Advertising - How should it be done?

I have noticed that many threads on this site mention the manipulative ways in which companies use advertising to burn product logos into our brains. We cannot go anywhere in modern cities without being bombarded from every angle with adverts screaming 'BUY MY PRODUCTS'. I do agree with you totally and understand exactly where your coming from, the techniques they use are not right.

The reason I have posted this thread though is to ask this. What would be the 'good way' to advertise. Companies need to get their name out somehow, how would you guys suggest that it be done so that it is not 'evil'?

Any ideas anyone?
I would like to hear what you guys have to say about this.

I have been in advertising for a few years now and I can tell you that the 'good way' to advertise is exactly how they are doing it. As much as I hate to say it, they have perfected both the art and science of advertising to influence consumer behavior - and it works.

I assume your query is more grounded in "what would be a more responsible and less manipulative way to advertise?" Is that correct? If so, I can tell you that it wouldn't fit in with the 'advertising model' at all and probably couldn't be called advertising.

Many companies are engaging in geo-targeted advertising and granular advertising. Geo-targeting is for small or regional companies that only have a need to advertise to those consumers likely to engage them for products or services. Think of a dry-cleaning company... it is not likely that would would travel 30 miles for a dry-cleaner although they might to purchase an automobile. Granular advertising takes geography into account but it also discerns demographics such as age, gender, income etc... and targets the appropriate group. Think of a skateboard shop... why advertise to 60 year old women???

Companies use the internet in conjunction with search engine technology to engage in geo-targeted and granular marketing. Is it more 'responsible'? Maybe not, but it is more efficient - with every dollar actually targeting the desired demographic of potential customers. In this way most of us will avoid the deluge of 'noise' in advertising (noise being the clutter of unwanted products or services) but that will be replaced with carefully targeted advertising that is intelligent in it's intent.

so, in summary, the 'good way' to advertise is currently being done and it is being refined as technology permits. From interactive advertisements to targeted advertisements and from comprehensive databases (that grocery card you use to save money... records EVERYTHING you've ever purchased, the frequency etc... and is databased and most likely sold and merged with other databases about you thus building a comprehnsive consumer profile about YOU!) to generic branding, it is all done to influence consumer behavior.

Is it moral? Is it responsible? That is not for me to answer. But I can say "Caveat Emptor" (Buyer Beware!). It is up to US as individuals to filter out advertising and use our good judgement about the products and services we purchase. You cannot count on a company seeking profit to subdue it's advertising when it is competing for market share and your attention. So, caveat emptor and make sure that you do your homework before engaing in a purchase to ensure that the product or service lives up to it's advertising.

I've often thought people don't need to know about something unless they have a need for it... This being the case why can't you simply create a TV channel dedicated to advertising? Or a web site that anyone could visit to search on a product they might be interested in?

The way things are done now are completely out of control... You can't even go to the movies now without getting 30 min's of advertising... Oh and btw, we are all paying for those ad's when we go to the movies... That torques me the wrong way along with other people I know.. Because we do not go to the movies to pay for advertising... We go to movies to get away from the ad's or at least that is the way it used to be..

Why not give the consumer the choice to view what he or she wants instead of forcing the ad's on everyone? In a lot of ways some advertising could be considered as intruding on our privacy... Ad's suck in my opinion and more than not make me mad... If you want to sell your product to me it would be better not to waste my time with commercials... I'm a man and like most men we already know what we want, we go to the store, buy it and we're done... We don't need a bunch of ad's telling us what we need... Not being a woman I can't really comment for them, but I'm sure they feel about the same way as us guys when it comes to advertising...

reply to post by ElectricUncleSam


Exactly how i feel about it too. One thing that really bugs me is advertising aimed at children and teenagers. Most adults don't even know what they really want in life so expecting children to is just absurd, and this advertising just leads them on, telling them they're not cool or whatever if they don't have a certain product. It all leads to unhappiness in the end.

reply to post by PeaceUk

the manipulative ways in which companies use advertising to burn product logos into our brains.

I worked in advertising, eventually at a very senior level, for over a quarter-century, so the topic you raise is of great interest to me.

I am curious about whether you, personally, feel threatened by the manipulative ways of advertising. Are you being manipulated against your will? Have you lost control of your own purchasing behaviour, ending up with products you never had any intention of buying, or that you couldn't really afford? And would you blame that loss of control on advertising?

Or is your concern more for the public at large? Do you feel that people like yourself, who are aware of what is going on, can steel themselves against the blandishments of advertisers, whereas relatively unsophisticated or uninformed people are at risk?

What about advertising targeted at children? How do you feel about that?

I should be very interested to hear your views.

reply to post by Astyanax


My concerns are for the public in general who are bombarded with this stuff daily. My concerns are especially over advertising aimed at children, as they are less likely to question what they're watching. Stuff like junk food being aimed at kids does no good for them and the big companies are just using them at the expense of their health to make money.

reply to post by PeaceUk

My concerns are for the public in general who are bombarded with this stuff daily... My concerns are especially over advertising aimed at children, as they are less likely to question what they're watching.

I see. Does this mean you credit yourself, but not others, with sufficient intelligence and discrimination to see through the deceptions of advertising?

[edit on 31-3-2008 by Astyanax]

reply to post by Astyanax


No, not at all.
I generally try to avoid watching advertising on tv or even looking at it in the street. I feel concerned for my family and others.
Don't try making it look like I'm putting myself across as a superior being or something, because I'm not. I started this thread because I was curious.

reply to post by PeaceUk

I generally try to avoid watching advertising on tv or even looking at it in the street. I feel concerned for my family and others.

Don't try making it look like I'm putting myself across as a superior being or something.

I'm not. I'm merely wondering why, when you feel capable of recognizing and dealing with this purpoted threat, you don't regard other people as being capable of doing the same.

Surely we must credit others -- other grown-ups, at least -- with being able to make up their own minds? Like us, they have good sense and at least provisional freedom of choice.

So far, you've received two actual answers to your question. One was that the best way (effectively the only way) to advertise is the way it is being done now, with further improvements to come as advertisers improve their 'targeting'. I think this answer was correct.

The other answer you were offered -- that advertising should be restricted to a single channel and people interested in buying something should watch that channel -- reveals an almost total ignorance about how advertising and the media work, and how people consume them. For the record, a print equivalent of an all-advertising channel has existed for generations: it's called the Yellow Pages. It is used by people 'looking to buy' a particular product or service, and obviously it works a lot better than sitting watching an endless stream of commercials till you finally, if you're lucky, catch one for the product category (never mind product or brand) you're interested in. There are various other forms of this type of advertising in existence, in print and particularly on the internet.

The closest TV equivalent is MTV -- at least, that's how it was intended to be. Music videos are nothing but commercials for the records they feature. Now, of course, the record business is dying and MTV shows idiot feature programmes for poorly-socialized adolescents, so that particular business model no longer works.

Anyway, what I'm really interested in is reading your ideas on how advertising should be done. Would you like to share them with us?

[edit on 1-4-2008 by Astyanax]