Download Chapter 12 - Convergent Media | Divergent Voices

Chapter 12
Dr. Brandreth has Gone to
Harvard
Gabrielle Wong
New York Herald
The Herald was a penny press newspaper whose editor, James Gordon Bennett, was a firm
Democrat and a pioneer of crime-reporting.
In 1835, due to a poor investment by James Gordon Bennett, the New York Herald was forced out of
business. However thanks to an advertising contract with a man named Doctor Brandreth it was only
closed for 19 days.
The business deal allotted Dr. Brandreth prime real estate advertising for his “cure all” pill on the front
page of The Herald.
Several pill companies complained about Brandreth’s frequent appearances in the Herald in which
Bennett replied:
Send us more advertisements than Dr. Brandreth does-give us higher prices-we’ll cut Dr. Brandreth deador at least curtail his space. Business is business-money is money-and Dr. Brandreth is no more to us
than “Mr. Money Broker.”
Dr. Brandreth set the tone for advertising company power.
More Independent or more Dependent?
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Today, Modern media claims to be
immunized by professional ethics, unable
to let advertising influence news content.
BUT:
80% of Newspapers make revenues from
ads and devote 65% of their daily space
to them.
Commercial product is now integrated
into dialogue of TV programs.
“The whole idea is to escape the viewer’s
mute button.”
This technique was given the name of
infotainment.
Subtle Corruption
Advertisers have successfully demanded that the
following ideas appear in programs around their ads:
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All businessman are good, all wars are humane, the
status quo, bakeries, drug companies, restaurants and
grocery stores are all wonderful.
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All cigarette smokers are young and gentle people.
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People who commit suicide never do it with pills.
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Most importantly THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE IS
BEYOND CRITICISM.
In earlier years advertisers sponsored and
produced entire news and entertainment
programs-this gave them direct control.
These ideas are not obvious to the viewer. The
American audience is meant to believe independent
journalists, detached from anything commercial, place
the content there.
For the most most part the industry avoids any content
that may offend advertisers.
In the 1950’s NBC news was called Camel new
Caravan. Which banned ALL film of news that
happened to take place where a No Smoking sign
was seen in the background.
Corporate sets the Standard
1965:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met to determine how much
influence advertisers should have in noncommercial content of radio and television.
Albert N. Halverstadt, advertising manager of Proctor & Gamble, established
directives in which his company would advertise.
Albert boldly stated:
“The writers should be guided by the fact that any scene that contributes negatively to
public morale is not acceptable.” This is what they called positive enforcements.
Sadly, it was not just Proctor and Gamble several large companies believed in the
same ideology.
<<< Here are some of Proctor and Gamble
products.
A Selling Atmosphere
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Advertisers will do what it takes to create a “buying mood”. Networks make the most money
between 8pm and 11pm.
This being the main reason why they avoid the pattern of escapism. (escapist - a person who
escapes into a world of fantasy)
Today our generation is jaded and sophisticated, so now they use humor, self-deprecation
and even satire that leaves the viewer feeling sympathetic to the product.
Magazines
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Before the 1950’s successful magazines were 65% ads, they were fundamentally
designed for ads.
Conde Nast who created Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Mademoiselle, House and
Garden wanted to “Bait the editorial pages…”
Magazines were the first to carry artistic and tasteful ads.
The role of Magazines was to act as a broker bringing together buyers and sellers of
goods.
“The Cold hard facts of magazine publishing mean that those who advertise get
editorial coverage.”
Back to the newspaper
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More newspapers are becoming properties of larger conglomerates where profit levels are
dictated by Wall Street and distant CEOs. Pressure has steadily increased to subdue news
that might offend any important advertisers.
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Contemporary papers are commonly using material that is not real news but is
nonadvertising material. This is also known as “fluff pieces”
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Another growing trend is promotional material under the guise of news.
Some examples
Death for sale
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For the longest time there has been a constant
battle between cigarette companies and
evidence that smoking kills.
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Newspapers with rare exceptions kept smoking
death out of the news. However its hard to
ignore over 300,000 annual deaths from
tobacco-related illness. Most of these deaths
were not reported on T.V or print.
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When it became obvious that smoking caused
serious health problems the Tobacco Institute
claimed that more research was needed.
In1971 tobacco ads were banned from
television-they were more willing to research
antismoking than print.
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QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Smoke that Cigarette
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In the late 70’s national publications, especially news magazines, were
known for dramatic stories on health. Time and Newsweek both had
cover stories titled “What Causes Cancer?”
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Newsweekly magazine:The article was 6 pages long and said no more
about the statistics or medical findings of the tobacco-cancer link,
except in a table which listed the ten most suspected carcinogensalphabetically putting tobacco next to last.
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Time magazine: Ran a 2 column article and only stated “smoking and
drinking have been linked to cancer”.
Media Disease
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Television did pressure the FCC to run antismoking commercials to counter what the FCC
considered misleading cigarette ads and aired documentaries because most of them
emphasized the uncertainty of the tobacco link to cancer.
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In 1980 in a survey done by Gallup,Roper and Chilton revealed the following:
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30% of the public was unaware of the relationship between smoking and heart disease.
50% of women did not know that smoking during pregnancy increases risk of stillbirth and
miscarriage
40% of men and women had no idea that smoking causes 80% of the 98,000 lung cancer
deaths per year
50% of teenagers did not know smoking may be addictive.
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Thank you for smoking