Advertising Against Advertising? | Beyond Madison Avenue

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

Advertising Against Advertising?

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

You read that headline correctly. A fifty-six year old farmer in Agen, France by the name of Pierre Kung is spending a little over $4,000 dollars on a billboard advertising campaign against the evils of advertising.

Pierre, who says that he is not a part of the anti-advertising group in Paris that destroys outdoor ads, says that his method of fighting the advertising establishment is derived from the martial art technique of "using the strength of the adversary to floor him."

According to the French news agency, twenty-five of the billboards went up this week across the city. Kung told the AFP that he is doing this because advertising is brainwashing people into thinking that needing and buying more will make you happy. Kung says that his billboard ads will make people think.

Now is Mr. Kung getting confused with the notions of manipulation vs. persuasion? Coercion vs. influence? It looks like the argument is there.

It is tiresome to constantly defend advertising against people who believe advertising is forcing people's hands to buy goods and services. To think that commercials, billboards, and ads have that kind of "mind-control" effect on people is as silly as it is wrong. It can be agreed that forms of advertising and propaganda can have positive correlations with groupthink, but it can only influence behavior, not control it.

It is true that good advertising can be effective. Very effective. But humans still have this pesky personality trait called "free will" that tends to ruin a perfect advertising campaign from time to time. Give the people more credit, and stop blaming advertising for people making stupid decisions.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on