Advertising (604 hits)
Category: Business & FinancialRating: 0.12 on 34 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by PepsiCoke (View user info) at 2009-01-21 19:47:24 EST
Would society fall into complete disrepair if we abolished advertising? I think it would be really fucking interesting. I'm not even going to contemplate the logistics of how that would even be possible, but I wonder what would happen if advertising ceased to be an influence on culture, politics, and economics.
Obviously, things like broadcast television would have to be funded differently. But think of all the money, effort, creativity, and organization that goes into marketing every single product and service that exists in the world. Some products aren't advertised much, or even at all. But something like a brand name soft drink company will spend an incredibly high percentage of its capital on marketing.
Of the one dollar you spend on a can of Pepsi or Coke, less than a cent of it is going toward the actually soda. It costs between twenty and thirty cents in labor and materials to manufacture and ship each can, but that leaves 70 cents of your dollar as profit that can go towards advertising. These days, companies like Pepsi and Coke spend more man hours working on their advertising campaigns than they do on actually putting water and high fructose corn syrup together.
Pepsi's campaigns have disgusted me more than usual lately. If you've seen their recent billboards, commercials, and their obnoxious new website (www.refresheverything.com) you'll know what I mean. They basically stole Obama's campaign logo, co-opted his slogans and attitudes, and have begun to piggyback on his political momentum. I'm not offended just because I voted for Obama. I would be just as pissed had McCain won and Pepsi jumped on his bandwagon.
Advertising is a way for people to learn about new goods and services, but I don't think it's the only way, and it's certainly not an ideal way.
I imagine people that are Buddhists must hate advertising, or they must learn to completely ignore it. To free yourself from desires would be difficult if marketing affected you.
User Reviews
Submitted by Jordan85777 (user info) at 2009-01-23 20:49:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I agreed with you until that guy mentioned the open and closed sign. whether or not a sign like that is advertising doesn't really matter. I know you did not want to discuss the logistics but lets do that for a second. assuming we keep a primarily capitalistic system (or at least a form of free market) how would we inform people on what goods and services were available and what those goods and services were like? I had settled on a government organization. to run this organization we would have to decide between companies submitting there products and descriptions to this organization or this organization going out and evaluating every single product and coming up with there own description. the latter would be very expensive and ineffeicent which might offset the the finacial downside to advertising. but the first one would be a passive form of advertising. Also I think an organization like this would be very susceptible to corruption.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-23 03:41:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
That was a fantastic sentence.
Yes I do... so - ok. Good talk.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-23 02:50:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-22 18:54:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Yer kinda splitting hairs there a little, fella."
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Where? What are you talking about?
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"Heck, a 'open/closed' sign is advertising."
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Not really. If you want to bend the definition enough to suit your argument, go ahead, but an open/closed sign is not what I'm talking about, and I didn't think it would take a genius to gather that from the tone of my post. I'm talking about commercial advertising that, for the sake of maximum profit, actively coerces people into buying things. I'm not talking about a word on a door that lets passersby know whether or not they are welcome inside. I'm not the one splitting hairs, here.
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"It's intrinsically tied to the basic exchange of goods and services that lubricate our capacity to even have a society."
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This is just a terrible sentence and I think I'm only coming away with the vaguest sense of what you mean. "Lubricate"? You're going to have to help me out on this.
Do you work in advertising? If so, I'm not going to push this with you any more.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 23:39:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Apparently you missed my "zing" comment. I know full good and well how to spell advertising.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-22 18:54:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Yer kinda splitting hairs there a little, fella.
And to simply answer your question : yes, society as it is constructed today would fall apart without advertising.
Heck, a 'open/closed' sign is advertising. It's intrinsically tied to the basic exchange of goods and services that lubricate our capacity to even have a society.
Could you completely deconstruct everything we have collectively learned up to this point and fabricate a society that can survive without the need for commerce/advertising?
Unlikely, but I suppose anything is possible.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-22 18:17:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:06:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Your implication that resources expended on advertising are resources wasted is absurd. Think of all the people employed in the advertising industry. What would become of them if advertising disappeared?"
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Any industry that exists solely to provide jobs doesn't cut it in my book, especially if it all of its other effects on society are negative. I would rather pay those people to clean up garbage, fix roads, make music, prepare food for old people, or any one of a million other things that could ever-so-slightly benefit society.
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"Well, no, actually you couldn't because all those people now employed in the advertising industry would have to find other work, thus increasing the total supply of labor for non-advertising jobs. Don't you remember the law of supply and demand? Obviously not. The resulting increased competition for your job would drive down your compensation. Even though soda would cost less, you would have less disposable income to spend on it."
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All of the money that is being spend on paying these people to advertise could be spent paying them to do things that are actually productive.
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"Besides, capitalism depends on people buying stuff they don't need with money they don't have to impress people who don't care. Advertising is an important part of that. What are you, a fucking commie?"
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Our current brand of capitalism does require advertising, but our current brand of capitalism is also not sustainable. Capitalism could exist without advertising and without unrestricted profiteering. It wouldn't create the insane jumps in profit and productivity that we've seen since the 70s, but I believe it would be a less volatile economy with a more expansive middle class.
btw, still high as shit
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-22 18:07:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-22 01:49:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sure you >COULD< outlaw certain types - and they do... look how restrictive they are with Tobacco advertising and sponsorship."
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I don't think they are nearly tough enough on tobacco advertising restrictions. If you are going to give people the right to think for themselves when it comes to using a drug (and I believe that is an important right), then let them do so without tobacco companies or anti-smoking groups trying to coerce them one way or the other.
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"Of course commerce is natural - it doesn't require any tools or resources, it facilitates a exchange of goods to satisfy our needs and wants."
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Basic bartering might not necessitate much in the way of tools or resources, but the huge scale of the commerce that goes on today requires enormous amounts of both. And commerce doesn't "facilitate" exchanges, it IS the exchange of goods and services.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-22 17:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:12:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I have a friend who once owned a leather goods store. Sales and repair. He had a similar fetish about advertizing, and refused to put ads in the paper or the yellow pages. The business was defunct in about nine months. Another place of about the same size is still in the black these twelve years later. Advertizing works. No one will come to you if they don't know about you.
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First of all, it's spelled "advertising". I don't care, but I know you're a stickler for spelling.
I'm not saying advertising doesn't work. Quite the contrary. I think it works a lot better than most people think. I think some people are swallowed whole by marketing in all of its lovely forms.
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2009-01-22 08:25:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2009-01-22 02:14:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Tony is DietCoke.
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so he is... there are too many soft drink users now. i'm getting confused!
i thought it was strange that Tony wasn't calling Obama a nigger... it all makes sense now.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2009-01-22 08:10:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
+1 only because of the picture. Your words are rubbish.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2009-01-22 05:52:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I kinda like advertising. If it wasn't for advertising I would have no clue what to use to clean a table.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2009-01-22 02:14:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:43:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:58:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Fuck, I am high as shit
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ahahahahahahahaha. that sounds like something i would do. get real fucked up and then post simply "fuck, i am high as shit".
i like you more these days, Tony. you seem like a new man.
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Tony is DietCoke.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-22 01:49:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You could easily outlaw certain types of advertisement. It would be an extreme and radical thing to do, but it's possible.
"Fundamental" and "natural" are not words I would use to describe commerce. Commerce is sort of a man-made institution. You don't need commerce to survive, and it is possible to have a huge society without commerce. There are many human beings alive today that do not have any direct involvement with commerce of any sort.
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Sure you >COULD< outlaw certain types - and they do... look how restrictive they are with Tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
Of course commerce is natural - it doesn't require any tools or resources, it facilitates a exchange of goods to satisfy our needs and wants. Us human types are greedy motherfuckers, and happily take anything that is available to us - but we also place value on those things we possess or desire. Sure you could just take what you want and spontaneously deal with the consequences until you get stabbed in the eye for snatching something from your neighbour that they hold particularly dear... or you could work out a deal that leaves you both happy with the exchange.
If you have a LOT of those kinds of things that other people want, then you would naturally position yourself in an area that would maximize your interactions. The next step is creating some sort of signal to indicate you avaialble... etc.
Those people who have removed themselves from the grid may not have any involvement with commerce, but at some point in their lives the would have been exposed to and largely benefited from its existence.
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2009-01-22 01:45:24 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Bubba, window licking the fun out of funny since birth.
Eh, I don't know why I'm picking at you, Bubba.
I'm a loser.
Submitted by Wildman (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:56:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Soft drinks and even bottled water don't even come close, when compared, to the profit margin of cereal(s).
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:52:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:43:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:58:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Fuck, I am high as shit
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ahahahahahahahaha. that sounds like something i would do. get real fucked up and then post simply "fuck, i am high as shit".
i like you more these days, Tony. you seem like a new man.
====================
I guess I'm a dumbass.
Tony? What are you telling us, Hidden?
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:43:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:58:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Fuck, I am high as shit
=========================================
ahahahahahahahaha. that sounds like something i would do. get real fucked up and then post simply "fuck, i am high as shit".
i like you more these days, Tony. you seem like a new man.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:38:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Lungfish, infuckingsane since 1963.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:22:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Businessman on Train: [reading a newspaper] I see the police have made another lightning raid.
Priest on Train: I suppose young girls was involved?
Businessman on Train: One found naked in the bathroom. "Breasts smeared with peanut butter. The police also found a bag containing 15 ounces of cannibus resin. The bag may also have contained a small quantity of heroin."
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: Or a porkpie. The bag may also have contained a porkpie.
Businessman on Train: I hardly see what a porkpie's got to do with it.
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: Then how about a turnip? The bag may also have contained a large turnip.
Priest on Train: The bag was full of drugs. It says so!
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: It's the oldest trick in the book.
Priest on Train: Book? What book?
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: The distortion of truth by association book. You all believe heroin was in the bag because cannibus resin was in the bag, but the chances of it actually being there are certain 100 to 1.
Businessman on Train: A lot more likely than what you say.
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: About as likely as the tits smeared with peanut butter.
Priest on Train: The tits were spread with peanut butter! It says so! Who's a man you are to think you know more about it than the press?
Denis Dimbleby Bagley: I'm an expert on tits. Tits and peanut butter.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:21:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Bubba, putting the "zing" in advertizing since whenever. . .
:D
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:20:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
huh
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:12:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
How to Get Ahead in Advertising was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. That's all I have to contribute to the scintillating debate going on here.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:12:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I have a friend who once owned a leather goods store. Sales and repair. He had a similar fetish about advertizing, and refused to put ads in the paper or the yellow pages. The business was defunct in about nine months. Another place of about the same size is still in the black these twelve years later. Advertizing works. No one will come to you if they don't know about you.
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2009-01-22 00:06:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Your implication that resources expended on advertising are resources wasted is absurd. Think of all the people employed in the advertising industry. What would become of them if advertising disappeared?
Ah, you say, fuck them. They're a bunch of devious liars anyway. At least the cost of soda would be lower and I could afford to drink twice as much of it!
Well, no, actually you couldn't because all those people now employed in the advertising industry would have to find other work, thus increasing the total supply of labor for non-advertising jobs. Don't you remember the law of supply and demand? Obviously not. The resulting increased competition for your job would drive down your compensation. Even though soda would cost less, you would have less disposable income to spend on it.
Besides, capitalism depends on people buying stuff they don't need with money they don't have to impress people who don't care. Advertising is an important part of that. What are you, a fucking commie?
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 23:35:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:08:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It would be impossible to have no such thing as advertising... it's as natural and fundamental as commerce itself.
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You could easily outlaw certain types of advertisement. It would be an extreme and radical thing to do, but it's possible.
"Fundamental" and "natural" are not words I would use to describe commerce. Commerce is sort of a man-made institution. You don't need commerce to survive, and it is possible to have a huge society without commerce. There are many human beings alive today that do not have any direct involvement with commerce of any sort.
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2009-01-21 21:58:57 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:41:24 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
So many words- so little said.
Submitted by Toddler (user info) at 2009-01-21 21:24:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:08:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It would be impossible to have no such thing as advertising... it's as natural and fundamental as commerce itself.
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Smidgen bias, no? =P
Submitted by sandmantate (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:41:24 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
So many words- so little said.
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:16:22 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
You are extremely boring.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:09:04 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I'm pretty sure you could write everything you know about "advertising" on the tip of my 3 inch dick...and still have room for the Lord's prayer. In Latin.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-01-21 20:08:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It would be impossible to have no such thing as advertising... it's as natural and fundamental as commerce itself.
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:58:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Fuck, I am high as shit
Submitted by PepsiCoke (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:57:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
A friend of mine's father worked at the bottling plant in Atlanta up until the end of last year. I'm going off what he told me when I asked him last year. I tried looking it up online and I couldn't find anything concrete, but all of the estimates were close to what he had told me.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2009-01-21 19:52:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
source please for your claim about manufacturing costs of a can of coke.