity to satisfy us” (Jhally, 105). This should not be
surprising if we consider the nature further the nature of the connection advertising wants us to
draw between advertising and happiness. Another media critic, Raymond Williams, characterizes
picture of material objects that advertisers sell us as one of magic.4 We can define magic in the
following way.
Magic is said to occur when there is a production of results that is wildly out
proportion to the effort put in.5
It seems unfathomable that simply by some product could deliver all of the human values that
advertisers suggest it can.
3.3 ADVERTISING AND COLLECTIVE ACTION
Jhally claims not only that advertising leads us astray in our pursuit of happiness, but also inhibits
our ability for collective action. Consider the threat posed by global climate change. This is a
phenomena which poses a very serious threat and may require fundamental changes to our lifestyles.
Jhally provides the following metaphor.
The metaphor that best describes the task before us is of an oil taker heading for a
crash on the shore. Because of its own momentum and size, to avoid crashing the oil
tanker has to start turning well before it reaches the coast, anticipating its own
momentum […] We have to make fundamental changes in the way in which we
organize ourselves, in what we stress in our economy (Jhally, 109).
Importantly, the changes we need to make cannot be made merely through the decisions of various
individuals – they require collective action on a widescale. Jhally claims that advertising, a major
cultural force, fails to address us at a collective level.
It addresses us not as members of society talking about collective issues, but as
individuals. It talks about our individual needs and desires. It does not talk about
those things that we have to negotiate collectively, such as poverty, healthcare,
housing and the homeless, the environment, among other things (Jhally, 105).
3.4 IS ADVERTISING RESPONSIBLE?
Evaluating Jhally’s claims requires thinking about the following question that Sheehan mentions in
chapter one.
An ongoing debate examines whether advertising reflects our lifestyle (advertising
mirrors society) or creates our lifestyle (i.e. advertising shapes society) (CCA, 8).
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5
Raymond Williams, “The Magic System”
Sut Jhally, The Spectacle of Accumulation, 95.
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Jhally argues here that advertising is largely responsible for shaping our lifestyle. Specifically, (i) for
making us pursue happiness in the wrong places and (ii) for making us self-centered and incapable
of addressing long term issues of collective interest. However, these claims are controversial.
3.4.1 PURSUIT OF THE HIGHER PLEASURES
John Stuart Mill famously distinguished between higher and lower pleasures.
Higher Pleasures → These are pleasures which require a great deal of effort, and in
many cases pain, to achieve. But in the end provide the highest quality of pleasure.
For instance, studying hard to get a good grade on your upcoming philosophy exam
can be painful, but in the end you get the satisfaction of getting an A. Or, training
hard for success in a sport can also be painful, but it all seems worth it when your
team wins.
Lower Pleasures → These are pleasures which do are easier to obtain, but do not
provide (Mill thought) as much satisfaction as the higher pleasures. In general, these
are the types of sensual pleasures that humans share with non-human animals.
Examples are the pleasures of eating, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and having sex.
Mill held that the higher pleasures are more valuable. Yet, if this is the case, then we might wonder
we people so often forsake the higher pleasures in favor of the lower pleasures (why do we concern
ourselves with material possessions instead of working to make our friendships the best they can
be?). Jhally’s answer is essentially that advertising deceives us into thinking that buy material
possessions will fill our lives with meaning. However, there are other possible explanations. Perhaps
the answer is simply that human beings tend to be (or atleast have a propensity) to be lazy in their
pursuit of happiness. Owning a consumer good may not provide as much pleasure as something
which takes more work, but it certainly is a pleasure that is much easier to attain. If this is the case,
then the problem lies with human nature not with advertising. Advertising, then, simply reflects this
fact about human beings.
3.4.2 HUMAN NATURE AND SELF-INTEREST
A similar thing can be said about the idea that advertising encourages us to be self-centered: “[t]he
market appeals to the worst in us (greed and selfishness) and discourages what is the best about us
(compassion, caring, and generosity)” (Jhally, 105). Political philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued
that the natural state of human beings, unconstrained by law or government, is one of constant
conflict where people would pursue their own interests by any means. He described the natural state
of human beings as a state of “continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man,
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”6 If this is the case, then advertising may play to our selfish
and self-concerning tendencies, but it would not create them. Advertising would, again, just be a
reflection of the natural selfishness of human beings.
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Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
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