Let’s Hear it for the Big Guy

Beauty comes in well branded packages

‘If you work in advertising, kill yourselves!’

A sound assertion from the ever wise Bill Hicks. At least that’s what my younger, ‘subversive’ self thought anyway. But as the smoky haze of my youth lifted, so did the desire to side with the loudest alternative voice I heard, however neatly it fitted my demographic.

You could be forgiven for thinking the ‘man’ finally got to me but the reality is my desire to question things led me to look rationally at the world of advertising and found some overwhelming positives.

Firstly, I am of the opinion that advertisers are no more the scurrying, bubonic delivery systems of this plague we call consumerism than we are. The fact that a sizeable majority of us either own, work for, buy into or support the brands and products in question it’s hard to see the advertisers as the culpable ones.

Secondly I like to think that I have enough autonomy to decide whether I want to buy something or not. As a child it was sold to me early on that just because someone suggests something, doesn’t mean you have to go along with it. Remember the “if (insert name) told you to jump off a bridge would you?” line? If we willingly submit our autonomy over hair gel and flat screen TV’s we’re going to be stuffed when it comes to the important things.

Thirdly I don’t see the issue with a little material possession anyway. As a photographer I’m not sure I’d enjoy life as much without my camera. Yes it manacles me to a material world but many things in life are chains which bind us in some way. Everything from hobbies to offspring are choices we make to offer ourselves enjoyment. We look at the costs and benefits and carve our path accordingly. When they say having children actually shortens your life expectancy I can’t see the harm of new stereo.

The big bonus in advertising’s favour however, the crisp high five of kudos is the fact that advertising is possibly the biggest supporter and innovator of creativity we have. The whole industry is a network of creative people expressing their creative minds in countless wonderful, creative ways. In its simplest form we are opened to a world of beautiful design, filmmaking, illustration and photography; Moving moments and funny happenings. On the larger scale records get broken, trends are formed and our eyes get opened to a world of wonder we would never get to see.

To illustrate this here are some shining examples of the contribution advertising has to our lives. Each one unlikely to find their way to the populous otherwise.

First up is an ad for Smirnoff (under 18’s avert your eyes) featuring deaf dancers :

Now I didn’t know deaf dance clubs existed before this and I think to myself how I ever would without it. Am I more likely to drink Smirnoff? If I was ordering a vodka and couldn’t decide what brand to choose then perhaps but I’m not about to run out and grab a bottle. The lasting impression that ad left was one of feeling a little more enlightened about the world of deaf people and how awesome music can be, even to those who can’t hear it. An early win for advertising I feel.

Another fine example of innovation and creativity is this short movie presented by Philips Ambilight TV

Lets face it, unless you are an eccentric millionaire you aren’t going to get something like this made without some serious capital behind you which in this case is a TV Company. For the price of a logo here or there a group of lucky people got to make a ground breaking ski video and share it for free with us, the public. Will Philips shift some TV’s because of it? I bloody hope so they deserve to.

Lastly I wanted to present a big one. You may be familiar with it, such was their brilliant campaign. Modelled on a jump from the 60’s for the US Military but now in glorious HD, streamed live on Youtube to 8 million viewers. It was the Red Bull Stratos mission.

Exalters of the extreme Red Bull went all out to break records and present something simply astounding. Sending a guy called Felix to the edge of the stratosphere to then free-fall to earth. It cost a reported $30 million to pull off but as one advertiser pointed out “Making front page news in every newspaper of the world would cost a hell of a lot more than $30 million.”

Not only did they pull it off spectacularly Felix actually broke the sound barrier, providing awe inspiring viewing and valuable scientific data too. If we think about the origins of this stunt (R&D for the military) it reminds us of how else these missions into the unknown might be conducted otherwise. I’d personally prefer these things be done to capture our imaginations as opposed to military advantage.

Every day countless ideas like these are conceived, created then channelled into our lives. Of course there are drawbacks to this bombardment of imagery but we need to see past the brand to the benefit beyond it.

Whatever area of society that art inhabits it carries a cost. Advertising is one of the few areas however we don’t have to physically pay for it. It doesn’t require an intelligent commentary or specialist knowledge it just is. All a brand asks for in return is your consideration. Hardly an unreasonable request is it?

Thanks for reading. My name is Kevin Lake. I am a photographer and writer, trying to combine both wherever possible.

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